Despite Bette Midler's bawdy, cartoonish image, her albums are almost always classy A/C collections that are often buried under overproduction.
So on Some People's Lives, one of the singer's strongest collections, it isn't surprising that the only hit, "From a Distance," a song of hope and peace, is in keeping with much of her material -- namely poor production that is buoyed by her sterling vocals and strong lyrics.
Aside from that, however, Some People's Lives is a smooth collection of standards like Cole Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets" and contemporary cuts like Diane Warren's "Moonlight Dancing." Kicking off with the punchy "One More Round," Midler sets the stage for sassy up-tempo numbers, then slides into the title song, a haunting ballad of despair that shows she is on more solid ground than ever.
This is Midler at her best -- playful, yearning, brassy, regretful -- and that is mostly because producer Arif Mardin surrounds his star with respectful production that matches her talent while accenting her strengths.
Standouts are the title cut, "Miss Otis Regrets," "He Was Too Good to Me/Since You Stayed Here," and "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most.".
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | One More RoundJessica Harper, Danny Sembello, Allee Willis | Bette Midler | Play | 02:04 | 4 MB | 12 MB |
| 2 | Some People's LivesRhonda Fleming, Janis Ian | Bette Midler | Play | 03:29 | 8 MB | 16 MB |
| 3 | Miss Otis RegretsCole Porter | Bette Midler | Play | 02:51 | 6 MB | 19 MB |
| 4 | Night and DayBillie Hughes, Roxanne Seeman | Bette Midler | Play | 05:30 | 12 MB | 35 MB |
| 5 | The Girl Is on to YouJude Johnstone | Bette Midler | Play | 04:10 | 9 MB | 24 MB |
| 6 | From a DistanceJulie Gold | Bette Midler | Play | 04:37 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 7 | Moonlight DancingDiane Warren | Bette Midler | Play | 04:39 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 8 | All of a SuddenNathalie Archangel, Scott Wilk | Bette Midler | Play | 04:33 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 9 | The Gift of LoveTom Kelly, Billy Steinberg | Bette Midler | Play | 04:01 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 10 | Spring Can Really Hang You Up The 5 | Bette Midler | Play | 05:30 | 12 MB | 31 MB |
| 11 | He Was Too Good To Me Since You | Bette Midler | Play | 04:12 | 9 MB | 20 MB |
| 45 mins | 105 MB | |||||
| 45 mins | 272 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nathalie Archangel | Composer |
| 2 | Gene Bertoncini | Guitar |
| 3 | Michael Boddicker | Synthesizer |
| 4 | Phil Bodner | Clarinet, Soloist |
| 5 | Robbie Buchanan | Arranger, Keyboards, Programming |
| 6 | Marsha Burns | Production Coordination |
| 7 | Ron Carter | Bass |
| 8 | Gary Coleman | Percussion |
| 9 | Charlotte Crossley | Vocals (Background) |
| 10 | Frank DeCaro | Orchestra Contractor |
| 11 | Bob Defrin | Art Direction |
| 12 | Bruce Dukov | Concert Master |
| 13 | Ken Felton | Assistant Engineer |
| 14 | Rhonda Fleming | Composer |
| 15 | Eddie Garcia | Engineer, Mixing |
| 16 | Vicky Germaise | Coordination |
| 17 | Andrew Gold | Guitar, Soloist |
| 18 | Julie Gold | Composer |
| 19 | Greg Gorman | Photography |
| 20 | Jessica Harper | Composer |
| 21 | Jo Ann Harris | Vocals (Background) |
| 22 | Rob Harvey | Assistant Engineer |
| 23 | Ula Hedwig | Vocals (Background) |
| 24 | Cissy Houston | Vocals (Background) |
| 25 | Billie Hughes | Arranger, Composer |
| 26 | Janis Ian | Composer |
| 27 | Jude Johnstone | Composer |
| 28 | Tom Kelly | Composer, Vocal Arrangement, Vocals (Background) |
| 29 | Ed Korengo | Assistant Engineer |
| 30 | Steve Kroon | Percussion |
| 31 | Michael Landau | Guitar |
| 32 | Fran Landesman | Composer |
| 33 | Peter Larson | Composer |
| 34 | David Lasley | Vocals (Background) |
| 35 | Bernie Layton | Piano |
| 36 | Jay Leonhart | Bass |
| 37 | Bob Loftus | Assistant Engineer |
| 38 | Lisa Maldonado | Coordination |
| 39 | Arif Mardin | Arranger, Conductor, Orchestral Arrangements, Orchestration, Producer |
| 40 | Joe Mardin | Arranger, Conductor, Engineer, Keyboards, Mixing, Programming, Soloist, Vocals (Background) |
| 41 | John McCurry | Guitar |
| 42 | George Merrill | Vocals (Background) |
| 43 | Bette Midler | Primary Artist, Vocals |
| 44 | Gabriel Moffat | Assistant Engineer |
| 45 | Clif Norrell | Assistant Engineer |
| 46 | Michael O'Reilly | Engineer, Mixing |
| 47 | Gene Orloff | Concert Master, Conductor, Orchestra Contractor |
| 48 | Sid Page | Concert Master |
| 49 | Dean Parks | Guitar |
| 50 | Cole Porter | Composer |
| 51 | Jack Joseph Puig | Engineer, Mixing |
| 52 | Radio Choir of New Hope Church | Vocals (Background) |
| 53 | Guy Roche | Programming |
| 54 | Josh Rubins | Composer |
| 55 | Nick Sansano | Engineer, Mixing |
| 56 | Anthony Saunders | Assistant Engineer |
| 57 | Doug Sax | Mastering |
| 58 | Roxanne Seeman | Composer |
| 59 | Danny Sembello | Composer |
| 60 | Marc Shaiman | Arranger, Associate Producer, Conductor, Piano, Rhythm Arrangements, Vocal Arrangement |
| 61 | Steve Skinner | Arranger |
| 62 | Myrna Smith | Vocals (Background) |
| 63 | Andy Snitzer | Sax (Soprano), Saxophone, Soloist |
| 64 | Jamey Staub | Assistant Engineer |
| 65 | Billy Steinberg | Composer |
| 66 | Neil Stubenhaus | Bass |
| 67 | Grady Tate | Drums |
| 68 | Nino Tempo | Sax (Tenor), Soloist |
| 69 | Eugene VanBuren | Vocals (Background) |
| 70 | Carlos Vega | Drums |
| 71 | Maria Vidal | Vocals (Background) |
| 72 | Diane Warren | Composer |
| 73 | John West | Vocals (Background) |
| 74 | Scott Wilk | Composer |
| 75 | Allee Willis | Composer |
| 76 | Tommy Wolf | Composer |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |