Ike Turner - 2 albums: Essential Rock 'n Roll Blues Masters / Risin' With The Blues

Album: Essential Rock 'n Roll Blues Masters
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 88:56
Size: 203.6 MB
Styles: R&B, Rock n Roll
Year: 2009
Art: Front

[2:29] 1. Why Did You Leave Me
[2:38] 2. No Coming Back
[2:29] 3. I'm Tired Of Beggin'
[2:17] 4. She Made My Blood Run Cold
[2:22] 5. Rock-A-Bucket
[2:54] 6. Way Down In The Congo
[2:20] 7. I'm Tore Up
[3:37] 8. Dead Letter Blues
[2:31] 9. Wicked Little Baby
[2:21] 10. Go To It (Stringin' Along)
[2:59] 11. Hoo-Doo Say
[2:26] 12. Peg Leg Woman
[2:27] 13. Looking For My Baby
[2:28] 14. Ugly Woman (Peg Leg Baby)
[2:50] 15. Why Don't You Believe In Me
[3:10] 16. Gypsy Blues
[2:10] 17. Night Howler
[2:02] 18. Gonna Wait For My Chance
[3:05] 19. My Four Women
[2:26] 20. Early Times
[2:39] 21. Cuban Getaway (Aka Bayou Rock)
[2:27] 22. Cubano Jump
[2:33] 23. Nobody Wants Me
[2:14] 24. Much Later
[3:06] 25. I Miss You So
[2:18] 26. The Big Question
[2:32] 27. Trailblazer
[2:51] 28. Just One More Time
[2:15] 29. Do You Mean It
[2:15] 30. Loosely (The Wild One)
[2:06] 31. Do Right Baby
[2:03] 32. The Road I Travel
[2:06] 33. Sad As A Man Can Be
[2:49] 34. The World Is Yours
[2:26] 35. I Ain't Drunk

Essential Rock ‘N’ Roll Blues Masters is a full course of early black rock ‘n’ roll, the tunes ranging from the shuffle of “Why Did You Leave Me” to the bedrock blues of “Dead Letter Blues” onto the hokum of “Way Down in the Congo” through to rock ‘n’ rumba of “Cubano Jump.” They’re not always perfect, but every track has something that makes it worthwhile. And there are true gems here. “No Coming Back” has all the fervor of a great James Brown track. “I’m Tired of Begging” features absolutely furious guitar playing by Turner. The aforementioned “Dead Letter Blues” is as powerful an electric blues tune as you’re likely to hear anywhere. “The Big Question,” with its driving horn section, walks the line between jump and the more urban big band swing of Joe Turner or Jimmy Rushing. Finally, there’s something that presages the Coasters, if the Coasters’ lyrics hadn’t been meant for kids: “I ain’t drunk. I’m just drinkin’.” ~Charles Farrell

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Album: Risin' With The Blues
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:37
Size: 122.8 MB
Styles: R&B, Electric blues
Year: 2008
Art: Front

[3:36] 1. Gimme Back My Wig
[2:56] 2. Caldonia
[3:44] 3. Tease Me
[3:04] 4. Goin' Home Tomorrow
[4:18] 5. Jazzy Fuzzy
[3:41] 6. I Don't Want Nobody
[3:55] 7. Jesus Loves Me
[3:25] 8. A Love Like Yours
[4:24] 9. Senor Blues
[3:15] 10. Eighteen Long Years
[4:36] 11. Rockin' Blues
[4:58] 12. After Hours
[3:52] 13. Big Fat Mama
[3:46] 14. Bi Polar

R&B/pop fans who only know Ike Turner from his brilliant work with ex-wife Tina Turner (and her dark point of view on their marriage and the heavy stories of his rage and drug use) should check out Risin' with the Blues so as to discover the soul of a musician in the midst of the turmoil. True Ike fans recall that he spearheaded the formative years of rock with his early-'50s recorded output and his later scouting for Chess Records. The one thing he never really did was come to the forefront as a singer, and some of the growly vocals on this powerful recording make it clear that his singing, while definitely stylish in its way, is a secondary talent. What's clear from this sizzling set -- and his Grammy nominated, W.C. Handy Award winning 2001 album Here and Now -- is that he's still at the top of his musical game. The real joys of this disc are his scorching guitar energy, followed by his jumpy boogie-woogie piano. It's pretty much a funky and humor-laden bluesfest throughout, from his funked-up update of "Gimme Back My Wig" to the shuffling blues of "Tease Me." He finds a balance between tongue in cheek attitudes (as on the retitling of "Five Long Years" to "Eighteen Long Years," a reference to his marriage to Tina) with more heartfelt touches on softer songs like "A Love Like Yours." He also ventures into spirited New Orleans territory on "Goin' Home Tomorrow" and offers a prayer of forgiveness for his countless lifelong sins by declaring that "Jesus Loves Me." Hey, who said great gospel singers couldn't be crazy and tormented? Whatever one thinks of Ike Turner personally, there's no denying the man's contribution to several genres of music, and it's good to see them celebrated with so much zeal in his later years. ~Jonathan Widran

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