Atlantic
1979
Thighs and Whispers
About This Album
The Divine Miss M's sixth release on Atlantic, and the one right before The Rose, finds the singer reunited with producer Arif Mardin, who contributed to her self-titled second album. Despite Bette Midler being in fine voice for Thighs and Whispers, a play on the title Cries and Whispers, a 1972 offering from film director Ingmar Bergman, and outside of a terrific version of Johnny Bristol's 1974 Top Ten solo hit "Hang on in There Baby," this 1979 disc is stuck in the '70s when an artist of Midler's stature should have made a recording that was her ode to the decade of decadence. The disco beat on most of the album is an irritant years later, though, as stated, Motown producer Johnny Bristol's "Hang on tn There Baby" survives the incessant drum/high hat sound. "Big Noise From Winnetka," sadly, does not, a future anachronism Mardin avoided with former Midler backup singer Melissa Manchester when "You Should Hear How She Talks About You" added rock to the dance vibe three years later in 1982. "Millworker" and "Cradle Days" are more traditional Midler and for that reason they entertain, her strengths are formidable, and here she goes to those areas of power.
Track List

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