'Ike & Tina Turner Story' sets record straight
By Strings
September 25, 2007
FrostIllustrated.com
There's an old saying: "Give a dog a bad name and you can hang him." Once a person's reputation is shot, well, that's often it. That's certainly a concept more than familiar to Ike Turner. While the pioneering songwriter, musician and producer should be known for his contributions to the development of modern pop music, most folks are familiar with him for his domestic abuse and other vile behavior toward his most famous ex-wife, stage partner and product-music legend Tina Turner.
Over the years, Bro. Ike certainly hasn't done himself a favor, making the papers for his all too frequent run-ins with the law-despite having turned in a number of brilliant solo blues albums in recent years. His personal and legal messes have all but overshadowed his contributions to American music.
Fortunately, folks might have a chance to separate the man's genius on the stage and in the studio from his personal problems, thanks to a new retrospective from EMI/Time Life: "The Ike & Tina Turner Story 1960-1975." The three-CD, 49-song set provides the historical artifacts to explain why America fell madly in love with not only the fiery Tina Turner but her behind the scenes mastermind.
What's there to say about Tina Turner? Whether covering rhythm and blues, blues or rock and roll, she's one of the best ever. Possessed with an earthy, powerful voice that can move from a matter-of-factthis- is-how-it-is low rumble to a sexually-charged ecstatic scream, there have been few singers who could effectively cover the ground she has in a 40-some year career. With the help of a number of producers, including Ike, the now-embattled Phil Spector and in later years, Terry Britten and others who were responsible for her brilliant solo breakout, 1984's "Private Dancer," Turner has reinvented herself a number of times, each time raising the bar for other singers around her. Then there's that amazing stage presence-the non-stop energy, dance move and, dare I say it, those incredible legs! Ms. Turner's place in history as one of the best is secure.
On this latest compilation, we get to hear her evolution from blues shouter to rock queen with remarkable clarity. Disc one features her early material from "A Fool in Love" when she changed from being little Annie Mae Bullock from Nutbush, Tenn., to sexy Tina Turner-the onstage voice of the brilliant Ike Turner. The tracks here reflect the early, formative days of rock and roll. While most of the tunes, such the opener, "Poor Fool" and "Good Good Lovin'" still have one foot clearly in the doo-wop camp, others such as "You Shoulda Treated Me Right" and an inventive reading of the classic "Stagger Lee and Billy" touch on a bit of the souljazz blend made big Ray Charles.
A lot of it sounds familiar but there's a volcanic fury bubbling just beneath the surface a fury that soon would give birth to the full-fledged rock and roll age. Actually, that should come as no wonder given that the man behind the board in all these proceedings is Ike-the man credited with penning the first real rock and roll hit, Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88." Throughout these tracks, you can get a full helping of Ike's brilliant piano playing, arranging and production that influenced countless rock imitators down the line.
Another gem is the old Ikettes' tune, "I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song), one of the most rhythmically erotic songs you'll ever hear. Don't believe me? Check out the dance scene in the black club in John Water's original film "Hairspray."
The first CD ends with a live version of "River Deep, Mountain High," considered one of the best rock and roll records ever made thanks to the controversial Phil Spector's famous wall of sound production. Contractual restrictions prevented Spector's version from being included here, but this live version does it justice thanks to Ike's top-notch band.
Disc two ventures more into rock with both Ike & Tina experimenting and then immersing themselves in the new thing called hard and psychedelic rock-but not before the duo turns in some of the best blues on record. Ike's stinging guitar throughout the cover of the Booker T & the MG's penned "The Hunter" is stunning. The man can play! As a guitarist, he should have earned his spot right next to icons such as BB King, and Albert King. (I wish they had included Ike & Tina's version of "3 o'clock in the Morning"-another outstanding blues performance!)
