Jackpot-Best Bette

Midler's second greatest hits effort, Jackpot!, was first available only at her Vegas show, The Showgirl Must Go On, until it later got a wide commercial release. Mostly an extension/updated version of her first greatest hits, Experience The Divine, Jackpot! does add a couple tracks her first greatest hits was missing, and an absolutely stunning previously unreleased track, Something Your Heart Has Been Telling Me. The song is up there with some of the best stuff Bette has ever released. The production and vocals are flawless and soothing. All the greats and classics are here, The Rose, Wind Beneath My Wings, From A Distance, Do You Want To Dance, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, When A Man Loves A Woman, Friends, Hello In There, all on her first greatest hits. New appearances include In The Mood (finally something from her classic #6 hit second album Bette Midler), Beast of Burden (from her extremely underrated 1983 rock album No Frills), I've Still Got My Health, Baby Mine, and the glorious Glory of Love (all from the Beaches Soundtrack), Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) from 2000's Bette, and work from her newer albums Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook, This Ole House and Tenderly, and the title track from her splendid Christmas album, the upbeat and fun Cool Yule. Thankfully Amazon came along with an exclusive version and added My One True Friend, one of Bette's best inspirational ballads ranking up there with Wind Beneath My Wings and The Rose, from her gold certified album Bathhouse Betty. This song is deserved to be on one of her collections and finally it appears. For a real treat, look for the import deluxe version of this album. My One True Friend is omitted but the remix of her #2 dance club hit To Deserve You and one of my personal favorites In My Life from For The Boys are added to the CD. Plus a second disc, the DVD of her HBO special Diva Las Vegas which has never been officially released until this version. It's import so you would have to have a region free DVD player.Having such a long and varied recording career the only way to get a greatest hits right for the divine Bette Midler is to release a double disc album. There's too many albums and too many great songs that have gotten missed with her two greatest hits efforts. Although they cover the basics and are great albums, there is so much missing. Nothing from the albums Songs For The New Depression, Broken Blossom, Thighs and Whispers, Gypsy Soundtrack, Bette Of Roses, Sings The Peggy Lee Songbook appear on either of the hits efforts. There's so much good stuff from those albums that deserve to be recognized. Nothing from For The Boys on this album, but In My Life does appear on Experience The Divine. Nothing from Bette Midler or No Frills on the first greatest hits, but a song from each does appear on this one. Nothing from Live At Last on this one, but Shiver Me Timbers does appear on Experience The Divine. To get it right a double disc set needs released so something from every one of her albums can be recognized and give the listener a true representation of what Bette Midler has done for 40 years.

Bette Midler has had a 3 decade career and is still going strong. It is very sad that a multiple disc greatest hits collection has not yet been released. It is well deserved and well earned. Also, Bette Midler is very eclectic and has performed many different styles of music over the years. She started out as a bawdy, big mouthed broad with a voice to die for. She was original and unique. Her strong personality matched her strong talent. She then did THE ROSE and won an Oscar while delivering diva rock and roll. Amazing. Then she added some schmaltzy hit ballads undfer her belt like WIND BENEATH MY WINGS. She did a rare thing though and would have recordings with these ballads but the entire album would still work for she never stopped being inventive and being Bette.This collection does the difficult task of taking songs from her entire career and making a cohesive sounding set. The songs aren't in chronological order but they all mix perfectly for they truly are some of Bette Midler's best performances and the quality and vocal prowess she has always had unites everything. We have the amazing tracks from her early career - FRIENDS, BOOGIE WOOGIE BUGLE BOY and IN THE MOOD to name a few. BEAST OF BURDEN and JUST MY IMAGINATION flow effortlessly together and they are from different decades of her career. The tracks from THE ROSE - WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN and THE ROSE are standouts of the entire collection. And the ballads WIND BENEATH MY WINGS and FROM A DISTANCE work here and are not over the top. Even the Christmas COOL YULE is in place with its jazzy approach. It fits in fine.Again, Bette Midler deserves a larger hits collection but we will have to settle for this one for the time being. This one does work and manages to represent her whole career. Enough to probably make you want to buy each cd that the songs are from. Bette Midler is a legend and a rarity. She can sing a novelty number or a heartfelt ballad with the same emotive delivery. This collection is a must have.

First, I have to mention that I'm a huge Bette Midler fan; that said, I like this CD, but it seems like a little strange grouping of songs- a lullaby and a Christmas Song thrown into it. Worked though- I then bought her Christmas Album! Only thing I don't like personally, is when she sings rock and roll songs in a slow ballad form. All in all, I enjoy playing this album (!) and singing along in my car! (no, not when anyone's with me...)

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!