Bette Midler: Songs For The New Depression (1976)

By 1976, the Divine Miss M was having a spectacular run. Her debut album "The Divine Miss M" had been released in late 1972 on Atlantic Records, producing some of her most beloved classics "Do You Want to Dance?", "Chapel of Love", "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and "Friends". It had also scored Bette the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1973.

The follow-up followed that same year, with the eponymous "Bette Midler", another classic consolidating the excitement, fun and emotion of her debut offering.

By 1974, Bette had won a Special Tony Award for her production of "Clams on the Half Shell Revue", which had played at New York's Minskoff Theater (later home to such musicals as Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard", "Dance of the Vampires", "Fiddler on the Roof" and Disney's "The Lion King".) She had also done animation work as Woody the Spoon in the American educational TV series "Vegetable Soup". Thank you, Uncle Wiki, for bringing me up to scratch on that. (I knew about the clams but not the soup.)

On 8 January 1976 Bette's third album "Songs for the New Depression" emerged on the Atlantic Records label. However it did not have the involvement of Barry Manilow who had worked with Bette on her previous two albums. They would eventually reunite over thirty years later (I mean ten years because the Divine Miss M hasn't really aged all that much) for the 2005 album "Bette Midler Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook". We will look at that later on.

This time the recording featured an assortment of producers like Joel Dorn, Ahmet Ertegun, Arif Mardin, Mark "Moogy" Klingman, Jack Malken and even Bette herself. This was not only Bette's debut as a record producer but a sound engineer also, not to mention her first work as a songwriter on two offerings here, "Mr. Rockefeller" (which was apparently sampled by Kanye West on his debut album) and "Samedi et Vendredi", part of Bette’s original studio version of Tom Waits' "Shiver Me Timbers".

Musicians wise, we have appearances here from Luther Vandross arranging and providing backing vocals on opening song "Stranger in the Night", Todd Rundgren with guitar and backing vocals on "I Don't Want the Night to End" and "No Jestering", Sivuca the jazz accordionist appearing on "Shiver Me Timbers", Bob Dylan singing with Bette on "Buckets of Rain", and more.

Single wise, "Songs for the New Depression" had three releases: "Strangers in the Night" which managed Number 7 on the US dance charts, followed by "Samedi et Vendredi" and "Old Cape Cod".

Album wise, "New Depression" has slipped a little from the previous outings, reaching as high as 27 on the US Billboard 200 and 50 in Australia, but this is still good. It has continued the excellent work from "The Divine Miss M" and "Bette Midler", and in fact it even includes two songs that had originally been recorded during "The Divine Miss M" sessions, i.e. "Old Cape Cod" and "Marahuana". So the re-use of the back cover image of "Divine" is not the only connection these albums provide. Incidentally, I always thought that was really cool.

I had not *heard* this album until about a year ago. I shit you not, excuse my language there. "Songs for the New Depression" was not an album that you would just find sitting among the Bette Midler section at a music store. Then as I began collecting second hand albums from op shops, markets and online, locating this CD turned into a nightmare. This wasn't Divine Madness. It was just plain madness. If it weren't for the 5CD set that was put out a couple years ago now, I don't know what I would have done. Find a new turntable!

So let's have a look at this album then.

"Strangers in the Night" --- we begin with the single, a disco version of the Frank Sinatra classic. From the beginning, this marks a difference from the previous two albums. The artist is evolving. This also connects with the future LP "Thighs and Whispers", which is rapidly becoming one of my favourite ever Bette albums.

"I Don't Want the Night to End" --- now we get this mellow little song from songwriter Phoebe Snow. I would have released this as a single too.

"Mr. Rockefeller" --- oh my! This song is a riot to me. I adore it from beginning to end.

"Old Cape Cod" --- here is the first of the two songs that originated from "The Divine Miss M" sessions. You can now hear these versions on "The Divine" deluxe set from a few years ago, although I haven't heard it yet. This is one of my favourites of this album. It feels like a movie, or a musical, and of course these are areas where Bette would also excel.

"Buckets of Rain" --- here it is, ladies and gentlemen, Bette is recording a duet with Bob Dylan on a song also written by Bob Dylan. And yet this was a hard album for me to find on CD. What?

"Love Says it's Waiting" --- another song that feels like it could be from a movie or musical or TV show. This comes from a piece called "The Promise Suite" by Nick Holmes.

"Shiver Me Timbers/Samedi et Vendredi" --- the first Bette album I ever listened to was "Experience the Divine" in 1998. "Shiver Me Timbers" is a moment that's stuck with me from that compilation. That version came from Bette's "Live at Last" 1977 LP. This is the original studio one. They are both special to me, and then there's the earworm song thrown into the bargain. Seriously, I got "Samedi et Vendredi" stuck in my day all day.

"No Jestering" --- another ear worm, this time featuring work from guitarist, songwriter and producer Todd Rundgren. I would have released this as a single too.

"Tragedy" --- when I first saw this title, I thought Bette might have somehow recorded the song by the Bee Gees. This is completely different and it's a great 70s Bette classic. Keep this one in mind if you're going to listen to this album.

"Marahuana" --- the other song from "The Divine Miss M" sessions, remixed for "Songs for the New Depression". It was originally from a 1934 film called "Murder at the Vanities" based on a 1933 musical of the same name. I almost feel like I'm listening to something from a dark, grown-up version of one of the 1940s Disney package movies.

"Let me Just Follow Behind" --- the album ends with this intimate little moment, a moment that gets lost if you're listening to these albums together. You need a little breather, so you can just appreciate it that extra bit more. It's the opposite to "Friends" and "Higher and Higher" from the last two albums too. It's just a nice little moment.

And there you have it. Next up: Bette is live AT LAST, in the same year as "Broken Blossom". I look forward to that.

Thank you so much for reading,

Ryan.

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