Bette Midler has been pushed so hard and so fast I naturally assumed she was not just a hype but destined to become a fad, perhaps earning enormous stardom for a while, but spending those earnings lightning fast. Now we have The Divine Miss M, which proves me wrong at the same time that it proves Miss M to be one hell of a talent. Tom Jones will burn himself out because his ratio is wrong—25 percent art, 75 percent artifice. Elvis Presley can record one of the five biggest singles of this year, almost two decades after he released his first, because his ratio is right—100 percent talent, 100 percent artifice. You can't have too much of the second as long as you have the first.
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And Bette Midler has both.
In a scene so dominated by trends, it is reassuring to see that if time seldom makes amends for undeserved obscurity, in the end it very often separates the deserved from the undeserved successes. It may be the gimmickry and publicity surrounding Bette Midler that will make her album one of the biggest-selling debuts of the year, but it is her own ability that will sustain her career. In the same way, a variety of factors helped bring Barbra Streisand her initial acclaim, but only her talent has kept her going 12 years after that fact.
By talent I don't mean technical virtuosity (although in Streisand's case, that can't be overlooked), but only the consistent ability to express oneself through his work. On Live, Barbra doesn't just express through, but trounces upon—dominates and overpowers—the music with the self-assurance that only years of unquestioned success, coupled with a continuing desire to reprove oneself, can bring. She remains most at ease with pop music—my favorite on this album is "On a Clear Day (You Can See Forever)," which she sang so beautifully in Vincente Minnelli's marvelous movie of the same name—while she continues to deal with rock as a concession to the changing taste of her audience. Rather the opposite of Presley, who sings pop as a concession and the rock as a natural expression.
Thus, she jokes about the fact that she has to read the words to "Stoney End" because she hasn't sung the song in two years. And she sings "Sweet Inspiration" without ever betraying the fact that someone else once had a million seller with the same song. "Where You Lead" seems to hit her closer to home, and her reading of the lyrics sounds appropriately more personal. In fact, because the last two are done as a medley, the difference in her feeling for them is exceptionally striking.
And yet the shortcomings never really seem to matter. There is something about that big, beautiful, instantly recognizable voice singing in front of a strictly pro big band (playing off of some very classy charts) that casts a shadow over the material. As with Presley, the songs are overwhelmed by the artist. Within her medium Streisand may pick them better, but as with him, it is alw
