Search - Ike Turner & Tina :: Golden Classics

Potent period pieces

Laurence Upton | Wilts, UK | 03/22/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Decades ago there used to be a great London label LP of some of Ike and Tina Turner's recordings for the Sue label in the early 1960s, and I also had an American promo single of Can't Chance A Break Up/Stagger Lee And Billy, which I have for a long time been anxious to find on CD.

There are many inexpensive Ike & Tina compilations on the market but they always date from a slightly later period than these from the Sue and Kent labels; recordings for Pompeii, Blue Thumb and so forth. Finally I discovered the existence of this Golden Classics collection on the Collectables label, unavailable in the UK. 

It includes all the early singles including the first, A Fool In Love, recorded, so the story goes, as a result of the 17-year old Tina (Annie Mae) having jumped onstage on a dare from her sister to sing at an Ike Turner and his Kings Of Rhythm gig, and ended up joining his revue. It also has It's Gonna Work Out Fine, a call and response song on which Mickey "Guitar" Baker (not Ike, as I had always supposed) added his distinctive vocals. Alternative takes of I Idolize You and Poor Fool are additionally included.

Can't Chance A Break Up, unreleased in the UK, marked a change of direction, a far more up tempo and frenetic Northern Soul sound, and still sounds absolutely classic to me. It doesn't even warrant a mention in the sleeve notes so must have passed American record buyers by at the time; therefore they would sadly never have heard the soulful murderous story of Stagger Lee on the excellent flip, included here.

Though there have more recently been complete re-issues of Ike & Tina Turner albums and singles from this period (on the Stateside label in the UK), this remains a very useful overview of a potent period in their career"