Bette Midler turns loose her inner-diva on Bette, with frequently exhilarating results. Sensitively produced by career resuscitator Don Was (Bonnie Raitt, B-52s,) the result is the Divine Miss M's most satisfying work since 1990's Some People's Lives. The handpicked material showcases a baker's dozen aspects of the extraordinary and always larger-than-life Midler persona and features left field gems like Baby Washington's 1963 kittenish lament, "That's How Heartaches Are Made" and a salsa-flavored shaggy-dog story, "In These Shoes." The big-hearted performer is at her best on ballads like "Color of Roses," the southern-fried funker "Love TKO," and the album's emotional centerpiece, a smile-through-the-tears version of Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello's wrenching "God Give Me Strength." Also included are a dreamy take on the Temptations' "Just My Imagination" and the romantic paean "Shining Star," a 1980 hit for the Manhattans. With the release of Bette, also the name of the star's eagerly anticipated new CBS sitcom, it is once again definitely Midler's world, and we're her lucky audience.
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