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Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell Image
Metascore
71

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews What's this?

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  • Summary: The tribute to avant-garde musician Arthur Russell features such artists as Sam Amidon, Devendra Banhart, Blood Orange, Liam Finn, Jose Gonzalez, Glen Hansard, Lonnie Holley, Hot Chip, Richard Reed Parry, Phosphorescent, Robyn, Scissor Sisters, Sufjan Stevens, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down,The tribute to avant-garde musician Arthur Russell features such artists as Sam Amidon, Devendra Banhart, Blood Orange, Liam Finn, Jose Gonzalez, Glen Hansard, Lonnie Holley, Hot Chip, Richard Reed Parry, Phosphorescent, Robyn, Scissor Sisters, Sufjan Stevens, Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, and Peter Zummo. Expand
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 8
  2. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. The Wire
    Dec 16, 2014
    80
    It's a startlingly consistent album--dazzling, baffling and sprawling in the same way that Russell and his work was. [Dec 2014, p.50]
  2. Nov 5, 2014
    80
    A truly wonderful record that deserves attention, as does the work of Arthur Russell.
  3. Nov 5, 2014
    73
    Russell's recordings are enormously idiosyncratic, and a lot of Master Mix's contributors try to normalize his music: sanding off his bristling electric cello tones, hammering repeated phrases into choruses, singing with dramatic intonation in place of his ethereal reserve. (The major exception is Lonnie Holley, whose four brief "interludes" here abstract Russell pieces further.) That often works just fine.
  4. Nov 5, 2014
    70
    Robyn and Hot Chip re-create the ebullient joy of Russell’s disco productions, while Devendra Banhart and Phosphorescent find the quiet heart of his ballads.
  5. 60
    At its worst, Red Hot + Arthur Russell shows up the limitations of the cover-album-as-form, but at its best, it's a thrilling tribute to a none-more-singular artist.
  6. Mojo
    Nov 19, 2014
    60
    Nothing here truly ventures into the unexpected as [Russell] did, but there was only one Arthur Russell. [Dec 2014, p.89]
  7. Dec 17, 2014
    60
    Ot overall the compilation, with all its good intentions, pales in comparison to the originals and will only strengthen the urge to hear Russell's wonderful songs again after listening to this well-meaning but flawed collection.

See all 8 Critic Reviews