RED HOT + BLUE - Various Artists

YEAR: 1990

LABEL: Chrysalis

TRACK LISTING: I've Got You Under My Skin - Neneh Cherry, In the Still of the Night - The Neville Brothers, You Do Something To Me - Sinead O'Connor, Begin the Beguine - Salif Keita, Love For Sale - Fine Young Cannibals, Well Did You Evah! - Deborah Harry & Iggy Pop, Miss Otis Regrets/Just One of Those Things - The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl, Don't Fence Me In - David Byrne, It's All Right With Me - Tom Waits, Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye - Annie Lennox, Night and Day - U2, I Love Paris - Les Negresses Vertes, So In Love - k.d. lang, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Thompson Twins, Too Darn Hot - Erasure, I Get A Kick Out of You - The Jungle Brothers, Down In the Depths - Lisa Stansfield, From This Moment On - Jimmy Somerville, After You Who? - Jody Watley, Do I Love You? - Aztec Camera

IMPRESSIONS: This is one of the first compact discs of new material (that is, not replacing a vinyl or cassette copy) I ever bought after getting a cd player for Christmas of 1990. I bought it at the Sam Goody in the Cherry Hill Mall and first played it in the cd player in the back room of Ritz Camera where my friend Paul worked at the time. Up until this time, k.d. lang was known solely as a country artist and I'm absolutely convinced it was her spectacular performance on "So In Love" which led her to take the plunge and drop country in favour of a mainstream career -- that and the fact her country band was called "the reclines" (after Patsy Cline) and she had already cut an album of Patsy songs with Cline's producer Owen Bradley.

MY FAVOURITE TRACKS: In the Still of the Night - The Neville Brothers, Well Did You Evah! - Deborah Harry & Iggy Pop, Miss Otis Regrets/Just One of Those Things - The Pogues & Kirsty MacColl, Don't Fence Me In - David Byrne, So In Love - k.d. lang, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - Thompson Twins, Too Darn Hot - Erasure, From This Moment On - Jimmy Somerville, After You Who? - Jody Watley

FACT SHEET: RED HOT + BLUE is the first AIDS benefit album in a series put out by the Red Hot Organization. All the songs are written by Cole Porter and performed by contemporary artists. The title of the album is from the Cole Porter musical of the same name. The album was produced by Steve Lillywhite and Afrika Bambaataa.