Bathhouse Betty

Japanese edition of the actress/ vocalist's 1998 album with album with 'Heaven' added as a hidden bonus track. 13 trackstotal, also including 'My One True Friend' from the hit 1998film 'One True Thing' starring Meryl Streep, William Hurt & Renee Zellweger. A Warner Brothers release.

Bathhouse Betty's title harks back to Midler's early days as a favorite of the Manhattan gay community. Its eclectic, surprisingly strong choice of material also recalls the triumphs of her first two albums. Here she discovers a sassy new anthem in "I'm Beautiful," adds Dave Frishberg's wry "I'm Hip" for good measure, and also makes room for R&B classics like Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles' "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman" and Big Maybelle's "One Monkey Don't Stop No Show." Singer-songwriters Leonard Cohen ("Song of Bernadette") and Ben Folds ("Boxing," an imagined monologue by Muhammad Ali) help offset the bathos of "My One True Friend," the latest in Midler's series of instant-standard ballads. --Rickey Wright