 Eartha Kitt This one is quite possibly the gayest CD I own, and I own some pretty flaming gay CDs. In the interest of relativity I can't honestly give this the seven li'l puppy rating I'd like to, but I can say that any serious Eartha fan will love this disc as much as virtually everyone I have ever played it for has hated it. Collecting all of Eartha's mid-80s collaborations with Jacques Morali and Bronski Beat, Where is My Man is so far beyond camp that it must have come from another planet entirely, a beautiful planet featuring well-toned and shirtless pretty boys dancing to the eternal beat of the Queen's imperial state-of-the -planet address. And the planet is in a good state, because the Queen's got some new "Cha Cha Heels" and a "Sugar Daddy" to show her "La Grande Vie" … taking his Visa card straight to her heart. Live like the Queen! Live by her golden motto: "I Love Men!" The song "I Love Men" is the masterpiece around which the disc revolves, seven minutes of mid-80s disco and some of Morali's greatest Cole Porter-with-a-French-to-English-dictionary lyrics, plus plenty of the purring that only Eartha can do. What I love most about it is the reckless abandon with which Eartha performs the song, obviously enjoying herself as she gives her all to the ridiculousness. But the music achieves a sort of poignancy that makes it more than just a joke – it is a true anthem that should be remade and remodeled for the 2000s. The rest of the songs vary from good ("Where is My Man," "This is My Life," "La Grande Vie") to only good if you have a very specific sense of humor ("Arabian Song," "Tonite"). The production values are so relentlessly 80s, and not in a good way, that ultimately this will be enjoyed most by those who remember it from the circuit, or those (like me) who like to romanticize the "golden age of promiscuity" as Brad Gooch would have it. The tracks with Bronski Beat are even more knowingly campy (the way-over-the-top purring of "Cha Cha Heels" and the jazzy neo-Eartha classic "My Discarded Men") and very satisfying. Added to the disc are two bonus remixes of "Where is My Man," one a 10 minute megamix from back in the day, the other a 1994 remix that is dating a bit better than the rest, although in five years it will probably sound as dated as the other stuff does now. At 75 minutes, this disc is way too long and is a pretty grueling experience if done in one sitting (like so many of my Fire Island fantasies), but in smaller segments it's a sheer delight. I gain further amusement from the notion of some 75-year-old picking this up because it is subtitled "The Best of Eartha Kitt," and then listening in utter confusion, exclaiming "Where's 'Santa Baby'?"
Review by Morry Toner |