Thursday, February 24, 2011

Iggy & Debbie - Red Hot

I've been listening to the RED HOT + BLUE album a lot lately, resurrected by my friend's iPod! I had forgotten all about it and shall buy it asap! This was one of the first ever for-charity compilation albums, put together by the Red Hot non-profit charity organization that was established in 1989 by a group of New York artists in response to the Aids crisis, particularly as the disease was running rampant within the creative community of artists and musicians. Red Hot founder John Carlin had "an improbable dream: to create an AIDS charity album with pop stars singing Cole Porter songs." Red Hot + Blue was released in 1990. John said "That CD was inspired by naivete and sheer will."
The album features amazing tracks by musical powerhouses such as Sinead O'Connor, David Byrne, Bono, Annie Lennox, Lisa Stansfied, Neneh Cherry, The Thompson Twins, Kd Lang, Tom Waits, Erasure and The Jungle Brothers and spawned music videos by esteemed Directors such as Johnathan Demme, Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders. The album went on to sold 1 Million worldwide and becoming the template for future charity projects. And since then, Red Hot have created 20 more compilation albums, raising over $10 Million for HIV and Aids.
The album is unfeasibly good! Buddies Debbie Harry & Iggy Pop's 'Well, did you evah!' is a particular favourite. I adore the video of Iggy and Debbie toomfooling around New York, particularly the opening scenes of them cruising purposefully through Soho like the King & Queen of New York - fabulous!
Behold the coolness that is Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop.

2 comments:

  1. Cool! Weren't Red, Hot and Blue behind the 'No Alternative' compilation too? I used to crank that in my grunge years!

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  2. Yes apparently they did 15 albums after that - I'd totally forgotten about it until friends played it recently, it really is brilliant! Yes, No Alternative is a Red Hot compilation. That reminds me of another old Indie fave - 'If I were a Carpenter'

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