Experience the Divine: Greatest Hits (CD - 1993)

Personnel includes: Bette Midler (vocals); Michael Landau, Dickie Frank, Buzzy Feiten, Danny Weiss (guitar); Gene Orloff, Emanuel Green (violin); Selwart Clarke (viola); Kermit Moore (cello); Elizabeth Kane (harp); Phil Bodner (clarinet); Norton Buffalo (harmonica, trombone, background vocals); Jerry Jumonville (saxophone); Mark Underwood, Miles Krasner (trumpet); Marc "Caz" Macino (horns); Barry Manilow, Bernie Layton, Marc Shaiman (piano); Robbie Buchanan (keyboards); Michael Federal (bass, background vocals); Neil Stubenhaus, Ron Carter, Francisco Centeno (bass); Ray Lucas, Carlos Vega, Grady Tate, Buddy Williams (drums); Ralph McDonald, Joseph Mero (percussion); Cissy Houston, Melissa Manchester (background vocals).

Producers includes: Arif Mardin, Barry Manilow, Geoffrey Haslam, Ahmet Ertegun, Chuck Plotkin.

Compilation producers: Arif Mardin & Bette Midler.

Digitally remastered by Doug Sax (The Mastering Lab).

A well-chosen best-of collection that covers Bette Midler's career up to 1993, EXPERIENCE THE DIVINE hits all the familiar high points. Yes, "The Rose" and "Wind Beneath My Wings" are here--along with longtime favorites like her sultry version of the old 1960s dance hit "Do You Wanna Dance?" and her theatrical take on Tom Waits's "Shiver Me Timbers." Midler's true genius--a quality that only her biggest fans have noticed over the years--is the way that she's casually, almost surreptitiously, updated the Great American Songbook, showing how familiar pre-rock standards, including "One for My Baby (And One More for the Road)" and Cole Porter's "Miss Otis Regrets" fit seamlessly next to songs like the girl-group classic "Chapel of Love" and John Prine's "Hello in There." EXPERIENCE THE DIVINE might feel cursory to devoted fans, but for casual listeners, this disc--along with perhaps her still-exciting debut, THE DIVINE MISS M--is definitive. minimize