No Frills (Bette Midler album)

Last updated
No Frills
NoFrills.jpg
Studio album by
Bette Midler
ReleasedAugust 1, 1983
Recorded1983
Studio
Genre Pop, rock
Length38:08
Label Atlantic
Producer Chuck Plotkin
Bette Midler chronology
The Best of Bette
(1981)		No Frills
(1983)		 Mud Will Be Flung Tonight
(1985)
Singles from No Frills
  1. "All I Need to Know"
    Released: 1983
  2. "Favorite Waste of Time"
    Released: 1983
  3. "Beast of Burden"
    Released: February 10, 1984
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Robert Christgau B− [2]
Q Star full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [4]

No Frills is the sixth studio album by American singer Bette Midler, released on Atlantic Records in 1983. No Frills was Midler's first studio album in four years, following the films The Rose , Divine Madness! and Jinxed! . The rock and new wave-influenced album was produced by Chuck Plotkin, best known for his work with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and included three single releases; the ballad "All I Need to Know", a cover of Marshall Crenshaw's "You're My Favorite Waste of Time" and Midler's take on the Rolling Stones song "Beast of Burden".

Contents

Release

While No Frills became Midler's second lowest-charting album in the US, peaking at #60 on Billboard (her 1979 disco album Thighs and Whispers charted at #65), it became her best-selling studio album to date in both continental Europe and Scandinavia; in West Germany it reached #15, in the Netherlands #10, in Norway #2 and in Sweden No Frills hit No. 1, outselling the Rose soundtrack.

"Beast of Burden" was a top 10 single in many parts of Europe. The promo video for the song, made during the early MTV era, featured Mick Jagger in a cameo role playing Midler's boyfriend. The soundtrack to the video including the spoken dialogue (with Midler famously telling Jagger "Just stay long enough to hear me sing your song; I sing it better than anybody"; Jagger then replies: "Well almost anybody....") was released on the B-side of the 12" single in Europe. In September 1984, the video was nominated for three MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video, Best Choreography, and Best Stage Performance Video.

Midler originally intended to include a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac" on the album instead of "Beast of Burden", but was blocked from releasing it by Springsteen himself, who said it wasn't a "girl's song". She hastily recorded the Rolling Stones cover to fill its place. However, she performed "Pink Cadillac" on her 1983 tour to promote the album.

When Midler's greatest hits compilation Experience the Divine was released in 1993, only one song from No Frills was included, "Only in Miami", an album track never released as a single in either the US or Europe. A second edition of the compilation with a revised track list, released in 1996, added both "Beast of Burden" and "Favorite Waste of Time".

No Frills was released on CD for the first time in 1983. A remastered version of the album was released by Atlantic Records/Warner Music in 1995.

Track listing

Side A

  1. "Is It Love" (Nick Gilder, James McCulloch) - 4:43
  2. "Favorite Waste of Time" (Marshall Crenshaw) - 2:43
  3. "All I Need to Know" (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Tom Snow) - 4:08
  4. "Only in Miami" (Max Gronenthal) - 4:35
  5. "Heart Over Head" (Andy Goldmark, Robin Batteau, Brock Walsh) - 2:52

Side B

  1. "Let Me Drive" (Greg Prestopino, Matthew Wilder) - 4:02
  2. "My Eye on You" (Moon Martin, Bill House) - 4:03
  3. "Beast of Burden" (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 3:48
  4. "Soda and a Souvenir" (Jessica Harper) - 3:23
  5. "Come Back Jimmy Dean" (Bette Midler, Jerry Blatt, Brock Walsh) - 3:51

Personnel

Production

Studios

Charts

Chart (1993)Peak
position
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [5] 71
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [6] 41
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [7] 46
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [8] 3
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [9] 1
US Billboard 200 [10] 60

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References

  1. ↑ No Frills at AllMusic
  2. ↑ "Robert Christgau: CG: Bette Midler".
  3. ↑ O'Brien, Lucy (March 1996). "Bette Midler". Q : 116.
  4. ↑ Coleman, Marc; Brackett, Nathan (2004). "Bette Midler". In Brackett, Nathan; Christian, Hoard (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 540. ISBN   0-7432-0169-8.
  5. ↑ "Top RPM Albums: Issue 4369b". RPM . Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  6. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Bette Midler – No Frills" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  7. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Bette Midler – No Frills" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  8. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Bette Midler – No Frills". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  9. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – Bette Midler – No Frills". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  10. ↑ "Bette Midler Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
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