Bathhouse Betty - Midler, Bette (CD 1998)

If you like The Divine Miss M, this is another great album for you. If you haven't gotten it up until now, you could do a whole lot worse than this as an introduction.

This is Bette as God intended her. There's plenty of good schmaltz ("Song of Bernadette", the theme from the movie One True Thing), plenty of double entendre ("One Monkey Don't Stop No Show"), and a lot of just plain great Bette. The highlights include "Ukelele Lady," which sounds as though it was tailor-made for Bette (though it recently turned up in the soundtrack for the movie The Cider House Rules), and the one song that makes the whole album worthwhile, "I'm Beautiful." It's Bette's own rap song, and it ought to be played right alongside TLC's "Unpretty." If you have anyone nearby who is silly enough to believe he/she is wonderful the way that person is, play this song, and he/she will get the raison d'etre of Bette's act: a bit of raunch, but basically a reason for living.

As Bette says in one of the album's songs, that's how love moves.