Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
NOT A Greatest Hits , and Too Many Ballads, November 1, 2008
If this is THE BEST BETTE, you should hear some of the great songs they left off this CD. This CD is basically a companion souvenir for her new Vegas extravaganza. It contains some of the songs she does in the show, and the artwork, which is great, ties into the Vegas motif. The sound IS great, it's really quite elevated from all the other Bette CD's. Out of 19 songs, only 9 are her greatest hits. You do get the single versions of THE ROSE and BOOGIE WOOGIE BUGLE BOY. The biggest plus is the unissued song SOMETHING YOUR HEART HAS BEEN TELLING ME. Bette co-wrote this mid-tempo percussive song in 1984 that is a keeper. But besides the hit singles and the one unreleased track, picking 10 album cuts for a best of brings this compilation down in every sense of hearing Bette Midler. It's saddled with ballads and Bette's foray into 50's easy listening slow songs. It has 3 songs from BEACHES [ her biggest album ], which are all old nostagia type songs. The other songs are even more ballads from the Rosemary Clooney album, and the one upbeat song they included is a Christmas song - COOL YULE! Maybe they should have pulled a track off her comedy album, MUD WILL BE FLUNG TONIGHT! With 19 Billboard chart hits, they included only 9 of them. And you wouldn't know much from Bette's multi-faceted catalog of rock, blues & contemporay pop songs listening to what they chose to represent " The Best of Bette " on this CD. It's a snoozer listening to all the many adult contemporary ballads and standards on this collection. They are sequenced one after another on here. The only real rocker is BEAST OF BURDEN, and that comes quickly as Track 3. The choices that made in the album tracks they put on this CD makes me wonder " they actually put that on a Best of Bette CD "? . Really, BABY MINE - a throwaway song from the BEACHES soundtrack is actually one of her best ? This CD is mostly toned down , politically correct middle of the road schmaltz that does not represent her energy & fire. A Bette concert is not toned down or politically correct, but many of the selections here fall into the snooze-fest realm . Listen to 2 of Bette's all time classics THE DIVINE MISS M and BETTE MIDLER to fully capture the range of material Bette once did. Her LIVE AT LAST double live album from 1976 will also open up your ears with it's high intensity performance & wit. There are no songs from her early albums on here , except for the hits & the much anthologized ballad HELLO IN THERE. This CD has too much adult contemporary , old-fashioned ballads, neglecting the variety of Bette's wide ranging catalog that they could have culled songs from for this CD. It also would have been a big incentive to have recorded the new opening theme to her Las Vegas spectacular to include as a new song on this album.
After hearing this, I pulled out many of the other Midler CD's, and heard how many great songs they could have included for a more balanced , diversified collection. One day, a box set should be done. Bette's had a career spanning nearly 40 years. Maybe then, we will hear all the live concert songs she did , like PINK CADILLAC, for instance, or the THEME FROM JINXED [ never released ], and the non-album singles like YOU'RE MOVING OUT TODAY. I was more content making my own Bette Midler best of than hearing what they chose for this. Buy the EXPERIENCE THE DIVINE CD, which is more of a greatest hits CD [ which has now been deleted ] if you want a more rewarding listening experience of a single CD of Bette Midler's best.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A missed opportunity but still good...., September 24, 2008
I agree with the other reviewer this is a lovely collection and there are many wonderful songs that feature on it but Bette has done so much in her career and it could have gone a little further to truly fly the flag as THE BEST BETTE.
The biggest glaring oversight for me is the DANCE MIX of Bette's massive US club hit TO DESERVE YOU. Why did they have to overlook this gem as anyone who comes across it usually is dead impressed. In fact Bette had a series of American hits on the club scene that could have easily been added to this CD which go further to show her diversity as a singer.
We love you Bette but Rhino/Warner you could have done better (this is coming from a guy who compiles collections for record labels as a living).
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Name I Did Not Know, October 5, 2008
This 20-track collection is the second "Best of Bette" collection & is a good overview of Bette's career. Early hits like "Do You Want to Dance?," "In the Mood," & her signature song "Friends" are balanced with newer recordings like "Cool Yule," which went to #1 on my personal top ten last Christmas. Always, fans will have favorites songs like "In These Shoes," "Shining Star" or "Mambo Italiano" that were not included. However, this volume is well-engineered. The booklet is informative. Several tracks from films are included like the Carole King-David Foster-Carole Bayer Sager tune "My One True Friend" & "Baby Mine" from "Beaches." The previously unreleased demo from 1984, "Something Your Heart Has Been Telling Me," is a delightful track co-penned by Bette, "Last night I heard you calling, I heard you calling out a name I did not know." Two tracks shine here in replay, the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden" pops out of the speakers with some burning electric lead guitar; and the Temptations' #1 hit "Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)" shimmers delightfully. "Jackpot!" is an excellent overview from this consummate actress-singer. Bravo!
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by Bette Midler 
