Bette Midler: Some People's Lives (1990)

By the end of the 1980s, Bette Midler had done remarkably well in both her singing and acting career, with songs like "Wind beneath my Wings" from "Beaches" which Bette had also starred in, to films like "Down and Out in Beverly Hills", "Ruthless People", "Outrageous Fortune", "Big Business", and even one of the main characters in Disney's "Oliver & Company".

Something Bette hadn't done, since 1983, was release a new album that wasn't a) a studio album, b) a live album or c) a soundtrack. That would all change on 4 September 1990 when her seventh studio album since 1972's "The Divine Miss M" was released on Atlantic Records. According to Aunty Wiki, "Some People's Lives" "became the biggest commercial success of Midler's musical career." Following on the heels of one of her most iconic songs, "Wind beneath my Wings", this must have been amazing.

As Aunty Wiki goes on to tell us, this album has more in common with "Beaches" as opposed to Bette's sixth studio album, "No Frills". Actually, it's interesting they mention that, because for a while there I thought "Only in Miami" had been taken from "Some People's Lives". I can also imagine "Miss Otis Regrets" being perfectly at home somewhere on "No Frills" too.

With that said, this absolutely feels like it could have been the soundtrack for a sequel to "Beaches". The cover even reminds me of C.C. Bloom with Bette's red hair, but to be fair the Divine Miss M was always known for her red locks. "One More Round", "Some People's Lives", "Miss Otis Regrets", and even the single "From a Distance", really the whole album if I think about it, could be moments from C.C.'s life. But then if I'm thinking C.C., almost all of Bette's albums could have been C.C. moments. Let's just say that "Some People's Lives" reminds me of both "Beaches" and "No Frills" but to a lesser extent.

This album sees Bette reuniting once again with producer Arif Mardin and working with a new crop of songwriting talent, along with some former faces and some brilliant new cover versions. These writers include Jessica Harper, Danny Sembello and Allee Willis on "One More Round", Rhonda Fleming and Janis Ian on "Some People's Lives", Cole Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets", Fran Landesman and Tommy Wolf's "Spring Can Really Hang you up the Most", and Billie Hughes and Roxanne Seeman on "Night and Day" which takes us to the end of the A side.

On the B side, we have Jude Johnston on "The Girl is on to you", Julie Gold's "From a Distance", "Moonlight Dancing" by Diane Warren, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's "He Was Too Good to Me" which appears as a composite with "Since You Stayed Here" by Peter Larson and Josh Rubins, Nathalie Archangel and Scott Wilk on "All of a Sudden", and Tom Kelly, Billy Steinberg and Susanna Hoffs on "The Gift of Love" which gets a whole compilation named after it in 2015.

Commercially speaking, Aunty Wiki is right about this album's success. It manages #6 on the US Billboard 200, reaching #5 on UK Albums, #7 on the Australian Albums (ARIA) chart and a somewhat less impressive #10 in New Zealand, and so on. The album was awarded double platinum status by the Recording Industry Sales of America for two million copies in the U.S. Our Divine Miss Bloom has done very well indeed.

Singles wise, there were four released from this album, including "From a Distance", "Night and Day", "Moonlight Dancing" and "Night and Day", all of which seem like very sensible choices indeed. I would have added "Some People's Lives" and "Miss Otis Regrets" to that list. "Miss Otis Regrets" could have had a fantastic video too.

As we know now, "From a Distance" gave Bette another classic. It managed #1 on the US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) chart while reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. On the UK Singles (OCC) chart it went #6 while reaching a very impressive #3 in New Zealand and Ireland. Australia is somewhat less impressive this time with #8 and knowing the popularity of this song, I'm almost surprised that it wasn't higher here. "Night and Day" managed #84 in Australia and #15 on US Adult Contemporary while landing at #62 on the Billboard Hot 100. With two more singles following, overall this is a very impressive release indeed. Are we to expect some kind of reissue from the record company at some point? I really hope so.

I first heard this album when I came across our copy of the cassette single for "From a Distance". I began playing it repeatedly, along with the catchy B side "One More Round", until I was bought a copy of "Experience the Divine" and could listen to about 18 Bette songs to my heart's content. I eventually found this album on both vinyl and CD second hand and have treasured my copies ever since. Let's have a look at these songs.

"One More Round"---I just love this thing from beginning to end. I almost wonder how you couldn't love it or find it delightfully random.

"Some People's Lives"---like "Beaches" and "The Divine Miss M" and so many other Bette albums, this shows the diversity of Bette's song choices. This is the other side of "One More Round" and it's a gripping little song that I think they should have released as a single and video.

"Miss Otis Regrets"---I have loved this moment since I heard it for the very first time on "Experience the Divine". Only by hearing the album version do you get the funny little intro at the start. Bette was my introduction to this classic by Cole Porter.

"Spring Can Really Hang you up the Most"---I've always been struck by that title, really impressed by it. The song sounds like something I can imagine hearing in an episode of "The Nanny". I really, really like this one.

"Night and Day"---I can totally see why they released this as a single. It's not the second single I would have released from it though. I would have given that honour to "Some People's Lives", but this is a solid song and deserved to be released as a single too.

"The Girl is on to you"---without a doubt in my mind whatsoever, I would have released this as a single. It is so catchy and memorable.

"From a Distance"---and this is the big one. Bette would record it again for her 2006 Christmas album "Cool Yule" and from what I remember of that version, I thought she managed to recapture the magic in a different way. In some sense, this is my first Bette Midler song, so it will always have a special place.

"Moonlight Dancing"---apparently the single version samples Bette's "Do You Want to Dance?" which means this could almost be like a sequel in some sense. I'm really down with that and wish I could hear that single version. Even on the album, Bette hints at it with "Do you... Do you..."

"He Was Too Good to Me/Since You Stayed Here"---this is one of the real highlights for me. I'm guessing Michael Crawford heard this album at some point, because a few years later he also does a nice version of "Since You Stayed Here" too. I can see why, because it's such a beautiful little song.

"All of a Sudden"---I can see why this one works, and it's a real earworm, but this is still growing on me. I can totally see it working as a single too.

"The Gift of Love"---there's a reason why this song reminded me of the Bangles "Eternal Flame". The same songwriters worked on both. I almost wonder if Bette could have just recorded that, but I love the little connection.

That brings us not only to the end of the album, folks, but the 1980s and the start of the 1990s. Coming up for Bette, we have the 1991 soundtrack "For the Boys", followed by her career-spanning compilation "Experience the Divine", her 1993 turn as Rose in the legendary musical "Gypsy" and a very interesting one for me, 1995's "Bette of Roses". Thank you for reading.

Thank you,

Ryan.