Gregor von Kallahann 2007-08-08
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
There was an almost palpable sense of disappointment among Bette Midler hipper fans when she (inevitably) moved further and further away from her ironic/iconic Miss M persona and became (on record at least) another sometimes-sensitive-sometimes-maudlin balladeer. It's understandable really: campiness bespeaks irony bespeaks a keen critical intelligence behind the glitz and the sentiment. If you read some of the early reviews, you'd get the impression that her spot on Andrews Sisters take-offs and sincere (but too frenzied) girl group covers were ultimately to be taken as being somehow subversive, that her full frontal embrace of the tacky was some kind of musical expression of a tart Pop Art sensibility.
And maybe it was, but keep in mind: camp's embrace of the tacky, the vulgar and the schlocky has a conservative side as well. And over time, that sentimental attachment to to "trash with flash" can easily evolve into plain ole "trash"itself. By the time Bette was recording numbers like "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "From A Distance," the hipsters had already fled in droves. One writer even called the latter tune--despite its pacifistic overtones--"background music for the Gulf War." How did that come about? You could probably write a dissertation on the topic. But it had--at least in part--to do with the fact that the song did not outrightly condemn warfare but rather found it all, well, very unfortunate.
A line like "I can't comprehend, what all this fighting's for" (other versions have it as "what all this war is for") can be taken in various ways. Certainly, it could be interpreted as your basic, "war is senseless" statement. But I'm sure there were those who put a quite different spin on it, i.e. "I can't comprehend what this fighting's for--but there MUST be a good reason." And both interpretations allow for the addendum, "Of course, it's all a damn shame."
Of course, only songwriter Julie Gold knows what was really intended. The whole tune is plenty ambiguous, and much of it may have even been intentional. Do things only look beautiful and peaceful FROM A DISTANCE because we're really not seeing things clearly (overlooking the guns, war and disease as if they did NOT exist)? Or is transcending or overcoming all that really the secret "hope of every man," and ultimately possible. And is it disconcerting or somehow encouraging to be told that God IS watching us--but "from a distance? Is the song skeptical? Hopeful? Or a little of both?
If any singer could have captured the ambiguity it would have been Bette Midler--the younger, edgier Bette Midler anyway. By 1990, Midler was not about irony so much anymore, although she could be as tart tongued and (acceptably) outrageous as ever in live performance. And on this record, a bit of her old sharpness shines through on a classic number like Cole Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets," but that was still something an old joke by the last decade of the 20th century.
But I began this review by suggesting that some critics--and a good number of fans too--had actually misinterpreted what the divine one was up to from the outset. Actually, Bette was always about putting on a great show, and that was about it. Sure her embrace of all kinds of styles and genres had its ironic side, but it was probably a mistake to stress the implicit criticism involved in such an ultimately gentle spoof. Camp is first and formost loving embrace and celebraton of the vulgarities and excesses of popular culture. In Bette Midler's case, it was more an embrace than a critique of same. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
A middle aged mom by the time of this recording, Bette was not out to turn the music world on its head. Another reviewer intriguingly related a track like "Moonlight Dancing" to the earlier "Do You Wanna Dance?" although that reviewer plainly didn't care for the newer song. I happen to like the gentle Caribbean feel to that number and some of the others on the record ("One More Time Girls"), although I would agree that there's little on this record as sublimely seductive--or as truly imaginative--as "Do Ya Wanna Dance," a snaky, slow tempo recasting of a rock'n'roll standard. Nor does she attempt to sneak in anything as arty as a Brecht/Weill number as she was wont to do in the early days. It's not totlly unfair to note that, in some ways, she IS treading water here.
On the other hand, Midler's readings of classic ballads really did improve over the years. Perhaps it was precisely because she was no longer worried about coming off hip and knowing (while simultaneously being sincere and heartfelt--no mean feat to pull off, as those first records demonstrate). When she tackles a number like "He Was Too Good To Me," she takes it seriously. And she doesn't OVERinterpret. It's actually quite lovely. And Janis Ian's title song is delivered with simple sincerity and real dignity.
By the 90s, Bette Midler's audience knew they what they could expect: a little sentiment, a little sass, a few send-ups, but nothing truly over the top. And Midler knew how to deliver all that. It must have been something of a relief for her in fact to not have to worry so much about the approval of hip tastemakers.
