Cool Yule
Bette Midler
Johnny Mathis
Producer: Robbie Buchanan
Columbia (USA), 2006
1 CD
Catalogue #: 62662
EAN: 0828768626627
UPC: 828768626627
You save: 20%
Personnel include: Bette Midler (vocals); Deantoni Parks (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Doug Livingston (steel guitar); Randy Waldman (keyboards); Dave Carpenter (upright bass); Vinnie Colaiuta (drums); Bashiri Johnson (percussion); Fonzi Thornton (background vocals).
Recording information: Capitol Studios, Hollywood, California.
It seems odd that Bette Midler didn't release her first Christmas album until 2006, but COOL YULE proves worth the wait. A solid collection of seasonal favorites, the album features Midler in typically excellent voice backed with a kicky jazz combo and orchestra. Along with the usual standards, Midler dips into more personal waters, recalling her own Hawaiian childhood with the traditional island tune "Mele Kalikimaka" and performing a tongue-in-cheek rewrite of her previous hit "From A Distance." A duet with Johnny Mathis on a medley of Yuletide favorites is equally endearing.
Tracklist
Bette Midler
Honolulu-born Bette Midler's flamboyant stage persona, born in the 1970s (though she had been singing professionally in the 1960s), is what makes people take notice, but the self-proclaimed Divine Miss M is more than a singing comedienne. In addition to being a skilled TV and film actress, she's also a canny interpreter of pop and novelty songs in a multitude of genres, some ranging back as far as the Jazz Age. She's tackled everything from the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden" to an album's worth of Rosemary Clooney-associated tunes with equal aplomb, and has made a splash on the silver screen many times (THE ROSE, SCENES FROM A MALL, BEACHES, and numerous others).
Johnny Mathis
Although Johnny Mathis got his start as a jazz singer, his velvety 1956 hit "Wonderful, Wonderful" set the course for the rest of his career as a smooth pop crooner and key supplier of make-out music. He maintained a steady career course over the following decades, and in the late '70s enjoyed a renewed popularity, scoring a few high-charting duets with Deniece Williams. One of the most popular recording artists of all time, Mathis has reputedly sold over 350 million records, and his 1958 greatest-hits collection--the first compilation of its kind--stayed on the U.S. charts for almost 10 years. Past his 50th year in show business, Mathis was still recording and performing, his special brand of silky pop balladeering never quite falling out of favor.
