Bette Midler-Songs For The New Depression (1976)

 


Artist: Bette Midler

Title: Songs For The New Depression

Label: Atlantic

Format: CD

Cat: 82784-2

Year of Release:1976

Country and Year of Edition: US 1995 reissue

Sell Price: $8.99 VG+/VG+ 2/25/23

Discogs Last Sold: 2/5/23 NM/NM $18.06

Low:$6.75

Median: $8.99

Average: $11.06

High: $18.06

Current low price: $7.50

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 10

Have/Want:  70/15

Where Sold: Morrison, IL

Time it took to sell:  11 years

Where and When Purchased: internet early aughts

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B+

Sad To See It Go: No

One tends to forget from the Divine Miss M's commercial peak of insufferable MOR soundtrack hits that kicked off with "The Rose" in 1979 started as an anomaly, when she was a "Rock" artist playing a loose Janis.  "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "From A Distance" were something else entirely in 1989-90.  Inescapable and offensive to anyone with a heart or heart issue that would take them to a drug store counter, where these monstrosities would inevitably be heard.  So much so that if you weren't old enough, you didn't remember Bette actually had a first stage of a career that was as "cool" as it was massive.  

Her first 2 in the early 70's were Billboard top 10 and her debut spawned big hit covers of "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and "Do You Want To Dance?"  She had the 40's, the 50's, Broadway and the Bathhouse all wrapped up.  In 1976, Songs For The New Depression had no hits and it didn't sell as much peaking at #27, but Rock royalty was all over it.  Todd Rundgren and Rick Derringer play, Tom Waits has a song and of course the big cameo duet: Bob Dylan reworking "Buckets of Rain."

Bette had already covered "I Shall Be Released" on the last self titled Gold selling album, so this wasn't out of the realm of possibility.  The result of this coupling sounds less "serious" than anyone has a right to suspect.  Barrelhouse piano and Rolling Thunder Bob around a Bette vamp seemingly pulled out of thin air.  The way is heavenly not cool.   Life gets pondered in a different way and they chatter on the outro.  A rift with Paul Simon? Bob doesn't even want to know!

There was a club hit on this record, the kickoff Disco rework of "Strangers In The Night."  Bette worked different worlds as befitting a current and future star of stage and screen in her youth.  Tom Waits "Shiver Me Timbers" from The Heart of Saturday Night gets paired with a self penned French number "Samedi et Vendredi."  "No Jestering" is straight up reggae covering Coxone Studios Carl Malcom.  There is certainly great depth to the sourcing of songs to do.  The album closes with an ode to "Marihuana" written by Bing Crosby writer Arthur Johnson and film producer Sam Coslow before a grand finale by Mark Moogy Klingman that was written just for Bette.

A veritable variety show for sure.


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