Track Listing
1. I Know This Town
2. In This Life
3. Bottomless
4. To Comfort You
5. To Deserve You
6. Last Time, The
7. Bed of Roses
8. Perfect Kiss, The
9. As Dreams Go By
10. It's Too Late
11. I Believe in You
| Details | | Contributing Artists: | Abraham Laboriel, Bobby Lyle, Chris Botti, Lani Groves, Paulinho Da Costa | | Producer: | Arif Mardin, Bonnie Hayes, Marc Mann, Robbie Buchanan, Robbie Kondor, Steve Skinner | | Distributor: | WEA (Distributor) | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Personnel includes: Bette Midler (vocals); Buzz Feiten (guitar, tambourine); Daniel Jacob, Dean Parks, Michael Landau (guitar); Michael O'Reilly (E-bow guitar); Jay Dee Maness (steel guitar); Gene Orloff (concertmaster, violin); Shelley A. Woodworth (oboe); Robbie Kondor (piano, electric piano, organ, keyboards, synthesizer, programming); Steve Skinner (keyboards, synthesizer, programming); Larry J. Cohn (keyboards, synthesizer); Jerry Barnes (bass, background vocals); T-Bone Wolk, Reggie Hamilton (bass); Joe Mardin (drums, programming, background vocals); Tony Beard, Mike Baird (drums); Bonnie Hayes, Marc Mann (programming).
Engineers: Michael O'Reilly, Michael O'Reilly, Jack Joseph Puig.
Recorded at The New Hit Factory and Right Track Recording, New York; Andora Studios, Conway Studios and Record One, California.
Personnel: Bette Midler (background vocals); Howard "Buzz" Feiten (guitar, tambourine); Danny Jacob, Dean Parks, Michael Landau, Michael O'Reilly (guitar); Jay Dee Maness (steel guitar); Gene Orloff (violin); Shelley Woodworth (oboe); Chris Botti (trumpet); Robbie Buchanan (piano, keyboards, synthesizer, programming); Bobby Lyle (piano); Robbie Kondor (electric piano, organ, keyboards, synthesizer, programming); Steve Skinner (keyboards, synthesizer, programming); Larry Cohn (synthesizer); Joe Mardin (drums, background vocals); Michael Baird , Tony Beard (drums); Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); Marc Mann, Bonnie Hayes (programming); Jimmy Bralower (drum programming); Angela Cappelli, Rachele Cappelli, Jerry Barnes, Lani Groves, Ula Hedwig, Vaneese Thomas (background vocals).
Arrangers: Maria McKee; Robbie Buchanan; Arif Mardin; Steve Skinner; Robbie Kondor; Bonnie Hayes; Bruce Brody; Howard "Buzz" Feiten.
Bette Midler's first release in five years is a sweet, controlled, ballad-heavy confection that portrays her in a new light. No longer a brassy strumpet, the Divine Miss M is now the Pleasant Miss Bette, quirky singer of pretty songs. Fortunately, Midler has an endearing, highly expressive voice, making much of this easy listening material slightly tangy.
Culling from her folk-singer/songwriter grab-bag, Midler opens BETTE OF ROSES with Cheryl Wheeler's "I Know This Town," an excellent song that brims with nostalgia, and one that could find a second life on the country charts if a Trisha, a Dolly or a Reba was to tackle it. "To Comfort You" is a sanitized and languid blues, but its companion piece, the brilliant Maria McKee-penned "To Deserve You," is a complicated off-kilter track full of musical, vocal and emotional swoops. The swirling "The Last Time," another McKee composition complete with a previously unheard of Midler falsetto, is as close to rocking out as Bette gets. The old Bette would have played the disillusionment themes of "Bed Of Roses" to full force with a sweet opening and her signature, dramatic ending; here, it is fairy-tale smooth with no hint of histrionics. Even in the closing "I Believe In Love" Midler doesn't camp it up. Yet, by keeping it straight, she saves the track from becoming a novelty tune.
"In This Life" is the sort of ballad which made Midler famous in the first place. It contains hints of the quiver and zeal with which Midler used to infuse all her songs. But as with lying on a bed of rose petals, the song and the album pretend to be nothing more than soft and pretty experiences.
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