A Gift of Love Bette Midler Artist

2008's {|Rhino|}-issued {|Jackpot: The Best Bette|} was the Grammy-winning vocalist and Emmy-winning actress' first career-spanning compilation since 1993, and it served as an excellent window into her often eclectic career, touching on nearly all of... Read more

2008's {|Rhino|}-issued {|Jackpot: The Best Bette|} was the Grammy-winning vocalist and Emmy-winning actress' first career-spanning compilation since 1993, and it served as an excellent window into her often eclectic career, touching on nearly all of her stylistic forays. 2015's {|Gift of Love|} is a more myopic take on the greatest-hits package, offering up an amorous 18-track set devoted entirely to {|Midler|}'s love for balladry. As the humble love song has served as the legendary diva's bread and butter since the '70s, it should hardly come as a surprise that {|Gift of Love|} is well stocked with hits. Any proper {|Midler|} collection would be incomplete without the holy trinity of last-call karaoke balladry that is The Rose, Wind Beneath My Wings, and From a Distance, and {|Gift of Love|} doesn't disappoint, delivering those modern standards early on in the proceedings. It also serves up some less ubiquitous gems, like her spirited 1983 cover of {|Marshall Crenshaw|}'s My Favorite Waste of Time and her sultry, jazzy rendering of the {|Marvelettes|}' {|Smoky Robinson|}-penned The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game. For the most part, {|Gift of Love|} sticks with the benchmarks, with the aforementioned triple threat, Every Road Leads Back to You (from {|For the Boys|}), and 1995's It's Too Late and As Dreams Go By, the latter two of which appeared on the platinum-selling {|Bette of Roses|} leading the charge. Fans looking for a more diversified retrospective should probably check out {|Jackpot|} (also a {|Rhino|} release), but as the perfect soundtrack for a campy romantic evening or a boozy post-breakup meltdown, one would be hard-pressed to find anything better. ~ James Christopher Monger Less