Red Hot & Blue (Lee Atwater recording project)

This article is about the Lee Atwater recording project. For other uses, see Red, Hot and Blue (disambiguation).

Red Hot & Blue
Studio album by Lee Atwater
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

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
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

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)

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. 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. 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. 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. "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. 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.