ARTIST: Bette Midler
TITLE: Sings The Peggy Lee Songbook
LABEL: Columbia
GENRE: Pop
BITRATE: 182kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 0h 33min total
RELEASE DATE: 2005-10-25
RIP DATE: 2005-10-19
Track List
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01. Fever 3:38
02. Alright, Okay, You Win 2:48
03. I Love Being Here With You 2:46
(Duet With Barry Manilow)
04. Happiness Is A Thing Called 4:54
Joe
05. Is That All There Is? 4:26
06. I'm A Woman 2:28
07. He's A Tramp 2:39
08. The Folks Who Live On The Hill 3:07
09. Big Spender 2:18
10. Mr. Wonderful 4:32
Release Notes:
Bette Midler and musical director Barry Manilow follow their successful
tribute to Rosemary Clooney with a collection of songs immortalized by
Peggy Lee. It starts off with the inevitable "Fever," which Midler does
in a brassy, finger-snapping way that would feel more at home at the
Sands c. 1960 than in a dimly lit 1950s boudoir. It's a deliberate,
clever choice that works for Midler. The selection hits predictable
bases ("Is That All There Is?", "Big Spender") but it's hard to argue
when those bases are so loaded. Midler actually sounds a lot more at
ease than on the Clooney disc. She handles the upbeat material as well
as could be expected, but she also shines on the slower numbers,
delivering sultry takes on "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe," "I'm a
Woman," and "He's a Tramp" (a song copenned by Lee, from the Disney
movie Lady and the Tramp). The neglected gem in the collection is
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's "The Folks Who Live on the
Hill," popularized by Irene Dunne in 1937 before being covered by Lee.
Manilow's arrangements are deliciously lush and Midler uses a slight
vibrato at carefully chosen moments, somehow sounding as if she had
suddenly been lifted back to the 1940s. It's a real treat that
epitomizes an accomplished album.