Experience The Divine: Greatest Hits

iTunes Review

Enduring diva, show biz trooper, force of nature — you can plaster Bette Midler with labels and still not cover the scope of her talents. Outrageous and sentimental, singing with her tongue in her cheek and her heart on her sleeve, Bette barnstormed her way to fame with 1972’s The Divine Miss M and has remained an entertainment icon ever since. Experience the Divine looks back over nearly 30 years worth of Midler recordings. These tunes comprise a one-woman variety show of contrasting styles — melancholy jazz (“One For My Baby”), steamy rock ‘n’ roll (“Beast of Burden”), poignant folk (“Hello in There”), jangly power-pop (“Favorite Waste of Time”), and throbbing dance tracks (“To Deserve You”) are united by the sheer force of Bette’s personality. Midler’s unashamedly schmaltzy way with a ballad is represented by such signature songs as “The Rose,” “Wind Beneath My Wings,” and “From a Distance.” Just as essential are boisterous show-stoppers like “Friends,” “Only in Miami,” and her frenetic remake of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.” Die-hard fans might miss the absence of “Twisted” and “Buckets of Rain,” but on the whole Experience the Divine covers the major bases of Midler’s genre-jumping, chutzpah-powered career.