Bette of Roses is incrementally better than Some People’s Lives, but infinitely short of the benchmark set by Bathhouse Betty. It does have 2 memorable tracks anyway.

I Know This Town
This is the kind of song I expect from Bette. This song is not a love song at all and sounds like it came out of the middle of a stage show I’ve never seen. It’s the signature song of a little kid, or not so little, who’s probably later in the show going to witness something. Plus Bette is singing with a little interest in her subject.

In This Life
This falls somewhere between the boring ballads of Some People’s Lives and the almost too painful to listen to ones on Bathhouse Bette. At least it’s a glimmering of what’s to come.

Bottomless
While this has the hefty stamp of mid 90’s sound, it does have some life to it. It’s still a ballad, but it could have been a good soundtrack song. And Bette sounds more than half-awake too.

To Comfort You
This is a nice attempt at a comfort song. It’s not a love song by any stretch and it does have it’s charms, but the singing is just a little too mellow to be much comfort (and after the day I had yesterday I could use some comfort. Heck, I got turned down for a promotion before I even got out of bed this morning, how’s that for cruddy and in need of comfort?)

To Deserve You
Didn’t somebody tell them the 80’s were over? Yikes. No fun at all.

The Last Time
Really, you’d think by 㤃 they would have realized that they 80’s were over, but no. If this song had come out in say 㣹 it would have fit in perfectly. They’re doing all those spiffy keyboard things and the hot guitar so that it just rings of Journey’s Frontiers album, which, I may remind you, came out in "83.

Bed Of Roses
If you read the lyrics here, this is a pretty interesting song, but when you listen to it, it loses something. It becomes ordinary and dull. Very sad, but then even Stephen King released a string of pretty gacky books.

The Perfect Kiss
This is my other fav on this album. It is a ballad and I’ve given them pretty harsh treatment between here and Some People’s Lives, but in this case I really genuinely enjoy this song. It has a bittersweet gentleness that makes me think it should be sung while laying on a piano.

As Dreams Go By
This should be fun, but it’s a little boring. It has a nice rich, layered vocal on the chorus that saves it from being truly awful.

It’s Too Late
How I wish I had something to say about these songs. Yet again, this is a boring ballad about love lost and so forth and so on. I really don’t think Bette was into this either because she can pull off much better interpretations when she wants too and I can’t see how she did here.

I Believe In You
This track has a little life to it, but not enough. It’s sung in a very low-key manner, but it really deserves a up beat treatment that doesn’t happen. How I would love to hear this song redone up tempo. Then it would be a wonderful little tune.

I wanted to like it, I really did, but if I had heard this album before I bought it, I wouldn’t have. It is suitable to dinner party background music, but not the kind of thing you really want to hear. Bummer too. I wanted more Bathhouse Betty.


Recommended: No

Great Music to Play While: Going to Sleep