Rating:
Genre:
R&B
Release Date: 11/02/2004
Filmed in Holland on February 11, 1971, for Dutch television, this hourlong DVD captures the
Ike & Tina Turner show right around the time they were peaking in popularity with the
rock audience, with an accompanying CD containing music from the concert. As a document of an exciting
rock 'n'
soul revue, it's pretty good, well-shot, and in restored color. The chief pleasure might be more visual than musical (although the soundtrack is in good shape as well), as
Tina Turner and the three backing
Ikettes go through their choreographed paces with earthy sensuality. (Indeed, at one point the camera angle seems deliberately set up to get flashes of one of
the Ikettes' panties.)
Ike Turner's camera presence is much more low-key; he's just part of the band for much of the proceedings, although he is sporting a pretty outrageous
Beatle moptop-style hairdo. While the music side of things is good, somehow it's a little less overwhelming than the legend might have one expect. It's a very cover-heavy set with few surprises, expected hits like
"River Deep, Mountain High," "Come Together," and
"Proud Mary" mixed with classic
R&B and then-current
rock covers like
"I Want to Take You Higher," "Honky Tonk Women," and
"Ooo Poo Pah Doo." But the ensemble doesn't seem to let it all hang out as much as it sometimes did, an exception being the cover of
Bobby "Blue" Bland's
"I Smell Trouble," where
Tina's vocal is its most salacious and
Ike steps forward to showcase his iciest bluesy riffs. Yet the excerpts from their African performance from the same era in the movie
Soul to Soul in the brief bonus feature, for instance, are more galvanizing. The accompanying CD is basically a release-quality audio disc of the concert, though it has a few songs (
"I've Been Loving You Too Long," "Respect," and
"Land of 1000 Dances") that weren't included in the concert footage. Note, incidentally, that the first song on the DVD (
"Them Changes") is just an instrumental by the backing band, while the second (
"Sweet Inspiration") is by
the Ikettes sans
Tina Turner.
~Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
;)
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