Songs for the New Depression is the third studio album by American female singer Bette Midler, released in early 1976 on the Atlantic Records label. The album which saw her making her debut as a composer ("Mr. Rockefeller" and the French language "Samedi et Vendredi"), as well as co-producer and sound engineer features contributions from musicians as diverse as soul singer Luther Vandross, Todd Rundgren and Brazilian jazz accordionist Sivuca. Songs for the New Depression includes Midler's version of Tom Waits' "Shiver Me Timbers", a duet with Bob Dylan, "Buckets of Rain", and opens with her discofied take on Frank Sinatra's standard "Strangers in the Night" which became a #7 hit on the US dance charts. Two of the tracks, "Old Cape Cod" and "Marahuana", were originally recorded during the sessions for 1972 debut album The Divine Miss M but remixed three years later by producers Lew Hahn and Arif Mardin for Songs for the New Depression. The album peaked at #27 on the Billboard album chart. "Mr. Rockefeller" was sampled by rapper Kanye West on the song, "Last Call", from his debut album, The College Dropout.
The album was digitally remastered and reissued on CD by Atlantic Records/Warner Music in 1995 but with no bonus tracks.
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| Robert Christgau | (C+) |
Read more about Songs For The New Depression: Personnel, Production
Famous quotes containing the words songs and/or depression:
“Let me make the superstitions of a nation and I care not who makes its laws or its songs either.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Mental health data from the 1950’s on middle-aged women showed them to be a particularly distressed group, vulnerable to depression and feelings of uselessness. This isn’t surprising. If society tells you that your main role is to be attractive to men and you are getting crow’s feet, and to be a mother to children and yours are leaving home, no wonder you are distressed.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)