Music Review: Ike & Tina Turner The Ike & Tina Story: 1960-1975 - Page 2

They recorded their first hit together, "A Fool In Love" almost by accident as Ike had written it for someone else. When they toured that summer Tina was pregnant with Ike's child, and Ike was married to another woman. Ironically, Ike had only had her change her name to Tina Turner for the sake of the group – he thought she would leave at any time and he wanted a name anyone could use so he could replace her if he had too.

The rest as they say is history; The Ike & Tina Turner Review became one of the most successful crossover R & B pop acts in the '60s. In fact, it was because of them that for two years Billboard simply closed their R & B chart, as Ike & Tina were so dominant they didn't see the point in having both. As they gained exposure, they also started to come into contact with rock and roll acts.

They toured England in 1966, opening for the Rolling Stones (Ike claims that Mick Jagger only started to dance after seeing Tina perform). For Ike it was an eye opener in another way. He could see that these young white guys were using licks they had learned from B B King, him, and other players from the 50s. He figured what's good for the goose etc., and started making arrangements of Rock and Roll songs for the Review to perform.

In many cases they were so successful that their versions of the songs shot higher on the charts then the originals had. In 1969 when they toured again with the Rolling Stones, the Stones refused to go on stage for 45 minutes after Ike & Tina's set had ended. They claimed that nobody had picked them up at the airport, but the reality was they hadn't dared go on stage any sooner because the audience would have ignored them after the performance put on by the Review.

Two of the three discs of The Ike & Tina Turner Story are culled from studio recordings that the producers were able to access (contractual problems forbid the use of some tunes) and the third disc is taken from a live album that was originally recorded and released in 1969 called In Person. Listening to this disc you can understand why Mick Jagger and company wanted to wait for the crowd to calm down before following Tina on stage, (I think it was Mick who said years later, following a duet with Tina, that it was like performing inside a hurricane) the energy level they were able to create and sustain was amazing.

The other two discs are a great musical history of the band starting with their first hit "A Fool In Love" and moving in chronological order to Tina's first solo hit, "The Acid Queen" from Ken Russell's movie version of The Who's Tommy. Shooting for the movie had been in England and Tina discovered two things; she liked acting, and she liked being away from Ike.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the forthcoming book What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and has had his work published in print and on line all over the world. The not so long-haired Canadian iconoclast writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees …

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