- Included among the Record Descriptions of Favorite Albums (Part 1).
- Seven of the 12 tracks on Dynamite by Ike & Tina Turner are charting singles, with Ike Turner writing or co-writing all but 2 of the songs.
Ike & Tina Turner – Dynamite (1963): Dynamite – called Dynamite! on the album cover, but Dynamite on the record label – is the second album by Ike & Tina Turner (the two married in 1962), an R&B powerhouse duo who fronted a fierce band that put on one of the best live shows of the 1950’s and 1960’s and into the 1970’s. Ike & Tina Turner had hit songs on the R&B charts from the beginning, with occasional high placement on the pop charts as well, peaking with their #4 hit version of the Creedence Clearwater Revival song “Proud Mary” (1971) that has a memorable introduction: “Y’ know, every now and then / I think you might like to hear something from us / Nice and easy / But there’s just one thing, you see / We never ever do nothing nice and easy / We always do it nice and rough . . .”.
I ran across an original copy of this album in North Carolina for $15 and went for it; I later saw Dynamite for sale at a San Francisco record collectors show for over $100, so I felt pleased with the purchase. Ike Turner is a founder of rock and roll and started a band called the Kings of Rhythm by the late 1940’s. Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm are well known for recording “Rocket 88” in 1951, often called the first rock and roll record; however, because the lead vocals are by Jackie Brenston, the song was released under the name of Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats. The album Dynamite is by Ike & Tina Turner; but their stage show, which includes the background singers and dancers called the Ikettes, is known as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. It is difficult to listen to the recordings by Ike & Tina Turner without recalling the appalling abuse that, in later years, Tina Turner suffered at the hands of her volatile and often violent husband Ike Turner. This was graphically illustrated in the 1993 film What’s Love Got to Do with It? starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishburne that was based on Tina Turner’s autobiography, I, Tina: My Life Story (1986). Although Tina Turner and Ike Turner each complained about inaccuracies in the film, both actors were nominated for Oscars, and Angela Bassett won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. Three hit songs that are on their debut album, The Soul of Ike & Tina Turner (1961) – the million-selling “A Fool in Love” (#1 R&B, #27 pop – Billboard music charts unless otherwise noted), “I’m Jealous” (#43 Cashbox R&B), and “I Idolize You” (#5 R&B) – also appear on Dynamite; as do two other songs from that album, “Sleepless” and “Letter from Tina”. As noted in Wikipedia: “Music journalist Kurt Loder – later the long-time anchor for MTV News on MTV – deemed ‘A Fool in Love’ ‘the blackest record to creep into the white pop charts since Ray Charles’s gospel-styled “What’d I Say”. ’ ” My favorite of the early Ike & Tina Turner songs, “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” (#2 R&B, #14 pop) is the lead single from Dynamite. “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” is their second million-selling single and was also nominated for a Grammy Award. The R&B duo Mickey & Sylvia (Mickey Baker and Sylvia Robinson) contributed to the song. As quoted in Wikipedia, in a 1981 interview with Black Radio Exclusive magazine, Sylvia Robinson said: “I paid for the session, taught Tina the song; that’s me playing guitar.” Nevertheless, Sue Records owner Juggy Murray is credited as the producer. Dubbed “the Mother of Hip-Hop”, Sylvia Robinson is also the co-founder and CEO of Sugar Hill Records; as stated in Wikipedia, she is credited as being the driving force behind two of the landmark singles in the rap/hip hop genre: “Rapper’s Delight” (1979) by the Sugarhill Gang, and “The Message” (1982) by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Three more singles released from Dynamite made the Billboard Hot 100: “Poor Fool” (R&B #4, pop #38), “Tra La La La La” (R&B #9, pop #50), and “You Should’a Treated Me Right” (pop #89). Thus, 7 of the 12 tracks on Dynamite are charting singles, with Ike Turner writing or co-writing all but 2 of the songs. Another notable song on Dynamite is a duet by Ike Turner and Tina Turner on the ballad “Won’t You Forgive Me”.