(A Tribute to Cole Porter) - Chrysalis Records 1990 - 6

It is difficult to know what Cole Porter would have thought of this 21 track compilation put together to help fight Aids.

It really is a mish-mash of the good, the bad and the truly ugly. There are many good moments such as Debby Harry and Iggy Pop bringing a jokey blokishness to "Well Did You Ever" and I loved Kirsty Maccoll and The Pogues double header "Miss Otis Regrets" and "Just One of Those Things". But then there are some real turkeys. Les Negresses Vertes try out their English on "I love Paris" and fail miserably and "Begin the Beguine", "Love for Sale" and "It's All Right With Me" are destroyed by Salif Keifa, Fine Young Cannibals and Tome Waits respectively.

Legendary Beatles producer George Martin decided to bow out of the music business with this mixture of the good, the bad and the ugly.

His idea was to surround himself with musicians, actors and comedians whom he admires and get them to perform Beatles songs interspersed with a couple of his own pieces.

The result was always going to be a collection that almost everybody will agree is flawed. People will disagree with which are the good tracks and which are the bad but I'm sure anyone listening will find this patchy.

Personally I think Goldie Hawn's version of "Hard Days Night" is appalling, Celine Dion does absolutely nothing for "Here, There and Everywhere" and Billy Connelly's "For the Benefit of Mr Kite" should be recycled.

On the plus side I enjoyed Phil Collins' "Carry That Weight/The End" and Vanessa May's "Because" is a wonderful piece of kitsch with a huge background chorus. Jim Carey does a marvellously manic version of "I Am The Walrus" and Sean Connery's spoken version of the title track is surprisingly enjoyable despite verging on the laughable at times.