Tina's reading of Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long" is both stunning and painful. Not to be funny, but I suppose one also could credit Ike with inspiring that performance too, albeit unwittingly, due to the physical and mental abuse he was heaping on Tina thanks to his increasing cocaine habit and paranoia. You can feel her pain.
The majority of the tunes on this disc are also covers or variants of other songs out at the time. Ike creates an killer psychedelic funk groove based on Sly Stone's "Sing A Simple Song." Here, it's rawer, scarier and bluesier. And, it's bad! Ironically, they two turn in an energetic reading of Sly's "I Want to Take You Higher." While it doesn't quite match the tour de force live performance Sly & the Family Stone turned in at Woodstock, this version ain't bad.
Some of the other covers, while interesting aren't exactly awe-inspiring. Sometimes, it's apparent that Ike is struggling to stay up with the times, even at the expense of some of Ike & Tina Turner's uniqueness. The Beatles' "Come Together" seems a bit forced at times and the Stones' "Honky Tonk Women" reduces the dynamic duo to sounding like a pretty good bar band with a great singer, or at best a working demo for some later studio work. That same unfinished sound also pulls some of the life from their cover of "Get Back."
There are some real gems on disc two, however. Most notably, there's Tina's own "Nutbush City Limits" (one of my all time favorites) and the last big thing the two ever did together-their inspired and unmatchable reworking of Credence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary." It still sounds great. There's a hint of things to come with Tina's solo quasi-disco offering of "Acid Queen" from the film version of the Who's rock opera "Tommy." With that, Tina would find full entrée into the rock world and her star would ascend even higher, while Ike would finally lose his grip on everything, Tina, his career and his life.
Disc three attempts to correct a problem that plagued Ike & Tina and many other great performers including jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins-how to translate the raw energy of their live shows onto record. The easiest solution has been to record live performances, hence this 11-track final set. For the most part, it's composed of covers, but you can see how the duo made them their own on stage whereas some of this might not have been as inspiring in the studio.
"The Ike & Tina Turner Story 1960-1975" helps reaffirm the duo's rightfully earned status as one of pop music's best and, at times, lets you know why, despite his personal demons, folks gravitated toward Ike Turner.
27th September 2007 09:52 AM
guitarman53
I didn't know Ike Turner was that talented as a musician, I thought he was the asshole who beat up his wife, Tina.
I'll always remember the scene from "Gimme Shelter" & Tina kept repeating everything Ike would say, with great sexuality, then I knew that guy controlled his wife.
The Stones loved Ike & Tina Turner, they had them tour with them even going back to '66 on their U.K. tour, the one that produced "Got Live If you want it" there's this old story that Tina taught Jagger how to dance, he used to watch her from the sidelines when she was on stage.
27th September 2007 01:49 PM
Retrolove
Wife beater or not, Ike was/is a very underrated!!! But you rep what you sow...
28th September 2007 10:40 AM
MrPleasant
Once, my ex girlfriend beat me up.
29th September 2007 11:12 PM
Lethargy
quote:MrPleasant wrote:
Once, my ex girlfriend beat me up.
That's HOT
30th September 2007 08:49 AM
glencar
Speaking of spurned women...
30th September 2007 08:57 AM
glencar
Oh my!
30th September 2007 12:13 PM
fireontheplatter
quote:MrPleasant wrote:
Once, my ex girlfriend beat me up.
did you enjoy it?
30th September 2007 12:44 PM
Joey
quote:Retrolove wrote:
Wife beater or not, Ike was/is a very underrated!!! But you rep what you sow...
Woman's ALWAYS be thinkin' too damn much
J. " IKE " Turner ! ™
30th September 2007 01:39 PM
MrPleasant
quote:Lethargy wrote:
That's HOT
Yeah. Unfortunately we were far from the bedroom.
30th September 2007 01:40 PM
MrPleasant
quote:fireontheplatter wrote:
did you enjoy it?
Not that particular time.
30th September 2007 06:30 PM
glencar
quote:glencar wrote:
Oh my!
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