TINA TURNER`S EX CRANKED OUT A BLUES SCORCHER BEFORE MEETING HIS WATERLOO
A bit like Chuck Brown, who has the distinction of being the only musician to ever `officially` form a partnership with the late and very great blues/gospel/folk sensation Eva Cassidy before her untimely death in 1996.
While the album I am about to tell you about is not a piano laced bluesy sing-a-long like Eva Cassidy`s and Chuck Brown`s duet album, it is however an example of a slightly mediocre R&B artist making the effort to go beyond his normal musical scope to produce something really great to listen to if you like the blues, the same way Chuck Brown did with Eva.
He is Ike Turner, Tina Turner`s very ex-hubby for the last years of his life, who died in 2007 at the age of 76.
Ike Turner made mistakes while he was alive in his personal life, but he is now dead so it would not be appropriate to be critical of his alleged wife bashing antics which Tina lay claim to being a victim of.
That`s between him and God now, so best we leave it at that. Musically he and Tina helped to invent rock`n`roll in the formative years of that type of music, always a lot of Fats Domino and of course Little Richard in Ike`s duel guitar/ piano style of
R&B playing.
To cut to the chase and disregarding all the wasted years due to Ike`s drinking habits,
marriage breakdown to Tina and lack of directio musically, he returned fire in early 2006, that`s about 20 months before he died, with a blistering no-nonsense blues album overflowing with a heap of boogie woogie piano, razor edge guitar and his most mean and grainy vocals ever.
The album`s title is RISIN` WITH THE BLUES, and his backing back are called THE KINGS OF RHYTHM.
marriage breakdown to Tina and lack of directio musically, he returned fire in early 2006, that`s about 20 months before he died, with a blistering no-nonsense blues album overflowing with a heap of boogie woogie piano, razor edge guitar and his most mean and grainy vocals ever.
The album`s title is RISIN` WITH THE BLUES, and his backing back are called THE KINGS OF RHYTHM.
Thanks to the horn section of Mack Johnson, Leo Dumbecki and Ryan Montana, there is an obvious Texas blues ring about it, the album is a mixture of originals and covers, with Ike`s famous old tune GIVE ME BACK MY WIG leading it off, a song which was spectacularly covered by Chicago bluesman Hound Dog Taylor on a cheap and nasty `jap`guitar many years ago.
Louis Jordan`s CALDONIA and Fat Domino`s GOIN`HOME TOMORROW are two other fantastic covers.
There is some instrumentals as far as the originals go, some Ike sings on. Some of the
song titles summed up Ike`s disregard for political correctness, like BIG FAT MAMA and BI-POLAR.
song titles summed up Ike`s disregard for political correctness, like BIG FAT MAMA and BI-POLAR.
I should have listened to the song JESUS LOVES ME properly before I started writing this article to see if it was a gospel number or a parody (laugh).
I cant remember listening to that one. You
may as well beat me to it and get a hold of the album yourself. A top notch blues album
in every sense of the word.
in every sense of the word.
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