The
Universal Music Group
's
Hip-O Select
imprint, devoted to pricey, quality reissues of gems from the company's extensive archives, here hits upon the legendary, if compromised
Ike & Tina Turner
album
River Deep -- Mountain High
. The title song was
Phil Spector
's last major effort, a Wall of Sound production from 1966 that hit in the U.K. but flopped in the U.S., leading to his retirement. There were a few other
Spector
tracks with the
Turners
(actually, only
Tina
appears on
"River Deep -- Mountain High"
), and an album was scheduled on
Philles Records
label. Discs were printed for a 1967 release, but no covers, and the LP never appeared. Two years later,
A&M Records
(its catalog now controlled by
Universal
) finally put it out. It turned out that
hadn't produced a whole album's worth of material; in addition to his productions (
"A Love Like Yours [Don't Come Knocking Every Day],"
"I'll Never Need More Than This,"
"Save the Last Dance for Me,"
and the title song),
Ike Turner
had produced a batch of typical
Ike & Tina
material, including remakes of their early-'60s hits
"A Fool in Love,"
"I Idolize You,"
and
"It's Gonna Work Out Fine."
Turner
's simple, direct R&B production style has nothing in common with
's everything-but-the-kitchen-sink style, so the resulting collection is full of odd juxtapositions in sound. But no matter who's in the producer's chair, the center of the music is still
Tina Turner
, emoting for all she's worth. ~ William Ruhlmann