Various Artists - Red Hot + Blue (1990)

Note: the CD I listened to was not the 2006 reissue.

An uneven Cole Porter tribute CD to benefit The Red Hot Organization which is dedicated to fighting AIDS. It sold over a million copies worldwide and was heralded as one of the first major AIDS benefits in the music business. A great achievement for sure. As a musical endeavor? Not so great. Released in 1990, this is certainly of its time and the sound of the time is unmistakable. Still, most of the tracks are average at best - the better Red Hot releases were yet to come.

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: #38

Tracks:

Artist	Song
Neneh Cherry	I've Got You Under My Skin
The Neville Brothers	In The Still Of The Night
Sinead O'Connor	You Do Something To Me
Salif Keita	Begin The Beguine
Fine Young Cannibals	Love For Sale
Debbie Harry & Iggy Pop	Well Did You Evah!
Kirsty MacColl & The Pogues	Miss Otis Regrets/Just One Of Those Things
David Byrne	Don't Fence Me In
Tom Waits	It's All Right With Me
Annie Lennox	Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye
U2	Night And Day
Les Negresses Vertes	I Love Paris
k.d. lang	So In Love
Thompson Twins	Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Erasure	Too Darn Hot
The Jungle Brothers	I Get A Kick
Lisa Stansfield	Down In The Depths
Jimmy Sommerville	From This Moment On
Jody Watley	After You
Aztec Camera	Do I Love You?

Of the 20 tracks here, my top picks are Erasure performing Too Darn Hot, Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop goofing on Well Did You Evah, The Thompsons Twins abrasive take on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Jimmy Sommerville singing From This Moment On which sounds a lot like Donna Summer's I Feel Love. I recommend skipping Sinead O'Connor singing You Do Something To Me, Salif Keita singing Begin The Beguine, and Tom Waits singing(?) It's All Right With Me. The track that really makes me scratch my head is U2's take on the standard Night And Day.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: None

Previously revisited for the blog:
Red Hot + Rio (1996)
Red Hot + Dance (1992)