Sunday, August 11, 2013

Ike & Tina Turner - Greatest Hits - 1969


Earlier this summer I visited my family in Arizona and my sister had a small box of records for me.  There were all pretty beat up.  This Ike and Tina Turner record was one of the records.  I finally threw it on the turntable last weekend and was blown away by it.  I never really looked too closely at the liner notes so I didn't realize that his isn't really a greatest hits compilation.  It is a collection of live recordings of some of their hit.  Also the so called hits aren't the big ones that come to mind covering other rock bands.  These are soul hits and all the energy of their live performances come through.  One of the great tracks is the closing of side one where Tina is basically talking with the audience in the club.  There so much passion and emotion in the performance.  I've since tracked down some of the studio recordings of these songs like "Early in the Mornin" and while they are good, this live performance is amazing.  Many times while listening Janis Joplin comes to mind.  I'm sharing this record because I found it surprisingly hard to find.  There was this vinyl release back in 1969.  There was another vinyl release in the 80's under some other title.  Then it was released on CD around 1996.  That seems to be long out of print as far as I can tell.  I even did some initial torrent searches for it and didn't find it.  So while the record is beat up I did my best to rip a decent copy.  It isn't perfect, but you get the vibe of the record which is electric.  Makes me wish I could have been around to see them in one of these venues in Texas when they made these recordings.

One other thing I like about this record is what it says on the back.  "A jumbo helping of soul as Ike and Tina Turner turn up the heat on their greatest hits."  That they certainly do.  

Enjoy!

Ike and Tina Turner's Greatest Hits

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