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List Price: $7.99 | | Label: Sony/ Columbia
Salesrank: 4237
Released: September 30, 2003 |
| Our Price: $3.00 |
| Used Price: $0.75 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook Track Listing:
1. You'll Never Know
2. This Ole House
3. On a Slow Boat to China
4. Hey There
5. Tenderly
6. Come On-A My House
7. Mambo Italiano
8. Sisters
9. Memories of You
10. In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening
11. White Christmas
Editorial Review:
It's nice to see Bette Midler putting her spin on an American classic after less-than-convincing detours through adult-contemporary cheese. This tribute focuses on Rosemary Clooney in the early to mid-1950s--so we don't get any of the fabulous Nelson Riddle material--but it's a fairly strong offering. It was produced and arranged by Midler's old musical director, Barry Manilow--who actually dueted with Clooney on a couple of songs in the 1990s and here replaces Bing Crosby on the duet "On a Slow Boat to China." Mostly, the CD is about hits: "Hey There" and "White Christmas" are done in straightforward manner, while Linda Ronstadt fills in for Rosemary's actual sister Betty on a slinky version of "Sisters." Happily, Midler plays "Come On-A My House" down instead of up (the old Bette would have milked its comic aspect) but the singer lets loose on "Mambo Italiano." That's pretty much the only time the Divine Miss M peeks out from behind Clooney's elegant persona, and it's a delight. --Elisabeth Vincentelli
Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook Reviews:
Better should just go ahead and do a Tom Waits album. 
2009-11-17 - Tom Waits wrote wonderful words for Bette a long time ago...you can hear the song "I Never talk To Strangers" on Bette's Broken BLossom, and in many ways, i think it's the best song on the album. (She duets with Tom)
So, forget Scarlett Johansson's attempt at singing Waits...let's hear Better do Heart Attack and Vine, Chocolate Jesus, TIme, Do The Hokey Pokey, Scarecrow, (Yeah, that's a real rarity...a holy grail of Tom's songs)...Soldier's Things, The Earth Died Screaming, In The Colosseum, (Perfect for her Vegas show) Invitation To The Blues, On The Nickel, Going Out West, Strange Weather, Blue Valentine, Annie, Burma Shave, Barber Shop, Muriel, and the classic, Foreign Affair.
It would be perfection.
By the way, Tom is going to be 60 this Dec 7. 2009. How are you celebrating?
Lots of Fun
2009-11-01 - Bette Midler does a bang up job on You'll Never Know and In the Cool, Cool, Cool, of the Evening. He duet with Barry Manilow doing On a Slow Boat to China is excellent. Great album, lots of fun.
inspirational
2009-02-25 - Whether you need this album for the memory, or just to listen to fine music, this set of tunes is a must.Bette honours the great lady and the Barry Manilow influence is worth every penny (or cent!).The Sony sound stage gives a superb quality of listening.
Bette Midler does herself proud reprising these classic Clooney tunes.
2008-08-30 - For whatever reason this was one disc that I had simply never even noticed before. While perusing the audio rack at my local library I happened upon "Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook". It was a rainy Saturday and I decided that this would be the perfect day to crash and check out some CD's. I am so glad that I did because as it turns out that this disc is a real keeper.
Released back in 2003, "Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook" features 11 of the legendary singers most popular songs. Of course I was curious as to how the producers would approach this material. And while I was pretty sure that Bette Midler had the pipes to pull it off I wondered if this would be an album that I would only listen to just once or something I would be eager to enjoy again and again. After hearing this disc but once I can say without equivocation that I would definitely fall into the latter category. Furthermore, I can attest to the fact that there really is not a bad track on this album. There are fresh new arrangements of Clooney favorites like "This Ole House", "Memories of You" and "Hey There". A really pleasant surprise was Bette's marvelous duet with producer Barry Manilow on the old Kay Kyser hit "On A Slow Boat To China". And speaking of duets, much to my surprise my favorite cut on this disc just has to be the remarkable duet with Linda Ronstadt called "Sisters". This tune was originally recorded by Rosemary and her sister Betty Clooney and appeared briefly on the charts back in 1954. Rosemary Clooney also performed the song in the classic Bing Crosby holiday film "White Christmas". Now the very idea of Bette Midler attempting the Mitch Miller inspired pop hits "Come On-A My House" and "Mambo Italiano" seems rather improbable but Bette Midler manages to pull it off with grace and style and makes these silly little songs all her own.
Unfortunately, there is only about 31 minutes worth of music to be had on "Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook". The problem is that everything on this disc is so good that it leaves you longing for more. It certainly would have been nice to hear Bette Midler's remarkable voice on tunes like "Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)", "I Could Have Danced All Night" and "Half As Much" to name but a few. That being said "Bette Midler Sings The Rosemary Clooney Songbook" is a first rate production. Indeed, this is a disc I can see myself playing frequently in the future. As a matter of fact I will be ordering my copy as soon as I finish this review. Very highly recommended!
Music Lover
2008-06-14 - Bette and Barry back together again! They make great music together! Rosemary Clooney is smiling from heaven! Midler's voice provides the great range and emotional sentiment of Rosemary's songs. The duet with Linda Ronstadt for "Sisters" was outstanding and joyful. The production of the cd by Barry Manilow is genius! Bette and Barry were meant to make music together!
Kimberly
