Red Hot & Blue (Lee Atwater recording project)

Last updated
Red Hot & Blue
Red Hot & Blue (Lee Atwater recording project).jpg
Studio album by
Lee Atwater
Released1990
Recorded1989
StudioTreasure 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]

Contents

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

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

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [17]
Robert Christgau Rating-Christgau-dud.svg [18]
Los Angeles Times Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [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

  1. "Te-Ni-Nee-Ni-Nu" (Slim Harpo)
  2. "Knock on Wood" (Eddie Floyd)
  3. "I Take What I Want" (Sam & Dave)
  4. "Hold On, I'm Coming" (Sam & Dave)
  5. "Rescue Me" (Raynard Miner and Carl William Smith)
  6. "Just a Little Bit/Treat Her Right" (Rosco Gordon/Roy Head)
  7. "Bad Boy" (Eddie Taylor)
  8. "Red Hot & Blue" (B.B. King and Lee Atwater)
  9. "Ya Ya" (Lee Dorsey)
  10. "Buzz Me" (Louis Jordan)
  11. "I'm in the Mood" (Billy Preston and Issac Hayes)
  12. "Life Is Like a Game"
  13. "People Get Ready" (Curtis Mayfield)

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References

  1. ↑ Harrington, Richard (10 Jan 1990). "Atwater's Album Picks". The Washington Post. p. D7.
  2. ↑ Kleid, Beth (3 Apr 1990). "Red, Hot and Blue Tunes". Los Angeles Times. p. F2.
  3. 1 2 Shepard, Scott (16 Mar 1990). "Atwater brews the blues". Austin American-Statesman. p. G2.
  4. ↑ Bandy, Lee (October 18, 1990). "Atwater May Be 'Bad Boy' Only in Signature Song". Columbia. The State. p. 2A.
  5. ↑ "Lee Atwater". Recording Academy. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  6. 1 2 Hochman, Steve (5 Apr 1990). "The Lee Atwater Album". Los Angeles Times. p. F8.
  7. ↑ Brady, John (1997). Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater. Addison-Wesley. p. 255.
  8. 1 2 Groer, Anne (18 Mar 1990). "Lee Atwater, Soul of the GOP". Orlando Sentinel. p. G1.
  9. ↑ Haight, Kathy (April 15, 1990). "Atwater Gets By—With a Little Help". The Charlotte Observer. p. 5F.
  10. ↑ Popson, Tom (11 May 1990). "Republican R&B". Friday. Chicago Tribune. p. N.
  11. ↑ Holden, Stephen (18 Apr 1990). "The Pop Life". The New York Times. p. C16.
  12. ↑ Anderson, John (22 Apr 1990). "Pop Notes". Part II. Newsday.
  13. ↑ Britt, Bruce (January 14, 1990). "Pickin' Politician's Debut Album". Los Angeles Daily News. p. L18.
  14. ↑ Feld, Karen (January 21, 1990). "Fitness buffs at the downtown Washington YMCA...". Toronto Sun. p. 20.
  15. ↑ "Album Second Big Moment". Akron Beacon Journal. April 22, 1990. p. G3.
  16. ↑ Toombs, Mikel (April 22, 1990). "White House bluesman, all-star lineup blaze 'Red Hot' in debut". The San Diego Union-Tribune. p. E8.
  17. 1 2 "Red Hot & Blue: Lee Atwater & Friends Review by Andrew Hamilton". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  18. ↑ "Lee Atwater". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
  19. 1 2 Hilburn, Robert (5 Apr 1990). "'Red Hot' Features a Celebrity Surprise". Los Angeles Times. p. F8.
  20. ↑ Gundersen, Edna (18 May 1990). "Just Say No". USA Today. p. 4D.
  21. ↑ Anderson, Dale (April 13, 1990). "Records". The Buffalo News. p. G32.
  22. ↑ Point, Michael (March 16, 1990). "Atwater's Red, Hot & Blue is lukewarm Republican rhythm". Austin American-Statesman. p. G2.
  23. ↑ Owen, Frank (Jun 1990). "Chairman of the Blues". Spin. Vol. 6, no. 3. p. 29.
  24. ↑ Considine, J.D. (May 20, 1990). "Rating the Records". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Baltimore Sun. p. 12C.
  25. ↑ Suebsaeng, Asawin. "10 Creepy Tracks for Your Halloween Party Playlist". Mother Jones. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
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