''No Frills'' is the sixth studio album by American singer

Bette Midler Bette Midler (;''Inside the Actors Studio'', 2004 born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received List of awards and nominations received by Be ...

, released on

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

in 1983. ''No Frills'' was Midler's first studio album in four years, following the movies '' 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 Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

, 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 The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

song "Beast of Burden".

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 ''Thighs and Whispers'' is the fifth studio album by American singer Bette Midler. Released in 1979, the album reached #65 on the ''Billboard'' Pop Albums chart. Production and release The album was largely disco-influenced. It saw Midler reunite ...

'' #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 #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 MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

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 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 The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...

for Best Female Video, Best Choreography, and Best Stage Performance Video. Midler originally intended to include a cover of

'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

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

/ Warner Music in 1995.

Track listing

Side A #"Is It Love" ( Nick Gilder, James McCulloch) - 4:43 #" Favorite Waste of Time" ( Marshall Crenshaw) - 2:43 #" All I Need to Know" (

Barry Mann Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. Early li ...

Cynthia Weil Cynthia Weil (born October 18, 1940) is an American songwriter who wrote many songs together with her husband Barry Mann. Life and career Weil was born in New York City, and was raised in a Conservative Jewish family. Her father was Morris Wei ...

, Tom Snow) - 4:08 #"

Only in Miami "Only in Miami" is a song written by Max Gronenthal and Scott Delawanna, recorded by Bette Midler. First released on Midler's 1983 album '' No Frills'', it later appeared on her 1993 greatest hits compilation ''Experience the Divine''. The song ...

" ( Max Gronenthal) - 4:35 #"Heart Over Head" (Andy Goldmark,

Robin Batteau Robin Batteau (born January 12, 1948) is an American composer, singer-songwriter, and music producer. Batteau is the brother of singer/songwriter David Batteau. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover and should have graduated from Harvard Uni ...

, Brock Walsh) - 2:52 Side B #"Let Me Drive" (Greg Prestopino, Matthew Wilder) - 4:02 #"My Eye on You" ( Moon Martin, Bill House) - 4:03 #" Beast of Burden" ( Mick Jagger, Keith Richards) - 3:48 #"Soda and a Souvenir" ( Jessica Harper) - 3:23 #"Come Back Jimmy Dean" (Bette Midler, Jerry Blatt, Brock Walsh) - 3:51

Personnel

* Bette Midler – lead vocals, backing vocals *

Robert Irving III Robert Irving III (born October 27, 1953) is an American pianist, composer, arranger and music educator. A native of Chicago, Irving was one of a group of young Chicago musicians that in the late '70s and early '80s formed the nucleus of Miles ...

– synthesizers (1, 2), acoustic piano (5) * Bobby Lyle – synthesizers (1, 6, 9), acoustic piano (3, 4), keyboards (7),

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

(9) *

Bobby Martin Bobby Martin may refer to: *Bobby Martin (American football) (1987–2020), American football player *Bobby Martin (musician) (1903–2001), jazz trumpeter *Bobby Martin, bass player for Canadian country group the James Barker Band *Bobby Martin (p ...

– synthesizers (1, 3, 9),

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

(6, 9), keyboards (7) * Mark Goldenberg – synth solo (1, 3), guitar (1, 3, 8), guitar solo (2, 3), synthesizers (3, 5, 10), electric guitar (5) * Chas Sanford – synthesizers (5), electric guitar (5) * Buzz Feiten – guitar (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9) * Philip Kennard – acoustic guitar (2), backing vocals (2) * Brock Walsh – acoustic guitar (2), backing vocals (5), acoustic piano (10) * Waddy Wachtel – electric guitar (2) * Danny Kortchmar – guitar (8) * Robert "Pops" Popswell – bass (1, 3, 4, 9) * Dave Demare – bass (2) * Mark Leonard – bass (5) * Vernon Porter – bass (6, 7) *

Tim Drummond Timothy Lee Drummond (20 April 1940 – 10 January 2015) was an American musician from Canton, Illinois. Drummond's primary instrument was bass guitar and he toured and recorded with many notable artists, including Conway Twitty, Bob Dylan, James ...

– bass (8) * Ricky Lawson – drums (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9) * David Logeman – drums (2), percussion (2) * Jim Keltner – drums (5, 8) *

Malando Gassama Malando Gassama (born Malang Omar Gassam; 7 February 1946 – 25 January 1999) was a Gambian percussionist who spent most of his music career in Sweden. He recorded and performed with many notable Swedish and international artists such as A ...

– percussion (4) * Bobbye Hall –

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

s (5) * Mark Hatch – horns (4) * Marc "Caz" Macino – horns (4, 6), horn arrangements (4) * Laura Allan – backing vocals (2, 3, 4) * Lisa Garber – backing vocals (2, 3, 4) * Janis Cercone – backing vocals (3) * Joe Turano – backing vocals (6) * Greg Prestopino – backing vocals (6) * Matthew Wilder – backing vocals (6) * Jude Johnstone – backing vocals (7) * The Staggering Harlettes (Ula Hedwig, Katey Sagal and Linda Hart) – backing vocals (9)

Production

* Chuck Plotkin – producer * Brock Walsh – associate producer * Danny Goldberg – executive producer *

Toby Scott Toby Warren Scott is an American record producer, engineer and sound mixer. In addition to serving as an engineer on 18 Bruce Springsteen albums and numerous live performances, Scott has also recorded artists including Bob Dylan, Natalie Mercha ...

– recording, mixing (9) * Don Smith – additional recording, mixing (1-8, 10) * Greg Anderson – assistant engineer * Steve Brix – assistant engineer * Dave Demore – assistant engineer * Dave Pearce – assistant engineer * Julian Stoll – assistant engineer * Debbie Gold – production supervisor *

Bonnie Bruckheimer Bonnie Sue Fishman (born July 26, 1944), known professionally as Bonnie Bruckheimer, is an American film and television producer. She has also been known professionally as Bonnie Fishman, Bonnie Martell, and Bonnie Bruckheimer-Martell. She has ...

– production associate * John Kosh – art direction, design *

Ron Larson Roland "Ron" Edwin Larson (born October 31, 1941) is a professor of mathematics at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, Pennsylvania. He is best known for being the author of a series of widely used mathematics textbooks ranging from middle sch ...

– art direction, design * Andre Miripolsky – cover art * Greg Gorman – photography Studios * Recorded at Clover Recorders and The Sound Factory (Hollywood, California);

Rumbo Recorders Rumbo Recorders was a recording studio in the Canoga Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. History In 1977, Daryl Dragon and Toni Tennille, the husband and wife team widely known as Captain & Tennille, began building the studio at 20215 S ...

(Los Angeles, California). * Mixed at Clover Studios and Rumbo Recorders.

Charts

Notes

{{Authority control 1983 albums Bette Midler albums Albums produced by Chuck Plotkin Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Toby Scott