Record basics
– Album name: What You Hear Is What You Get: Live at Carnegie Hall
– Artist name: Ike and Tina Turner
– Label: United Artists
– Release Date: April 1 1971
– My grade: 5/5
– Buy from your favourite seller on Discogs: From $7.99
This is the only vinyl I have of Tina Turner. I hate that the only album I own of hers includes her abuser. I will need to remedy that. But in the meantime, I will review this record in tribute to Anna Mae Bullock.
I am a child of the 80s and Tina was part of the fabric of my pop cultured formative years. Beyond the music itself she was part of the patter and inventory for comics and impressionists. She was the answer to trivial pursuit questions, category music. She was, and everyone knew her to be.
When I try to remember my early years, it always seems like one long, hazy summer, late nights in the garden, the smells of charcoal and hickory and burgers, sticky fingers from ice lollies and orange squash, the low humming of the grown up’s conversation drifting over the hedges of suburbia, allowing us kids to run around until it got dark at 10 pm. Hedgehogs.
These are strange memories as I grew up in the south east of England, and one doesn’t usually associate that with anything remotely Summer-y. But these are my memories, reliable or not. And that one long, hazy summer was soundtracked by Tina Turner.
As I became more sentient, more aware of music and tastes, I remember discovering Tina had had a whole career prior to the one I knew her for. I knew the stadium anthems, but the soul and RnB that made her famous was new to me, it was like uncovering a secret. And that’s how I feel about this record. It came into my possession only a few months ago and I got to rediscover Tina all over again. Another whole layer to her stellar career. I love this record. It stops me in my tracks sometimes, a whoop, a clap. I think vinyl was made for live albums. The crackle and pop of the needle and the frenzied energy from the crowd and you can almost, almost believe you are there.
This record was a gift from dear husband’s dear friend Dan. We love Dan. Dan knows more about musical artists, their production, their back catalogue, the years, the stories than anyone I know. This is reason enough to love Dan. But this is not the only reason. Dan also happens to be the kindest soul I have ever met. He sees the good and the best in everything and everyone. Everything is good and worthwhile to Dan. This also means that when we get Dan’s stamp of approval, Dan gets Natasha’s side eye.
“Is it really amazing?” I ask myself. Everything has Dan’s stamp of approval because he genuinely loves everything.
When Dan hands me records as a gift and says these are fantastic, you are going to love them, I smile politely and say thank you. But I am not like Dan and I don’t see the good and the best in everything and everyone, and I wonder how fantastic I will really find them.
I put this record onto the turntable, sing a long, I thought, easy listening, I thought, familiar, I thought. Not once did I think I would be repeatedly saying, “Damn, did you hear that – wow, I need to hear that again,” multiple times during each and every rotation of this record.
I love the introduction and hearing the New York crowd welcoming Ike and the Ikettes to the stage. The rhythm building from the orchestral band, giving a taste of the blues and rock that is going to lead us to ‘Piece Of My Heart.’ This is a great song regardless of which version, and it’s always fun to hear it. The Ikettes have the energy and chops to carry this familiar track, but I don’t think they necessarily add anything to it. It’s a fun and familiar way to introduce the crowd to the show.
This is followed by another song that I would never have associated with the Turners, ‘Everyday People’ by Sly and the Family Stone. I have some personal attachment to this song, and I love it, it’s so cheesy it transcends all, and who can’t help but sing along, and so on and so on and scooby dooby do.
So a strong introduction to the rest of the record, before Tina has even made an appearance. I have so many positive associations with these first few tracks, that I am warmed up, as is the intention. I am anticipating the rest of the album, knowing and hoping it can only be up and up and up from here.
Tina enters. The crowd cheers. The band works up to a frenetic energy, you can feel it, and then you hear the familiar voice, strong, effortless, deep and rich, singing ‘Sweet Soul Music.’ Here she is. The reason we are here, engaging the crowd, leading them, making them work, holding them in her hands, blues refrained, ‘Ooh Poo Pah Doo.’
We are on the way to the zenith, we are being led somewhere, but we aren’t there yet, we take another familiar turn with the Rolling Stones’ ‘Honky Tonk Woman.’ It’s another great song that carries itself so well that it doesn’t need to be elevated. We slow down a little, getting a chance to hear the power and control that Tina carries with ‘A Love Like Yours.’ This always elicits a little ‘damn,’ from me. She’s so good!
And we arrive, here we are, the peak. We know it, the band knows it, the crowd knows it. Teasing, some percussion, “I left a good job in the city.” It’s here, we are here. It all comes together. Tina, Ike, the Ikettes, the band. Proud Mary, indeed.
I cannot get enough of the 12+ minutes that this runs for, encore and all. It’s fun, and lively, and an absolute classic, and I do not ever tire of the bass of Ike’s voice rollin’, rollin’, rollin’.
‘I Smell Trouble’ wraps its arms around me, exhausted as I am from ‘Proud Mary’ but it’s not over, don’t stop, let’s continue on this journey, let’s keep going, showcasing the power of Tina’s voice. More Sly and the Family Stone wanting to take us higher, just when you think we are slowing down, leading us to the finish line, not yet, no.
‘I’ve Been Loving You Too Long’ gives me goosebumps. The earnest timbre of Tina’s voice cracking. The whole performance of this track makes me feel. And here we are at the end. Respect. Another classic, familiar.
So we have come through this album made up more or less of covers. With Ike and Tina’s spin and touch on them. If you read through all of this then it should come as no surprise that this is a 5 star album for me, as well as Dan.
It’s classic rock and RnB at its best, with one of the best performers of my lifetime at its helm. It’s a top tier live album. It will always put you in a good mood, make you stop and appreciate the artistry of songs you have heard hundreds of times, and yet presents them in a way that you don’t tire of hearing again and again. This is not the Tina that soundtracked that one long, hazy summer of my youth, but I will take it. I will take it and remember we all live so many lives, that we can all evolve and shift and find the good in everything and every one and so on and so on and scooby dooby do.
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