Red Hot + Rio

Performer: Various Artists
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: RED HOT + RIO, which raises money for AIDS research and relief, is a tribute to Brazilian bossa nova music. About half the tracks on RED HOT + RIO were written by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The album features collaborations between pop and alternative-rock stars and modern Brazilian musicians whose styles range from cutting edge to conventional. The resulting amalgam of bossa nova, hip-hop, samba, pop and too many other genres to mention makes for an idiosyncratic tribute to Jobim, the late godfather of bossa nova. Highlights include such once-in-a-lifetime alliances as the incomparably soulful Cape Verdean diva Cesaria Evora singing with Brazil's Caetano Veloso, backed by Ryuichi Sakamoto's atmospheric keyboards (on "E Preciso Perdoar"); and David Byrne's no-frills vocals converging with Marisa Monte's graceful voice on a Talking Headsy version of Jobim's classic "Waters of March." The lyrics to the latter song are especially poignant and prophetic: "It's a sliver of glass, it is life, it's the sun/It is night, it is death, it's a trap, it's a gun/The oak when it blooms, a fox in the brush/The knot in the wood, the song of a thrush."

Entertainment Weekly (10/18/96, p.82) - "...an inspired, modern-sounding tribute, though few of the artists match the subtle beauty of Jobim's melodies..." - Rating: B+ The Beat (V.16 #1 1997, p.60) - "...there is enough great material and inventiveness to ensure that RED HOT + RIO is never far from the short-list stack..."

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