Live at Last (Bette Midler album)

Live at Last is the first live album by American singer Bette Midler, a two-disc set released in 1977, Midler's fourth album release on the Atlantic Records label.

Live at Last documents a full-length live performance at the Cleveland Music Hall, Cleveland, Ohio on the 1976 Depression Tour, and sees Midler, her backing group The Staggering Harlettes and her band Betsy and the Blowboys covering material from her three first albums as well as The Supremes' "Up The Ladder to the Roof", Neil Young's "Birds", Ringo Starr's "Oh My My", the mock lounge act The Vicky Eydie Show doing a "global revue" and the song cycle The Story of Nanette. The album also captures Midler's rapport with - or loving heckling of - the Cleveland audience, a monologue about fried eggs and a part that since has become a staple of her live performances: the raunchy Sophie Tucker jokes.

Live at Last features one new studio recording, "You're Moving Out Today", co-written by Midler and Carole Bayer Sager and produced by Tom Dowd, the only single release from the album (#42 Billboard's Single Chart, #11 Adult Contemporary). The remixed single version which includes one additional verse remains unreleased on CD.

Live at Last reached #49 on Billboard's album chart in the autumn of 1977.

[edit] Track listing

Side A:

Backstage - 0:18
"Friends"/"Oh My My" (Mark Klingman, Buzzy Linheart)/(Richard Starkey, Vincent Poncia) - 2:28
"Bang You're Dead" (Valerie Simpson, Nickolas Ashford) - 3:15
"Birds" (Neil Young) - 4:39
Comic Relief (monologue) - 2:38
"In The Mood" (Joe Garland, Andy Razaf) - 2:09
"Hurry On Down" (Nellie Lutcher) - 2:07

Side B:

"Shiver Me Timbers" (Tom Waits) - 4:00
The Vicki Eydie Show:
- "Around The World" (Victor Young, Harold Adamson) - 0:23
- "Istanbul" (Jimmy Kennedy, Nat Simon) - 0:55
- "Fiesta In Rio" (Bette Midler, Jerry Blatt) - 1:52
- "South Seas Scene" / "Hawaiian War Chant" (Rik Carlok)/(Freed, Leleiohaku, Nobel) - 5:13
- "Lullaby Of Broadway" (Al Dubin, Harry Warren) - 2:00

Intermission:

"You're Moving Out Today" (studio recording) (Bette Midler, Carole Bayer Sager, Bruce Roberts) - 2:56

Side C:

"Delta Dawn" (Alex Harvey, Larry Collins) - 5:54
"Long John Blues" (Tommy George) - 2:36
Sophie Tucker Jokes (monologue) - 2:38
The Story of Nanette:
- "Nanette" (Howard Dietz) - 0:54
- "Alabama Song" (Berthold Brecht, Kurt Weill) - 1:34
- "Drinking Again" (Doris Tauber, Johnny Mercer) - 4:25
- "Mr. Rockefeller" (Bette Midler, Jerry Blatt) - 4:00

Side D:

The Story of Nanette (cont.):
- "Ready To Begin Again"/"Do You Wanna Dance" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller)/(Bobby Freeman) - 3:23
Fried Eggs (monologue) - 2:37
"Hello In There" (John Prine) - 3:16
Finale:
- "Up The Ladder To The Roof" (Vincent DiMirco, Frank Wilson) - 2:45
- "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" (Don Raye, Hughie Prince) - 3:04
- "Friends" (Mark Klingman, Buzzy Linhart) - 2:21

[edit] Personnel

Bette Midler - The Divine Miss M.: lead vocals
The Staggering Harlettes: Sharon Redd, Ula Hedwig, Charlot Crossley - backing vocals
The Orchestra: Betsy And The Blowboys
Don York - musical director, keyboards
Lou Volpe - guitar
Miles Krasner - trumpet
Richard Trifan - keyboards
Francisco Centeno - bass guitar
Ira "Buddy" Williams - drums
Joseph Mero - percussion, vibraphones
Jaroslav Jakubovic - reed instruments
Elizabeth Kane - harp