Published on Jan 19, 2009
To quote just one of the many hits that are NOT on this Bette Midler hits collection, “That’s it baby, when you’ve got it, flaunt it! Flaunt it! She’s beautiful, she’s beautiful, she’s beautiful, dammit.” (“I’m Beautiful,” Bathhouse Betty, 1998).
And therein is the biggest problem with Jackpot! There’s just not enough room on a single disc collection to justify including a song from her Christmas disc (Cool Yule), a song that wasn’t good enough for a previous project (“Something Your Heart Has Been Telling Me”), and four songs from the largely abysmal Beaches soundtrack, only one of which, “Wind Beneath My Wings,” was an actual hit (and to leave off “Under The Boardwalk” from that disc in favor of “Baby Mine”?).
Especially when so many others have been left off: “Chapel of Love,” “Big Noise From Winnetka,” “My Mother’s Eyes,” “Only In Miami,” “Every Road Leads Back To You,” “In My Life,” “To Deserve You,” and nothing from her exquisite second songbook album, Bette Midler Sings The Peggy Lee Songbook.
In Midler’s defense (or is it Rhino’s defense?), she has had several other hits collections over the years, and her later era discs — after, say, 1993 when her hits collection Experience The Divine was released — have had fewer and fewer hits.
Midler is a singular talent. She’s the Dolly Parton of pop music — more brass and batons, more attitude and assets. Of course, she does have actual talent too (as does Parton). But we love Bette not so much because of her singing ability, but because she’s Bette Midler — she’s beautiful, dammit!
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