Customer Reviews

Red Hot + Rhapsody: The Gershwin Groove

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Like most of the Red, Hot releases, this CD is eclectic. The joys are found in the individual performances as opposed the the album as a whole. If you ever wondered about the african-american influences on George Gershwin, listen to Baaba Maal's take on "Bess you Is My Woman Now" it will break your heart with its beauty. Skye and Hubert Laws show us again why "Summertime" is one of the most covered songs of all time. Smoke City reinvents "They Can't Take That Away From Me" with their island, trip-hop beat. And, don't miss taking a journey with David Bowie and Angelo Badalemente on "Foggy Day" - it's moody and delicious.

If George Gerswhin heard this cd, he'd probably turn over in his grave. It's just an insult to the man's art to cover his songs by just singing over a Casio beat (refer to tracks 1, 4, 10, 12, 13, and 14). But the biggest disappointments came from the big names on the cd-- namely Natalie Merchant. Her version of "But Not for Me" is soooo boring. Even I can sing it better than she can. Sinead O'Conner didn't do much better with "Someone to Watch Over Me". The only standout track was Clark Terry's "Let's Call the Whole Think Off". Maybe it was best to give these classic songs a 90's facelift and add the drum tracks and all that programming/sampling. Smoke City's "They Can't Take That Away From Me"(song #4) and Sarah Cracknell's "The Man I Love" (song #13) are pretty good. This isn't that bad of a cd, but it could be so much better. Seems like many people liked it by all the 5-star reviews. But if you happen to buy this cd and are a little disappointed, don't be because you're still helping out a wonderful cause.

Natalie Merchant alone makes this CD worthwhile. There are also 5 or 6 other tracks that I enjoy (Sarah Cracknell, Luscious Jackson, and Smoke City in particular), and the jazzy-grooviness (*for lack of a better word) makes this album a great way to balance your collection. Don't expect to like all the tracks, however; some of these are pretty 'interesting' interpretations and a few I wouldn't want to hear more than once.

Trying to bring so many different artists to cover so many different types of material is a tough project. This entry in the Red Hot... series isn't the best, but it has some of the brightest spots. Most of the best moments are near the end of the disc, especially Sinead O'Connor's "Someone to Watch over Me" and the atmospheric "Bess You Is my Woman Now" and "A Foggy Day in London Town". I use 'foggy' to put my kid to sleep.

This CD is a master piece..the only reason i give it 4 stars and not five is because the songs by all the biggies like sinead 0'connor and david bowie completely sucked. The the ones by Duncan shiek Natalie Merchand et all wer aweson..very cool music..i you wanna relax and smoke a few .....drink a few...be alone..this ones for you then!...refreshing music is all i have to say about this CD!

This is a wonderful collection - one of my favorite CDs in the past 15 years! Excellent covers (with the exception of the Sinéad O'Connor one, which is ok - just not too exciting) by amazing artists! And a great anti-AIDS campaign.

I love Red, Hot and Blue, and also really enjoyed Red, Hot and Rio, so I suppose two out of three isn't so bad.

Red, Hot and Rhapsody sounds like something to be played at a funeral. I saw that another reviewer had written "inspired" as one of his adjectives to describe this album, and I actually read it as "insipid."

I suppose, if it was over 100 degrees outside, and I was drinking serious adult beverages, this would be appropriate to play. It's so slow and dirge-like, I can't imagine any other circumstance in which I'd want to listen to it.

two years ago, i got this idea for a themed concert. i called it the 'the red hot dance concert' and asked the teachers to select songs from the red hot series, red hot and blue, red hot and dance, red hot and rio, red hot and gershwin and any others we could get our red hot hands on were under immediate consideration.

for some odd reason, 'red hot and gershwin' got passed over quite a bit.

i think i know why. the range of songs and treatments are great ambient music. i love davina's raspy vocals on 'i was doing all right'. they are a great compliment to the baaba maal at the end of the disc. and sinead o'connor's breathy, waif sound is a blessing to 'someone to watch over me', considering that linda ronstadt's blare-through is still upon us from some twenty years ago. stereolab's 's'wonderful' is also chic, cosmo-swirling stuff.

but nothing here really gets the foot to tapping. and it really doesn't need to, either. just put it on and shake the martinis!

I heard Morcheeba sing "Summertime" on NPR and it was wonderful, but the others were hardly related to the original music at all! I love all types of music, but I still enjoy being able to recognize the original tune!

I purchased this CD 2 years ago and it is still my favorite. This CD however is not for the generic jazz music lover. The tone is almost lounge-slow with some of the artists adding their somber interpretation to the songs. Yet the Natalie Merchant version of "But Not for Me" alone makes the album worth buying. Out of all 17 tracks, there is only one song I am not particulary fond of, although it is beginning to grow on me....