"It's The Girls" (2014) by Bette Midler

If initially this sounds like "Hairspray" musical, this is not a coincidence because it has same producers/musical directors.

Bette Midler was singing girl-group covers even way back on her very first LP debut in 1972 so this is not so unexpected after all - she has always been expressing delight in group harmonies and was known for singing them all by herself, often turning originals inside out.

I never considered Midler specially interesting singer, but either she developed with time or I got used to her voice, so this is fine if slightly predictable collection. After all, seems her discography is for some time now focused mostly on covers, so I am not 100% sure where does this lead. Even if her new recordings won't make anybody forget all about originals, its fun and she obviously enjoys doing this kind of material. 1960s bubbly girl group chestnuts are covered almost note by note and they are spunky and campy fun, with Darlene Love making a joyous cameo on one of her classic hits. More interesting are girl-group hits slowed down into meaningful ballads that bring the beauty of lyrics - however, even this has been done before as Roberta Flack would tell you (she recorded "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" as piano ballad decades ago and it was very effective). The best is saved for the last - where previously Midler covered The Andrews Sisters, this time she turns to even older musical idols - since The Boswell Sisters were Andrew's girls main influence, we are talking about girl-group royalty from 1930s and grandmothers of all girl-groups that came later, this is done in a wonderfully crazy, snappy 1930s swing style and its highlight of the collection.