About Ethan Nahté
Location: Dallas
Occupation: Video & Film Producer/Director, Journalist, Titan Comics, Broadcast Coordinator
Bio: Began playing music in clubs @ the age of 13 while simultaneously getting published in school mags. Moved on to TV and has shot everything from naked women to wolves! He's traveled a 1/2 mile under the earth and a 1/2 mile above with his cameras! Currently working on a documentary, a book and attempts to sleep. LIVE'N'LOUD
Posts: 281
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Bette’s Back with her first ever holiday album called Cool Yule. The buxom chanteuse with a sense of humor and a lot of spunk has laid down 11 tracks for this holiday season that includes some remakes of well known songs and a new take on her own song “From A Distance.” Some of the better known melodies are “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” a fun medley duet with Johnny Mathis as they trade off lyrics on “Winter Wonderland & Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!,” a beautiful string dominant version of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and “White Christmas.”
Other songs that may not be as well known is the new song and title track, “Cool Yule” and a bouncy Hawaiian Christmas song (Midler was born in Hawaii) called “Mele Kalikimaka.” Midler’s voice shines on all of the songs and is as smooth and silky as ever.
Another thing I actually liked about this album is that it has a lot of orchestra arrangements as well as some jazzy portions, like on “Cool Yule” that just make portions of this album bop along at a good pace and almost made me forget I was listening to Christmas music (which I normally hate). I almost felt like I was in a swinging, hip jazz club with a big band backing the Divine Miss M as she graced the stage. It seems odd (to me at least) that a Jewish songstress would sing Christmas songs instead of Hanukkah tunes, but I guess if Streisand can do it so can Midler. The only complaint some fans may have is that the CD is relatively short at approximately 35 minutes considering that most albums are over an hour long nowadays. But hey, just throw this jazzy mix in with a Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas CD and yule be enjoying a swinging holiday party.
You can hear samples of the new album on Midler’s site or you can see a video sample of her in the studio at amazon.com.
Genre: Jazz/Seasonal
Best Song: Cool Yule
Sounds Like: A hip big band belting out holiday cheer
