The Divine Miss M and the Queen of Soul have got gay music-lovers all worked up into a lather with the simultaneous release of their identically themed yet decidedly different new CDs. In Bette Midler's It's the Girls, she tips her hat to the girl groups who inspired her unique style. In Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, the great diva belts out tunes made famous by other divas, past and present. Sony's press release for the CD refers to Gloria Gaynor's classic anthem "I Will Survive" as "The Aretha Version," which says it all. Franklin's powerful pipes are like no one else's. Both ladies are now of a "certain age" �" somewhere between 40 and death, as was said in Mame. They look amazing, and sound even better. The passing of the years has not in any way diminished the power in their iconic voices.
Miss M has fun with It's the Girls. In promo videos now posted at YouTube, she appears with a massive head of flipped hair, and is clad in colorful, tight, knee-length skirts with fabulous high heels. Bette is ready to go out for an evening of dinner and dancing, circa 1962. For much of the CD, Midler channels the showgirl we know and love. On lively renditions of the Chordettes' "Mr. Sandman" or the Andrews Sisters' "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon," a Yiddish pop classic that dates back to the 1930s, Bette sings with that familiar, gleeful twinkle in her voice. Always able to move effortlessly from the campily comedic to the serious, Bette's voice takes on a heartfelt tone with a lovely rendition of the Shirelles' "Baby It's You."
Bette has always been able to show her serious side. Her take on TLC's "Waterfall," a sad ballad about a young life lost, is a heartbreaker. Four decades after her appearances at the Continental Baths in New York, where she first cultivated her gay audience, the Divine Miss M shows her audience that she still has it.
As Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics begins, listeners might think that they're hearing an old Etta James album on vinyl. The familiar orchestrations of James' legendary "At Last" are enough to whisk you away to another time and place. As soon as Franklin's thunderous vocals are heard, you'll be jarred back to our time. Few singers can belt or hold a note as powerfully as Aretha Franklin. Her take on "At Last" is chilling, true to the James version, but still imbued with Franklin's unique style.
Franklin puts her own stamp on classics like Gladys Knight's "Midnight Train to Georgia" and Barbra Streisand's "People." It's called soul music for a reason, and the Queen of the Genre doesn't sing these numbers, she feels them. She makes the listener feel them as well. When she performs Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," you know that she's a survivor. She takes no prisoners.
"I'm saving all my loving for someone who's loving me," Franklin sings. Then she speaks: "Me! Me! " Don't mess with the Diva.