Red Hot & Blue (Lee Atwater recording project)
| Red Hot & Blue | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Studio album by | |
| Released | 1990 |
| Recorded | 1989 |
| Studio | Treasure Isle Recorders |
| Genre | R&B, blues |
| Label | Curb |
Red Hot & Blue is an album released in 1990 by Lee Atwater, a Republican political consultant in the United States.[1][2] Atwater wanted to bring to a wider audience the sounds of 1960s Stax Records and southern R&B and blues.[3] "Bad Boy" was released as a single.[4] The title track was nominated for a Grammy Award.[5]
Atwater donated his portion of the album royalties to charity.[3] He was hospitalized for treatment for his brain tumor at the time of Red Hot & Blue's release.[6]
Production
[edit]The album was recorded in 1989 at Treasure Isle Recorders in Nashville, with Atwater flying in for weekend sessions.[7][8] Isaac Hayes produced six of its songs; he praised Atwater's guitar playing.[6][9] The album features over a dozen rhythm and blues performers, including Hayes, Chuck Jackson, Carla Thomas, B.B. King, Sam Moore, the Memphis Horns, and Billy Preston.[10] Atwater chose the performers and the songs; he asked Mike Curb to release the album on his label.[11][12] Lee Greenwood played saxophone on Red Hot & Blue.[13]
Atwater forced a Washington, D.C., YMCA to play work-in-progress cuts over its sound system while he exercised.[14] Atwater reported that the highlight of the album was the chance to play with his idol, B.B. King.[15] "Just a Little Bit/Treat Her Right" is a duet between Atwater and Arletta Nightingale.[16]
Critical reception
[edit]| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [17] |
| Robert Christgau |  [18] |
| Los Angeles Times | [19] |
Due to his politics, Atwater expected the album to receive negative reviews.[8] The Los Angeles Times concluded that Atwater's "not any better than a singer in an average bar band, but he is more convincing than such other celebrity pop figures as, say, the Blues Brothers and Bruce Willis."[19] USA Today opined that, "even able assists from B.B. King and Isaac Hayes can't mask the utter amateurism of Atwater's soulless chirping and clumsy guitar picking."[20] The Buffalo News wrote that, "as novelties like these go, it's a decent party album."[21]
The Austin American-Statesman determined that "it's a harmless, if less than exciting, album that uses a star-studded cast of Memphis greats to recreate a sort of soulful frat party rock based in the Stax sound."[22] Spin deemed the album "quality nostalgia, appealing to the sort of sensibility that only appreciates black culture at a suitable historical distance... Call it the Paul Shaffer syndrome."[23] The Baltimore Sun considered Atwater's guitar solos to be "stiff and unswinging."[24]
AllMusic wrote that "guitarist/vocalist and arch Republican Lee Atwater, along with a star-studded list of soul artists, ignite on 13 blue chip live performances of great R&B songs."[17] Mother Jones stated: "In his horn-laced, slick-voiced rendition of 'Bad Boy', the late Republican icon got to live out his down-home musical fantasies in stereo LP format."[25]
Track listing
[edit]- "Te-Ni-Nee-Ni-Nu" (Slim Harpo)
- "Knock on Wood" (Eddie Floyd)
- "I Take What I Want" (Sam & Dave)
- "Hold On, I'm Coming" (Sam & Dave)
- "Rescue Me" (Raynard Miner and Carl William Smith)
- "Just a Little Bit/Treat Her Right" (Rosco Gordon/Roy Head)
- "Bad Boy" (Eddie Taylor)
- "Red Hot & Blue" (B.B. King and Lee Atwater)
- "Ya Ya" (Lee Dorsey)
- "Buzz Me" (Louis Jordan)
- "I'm in the Mood" (Billy Preston and Issac Hayes)
- "Life Is Like a Game"
- "People Get Ready" (Curtis Mayfield)
References
[edit]- ^ Harrington, Richard (10 Jan 1990). "Atwater's Album Picks". The Washington Post. p. D7.
- ^ Kleid, Beth (3 Apr 1990). "Red, Hot and Blue Tunes". Los Angeles Times. p. F2.
- ^ a b Shepard, Scott (16 Mar 1990). "Atwater brews the blues". Austin American-Statesman. p. G2.
- ^ Bandy, Lee (October 18, 1990). "Atwater May Be 'Bad Boy' Only in Signature Song". Columbia. The State. p. 2A.
- ^ "Lee Atwater". Recording Academy. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ a b Hochman, Steve (5 Apr 1990). "The Lee Atwater Album". Los Angeles Times. p. F8.
- ^ Brady, John (1997). Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater. Addison-Wesley. p. 255.
- ^ a b Groer, Anne (18 Mar 1990). "Lee Atwater, Soul of the GOP". Orlando Sentinel. p. G1.
- ^ Haight, Kathy (April 15, 1990). "Atwater Gets By—With a Little Help". The Charlotte Observer. p. 5F.
- ^ Popson, Tom (11 May 1990). "Republican R&B". Friday. Chicago Tribune. p. N.
- ^ Holden, Stephen (18 Apr 1990). "The Pop Life". The New York Times. p. C16.
- ^ Anderson, John (22 Apr 1990). "Pop Notes". Part II. Newsday.
- ^ Britt, Bruce (January 14, 1990). "Pickin' Politician's Debut Album". Los Angeles Daily News. p. L18.
- ^ Feld, Karen (January 21, 1990). "Fitness buffs at the downtown Washington YMCA...". Toronto Sun. p. 20.
- ^ "Album Second Big Moment". Akron Beacon Journal. April 22, 1990. p. G3.
- ^ Toombs, Mikel (April 22, 1990). "White House bluesman, all-star lineup blaze 'Red Hot' in debut". The San Diego Union-Tribune. p. E8.
- ^ a b "Red Hot & Blue: Lee Atwater & Friends Review by Andrew Hamilton". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ "Lee Atwater". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
- ^ a b Hilburn, Robert (5 Apr 1990). "'Red Hot' Features a Celebrity Surprise". Los Angeles Times. p. F8.
- ^ Gundersen, Edna (18 May 1990). "Just Say No". USA Today. p. 4D.
- ^ Anderson, Dale (April 13, 1990). "Records". The Buffalo News. p. G32.
- ^ Point, Michael (March 16, 1990). "Atwater's Red, Hot & Blue is lukewarm Republican rhythm". Austin American-Statesman. p. G2.
- ^ Owen, Frank (Jun 1990). "Chairman of the Blues". Spin. Vol. 6, no. 3. p. 29.
- ^ Considine, J.D. (May 20, 1990). "Rating the Records". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Baltimore Sun. p. 12C.
- ^ Suebsaeng, Asawin. "10 Creepy Tracks for Your Halloween Party Playlist". Mother Jones. Retrieved 11 March 2023.