Jackpot: The Best Bette

Whether you're a fan of Bette Midler or not, you cannot deny the fact that the Divine Miss M. has an inimitable style of her own. In an era of generic, overproduced pop tarts, Bette Midler is immediately distinctive and distinguishable. No matter whose song she's singing, she always manages to make it her own.

Her latest CD is titled Jackpot: The Best Bette and it features nineteen songs spanning her more than three decade long career. Midler jives to Du-wop ditties like In the Mood and Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy, rocks out on the Stones Beast of Burden, breezes through the R&B ballad Just My Imagination and soars with standards such as Tenderly.

She is a truly versatile performer.

Her big hits are included--although I'm not much of a fan of the sappy Wind Beneath My Wings or the simplistic From a Distance. Her rendition of The Rose however, from her starring role in the movie of the same name, is just as achingly beautiful as ever.

I really dug her countrified take on the folksy This Ole House and the sultry stylings of the previously unreleased Something Your Heart Has Been Telling Me.

Here's the complete track listing:

1. In The Mood
2. This Ole House
3. Beast Of Burden
4. Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)
5. The Rose
6. When A Man Loves A Woman
7. I've Still Got My Health
8. Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most
9. Hello In There
10. The Glory Of Love
11. Tenderly
12. Wind Beneath My Wings
13. Do You Want To Dance?
14. Baby Mine
15. From A Distance
16. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
17. Friends
18. Something Your Heart Has Been Telling Me
19. Cool Yule

No matter what your musical tastes are, there's a bit of Bette for everyone!