The Best of Bette (1981 album)


The Best of Bette is a compilation album by American singer Bette Midler, released on the K-tel label in Australia and New Zealand in 1981. The album was the second compilation to use the title The Best of Bette, the previous version with different cover art and an entirely different track list having been released on the Atlantic Records label in both the UK, Continental Europe, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand in 1978.

Background

The K-tel compilation is highly notable in Midler's discography for a number of reasons, the first of them being that it was released by the US based K-tel label instead of Midler's original label Atlantic Records the disco-flavoured Thighs and Whispers the soundtrack The Rose and live recordings like "When A Man Loves A Woman", "Midnight In Memphis" and "Love With A Feeling" as well as the studio-recorded title track "The Rose" the soundtrack to the concert documentary Divine Madness and the tracks "My Mother's Eyes" and "Fire Down Below". The K-Tel compilation couples these with a few selections from the albums Broken Blossom and Live at Last such as "Say Goodbye To Hollywood" and "You're Moving Out Today", the latter, a rare single mix with an additional verse making its second appearance on a compilation album.
The pictures used for the cover of the K-Tel version of The Best of Bette show Midler in concert, taken from the movie The Rose.
The compilation is sometimes listed as having been released in 1980, other times in 1981. Considering the fact that the Divine Madness album was released worldwide in November 1980 it was more likely issued in 1981.
The first Bette Midler greatest hits compilation to be released worldwide, including the US and Canada, was 1993's Experience the Divine.

Track listings

Side A
  1. "The Rose" - 3:40
  2. * Original version appears on 1980 album The Rose
  3. "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" - 2:26
  4. * From 1972 album The Divine Miss M
  5. "When a Man Loves a Woman" - 4:42
  6. * From 1980 album The Rose
  7. "My Mother's Eyes" - 2:26
  8. * From 1980 album Divine Madness
  9. "Delta Dawn" - 5:16
  10. * From 1972 album The Divine Miss M
  11. "In the Mood" - 2:37
  12. * From 1973 album Bette Midler
  13. "Friends" - 2:49
  14. * From 1972 album The Divine Miss M
  15. "Do You Wanna Dance?" - 2:56
  16. * From 1972 album The Divine Miss M
Side B
  1. "Fire Down Below" - 3:05
  2. * From 1980 album Divine Madness
  3. "Say Goodbye to Hollywood"
  4. * From 1977 album Broken Blossom - 3:02
  5. "Married Men" - 4:01
  6. * From 1979 album Thighs and Whispers
  7. "My Knight In Black Leather" - 4:53
  8. * From 1979 album Thighs and Whispers
  9. "Midnight In Memphis" - 3:23
  10. * From 1980 album The Rose
  11. "Love Me With A Feeling" - 3:38
  12. * From 1980 album The Rose
  13. "You're Moving Out Today" - 3:18
  14. * Original version appears on 1977 album Live at Last
  15. "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" - 4:08
  16. * From 1973 album ''Bette Midler''