CD (USA) - Front Cover

CD (USA) - Back Cover

Ike Turner’s "His Woman Her Man” is a unique collection of funk that simultaneously looks back at lke's soulful past, while also looking forward to his future Rock & Roll endeavors with his band (Kings of Rhythm) and partner (Tina Turner). This anthology reflects a period when the all-embracing sensibility of Turner was catalyzing heavily on two fronts. First, he was engaging in a newfound artistic reciprocity with the rock musicians and their audience. Second, lke began expanding his (and most everyone else's) studio vocabulary with a then-unprecedented forward ranging sound of synthesizers.

To briefly recap his autobiography, Ike was born Izear Luster Turner on November 5, 1931 in Clarksdale, MS. After graduating from high school, he formed the Kings of Rhythm and toured the south, landing at Sam Phillips' Memphis-based Sun Records in 1951 where they recorded what is considered by critics to be the first true rock 'n' roll record - "Rocket 88” (released under the name Jackie Brenston - lke’s saxophonist - and His Delta Cats). After serving as a talent scout for the Bihari Brothers’ Modern label, Ike relocated his band to East St. Louis in 1955, where he would reside until the mid-1960s. He also adopted a revue format for the Kings of Rhythm's live performances and used a revolving group of vocalists. This change resulted in the hiring of a teenager by the name of Annie Mae Bullock from Nutbush, Tennessee, who Ike later renamed Tina Turner. While Ike became known for his scintillating recordings and live performances with Tina, he remained dedicated to the studio. Beginning with Teena Records in 1962, Ike owned a series of labels that exclusively featured his productions.

After signing with Warner Brothers' Loma subsidiary in 1964, Ike, Tina and the Kings of Rhythm moved to Los Angeles where their proximity to rock's royalty harkened an important chapter in their musical career. "The ABC-TV series 'Shindig!’ was taped in Los Angeles and pro- duced by Jack Good, who was from England,” explained Ike in a recent interview. "He knew about us from our early records and was a big fan of our work. Jack had us on the show many times during its run from the beginning (1964-66). That’s when we met the Animals, the Rolling Stones, and the Yardbirds in between the tapings. These bands were big fans of our music so when they went back home to the UK, they would tell [the BBC radio stations] to play our records.” In I966, legendary producer and fellow Angelino Phil Spector produced the classic "River Deep - Mountain High” for his Philles label. While the song only hit the lower rungs of BiIlboard’s Hot 100 (#88 to be exact), "River Deep” was a #2 smash in England thanks to the support Ike and company received from their British colleagues. Ike commented that ”Spector's work was still highly regarded in the UK so that, combined with the word of mouth about the Revue that was generated from the British bands, helped 'River Deep' become a big hit in the UK. As a result, we became the opening act for the Rolling Stones tours during 1966-67 and 1969-70.”

As a result of traveling with the Stones, Ike & company were able to add to their R&B base a tour of American colleges, where Ike discovered that they had a broad fan-base among young college kids. In turn, Ike began adapting his sound. Ike noted, "We were playing soul music as well as the hits we had in the early 1960s but I really wanted us to play music that was in line with what I liked - the blues-driven rock and R&B stuff I did early in my career that groups like the Stones were using in their act. They were performing versions of tunes I recorded in the 1950s, so I felt that the Revue should have gone in that direction.” When the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Sly & the Family Stone exploded onto the music scene with their brand of rock-meets-soul-meets-bIues-meets-funk, Ike's convictions were reinforced. He added rock tunes to the Revue that were later recorded for Liberty /  United Artists Records (”Come Together", "I Want To Take You Higher”) which scored airplay on the fast-growing album rock radio format. Ike said, "Liberty/UA wanted us to record songs by popular rock songwriters and artists, because they knew that the young record-buying crowd would be more familiar with that material. So, we gave them our versions of Rolling Stones, Beatles, and Sly Stone tunes while my funky originals and remakes of R&B hits were kept in my vault.”

In 1970, Ike opened his own recording studio, Bolic Sound, where Ike and his band recorded many of the songs for this album. "Bolic was a great studio," explained Ike. "I invested in the latest instruments at the time such as the ARP & Moog synthesizers and an early drum machine that Thurman Kuku of Hamburg, Germany created, which we called 'the funk box"’. The songs in this collection were recorded at Bolic as well as other studios in the LA area. Ike continued, "We recorded at Paramount Studios (no relation to the film company) in Santa Monica, at Metro-Dome Recording - that was on Ventura Boulevard - and at a studio that Leon Haywood (of "I Want To Do Something Freaky To You" fame) owned on Rodeo Road. But the bulk of the material we recorded was done at Bolic."

The musicians he used in the studio were the Kings Of Rhythm, only this time Ike wore many hats while recording. "I had Warren Dawson (bass), Jackie Clark (guitar), Soko Richardson (drums), Edward Burke (trombone), Mac Johnson (trumpet), Claude Williams (trumpet), Jimmy Smith (sax), J.D. Reed (sax), Larry Reed (sax & piano) & Teasky Tribble (percussion) in the studio with me. Because the recording studios on the West Coast, including Bolic, were multi-track facilities, I would overdub my playing guitar, keyboards, synthesizers and bass on different tracks for certain tunes. I was becoming more of a multi-instrumentalist in the studio, something I couIdn't do in a live setting," said Ike. 

According to Ike, his songs "Can’t Find My Mind" and "Baby Get It On" were originally written for their old touring buddies. "I had Mick Jagger & Keith Richards in mind when I wrote those songs. Since Mick loved Tina’s singing, I felt the tunes were a perfect fit for the Stones. However, Mick & Keith wrote their own material and the only outside material the Stones recorded were remakes of R&B hits." As for "He Makes Me Holler", Ike introduces the tune with the two then-modern instruments he had at Bolic. "I used an ARP synthesizer and the 'funk box' on 'Holler'" Ike explained. "These instruments gave the song a funky sound that no one was using at the time (circa 1970). That's why Bolic Sound was a popular studio here in LA and musicians like Stevie Wonder were coming around checking us out. We were the first to have these instruments. In fact, Stevie still has the funk box I loaned him!"

Besides the original material Ike had composed, he was also incorporating outside material into the act. Ike had done this before with the Revue and the Kings of Rhythm only this time he ventured into rock. This leads us to Ike's funky read of Creedence Clearwater RevivaI's "Proud Mary". Ike's remarks on this rendition of "Proud Mary" were "Man, we had a real bad choir backing us on this version! We cut this right around the time the original was still on the charts (ca. 1969). In concert we started doing it slow and the more we performed it, the more excitement it created and the faster it got. As a result, we re- recorded 'Proud Mary' that way and it became our first Top Five pop hit while this [slow] version stayed in the vault."

"Brain Game" and "It’s Groovier Across The Line" feature the fine vocal work of Tina & the lkettes. As far as the lineup, Ike remarked, "Edna Richardson, Esther Jones and Vera Hamilton sang the background vocals. I played that fuzz-guitar you hear on 'Brain Game“. 'It’s Groovier..." was one of those conversation-type songs we did, like our hit 'It's Gonna Work Out Fine.'" One of the few ballads on this collection, "Don't Believe Nothing", shows off lke’s way of telling a story. "I laid down vocal tracks with different verses, like a 'round' but telling the same story in different ways - kind of like how our minds work at times," explained Ike. "We say one thing while our brain is preparing the next thought. So, I wanted to reflect that in the song and I split the vocal tracks left and right." Ike also arranged the strings on "Don't Believe Nothing". Ike said, "I brought in a string section from the LA Symphony Orchestra for that tune. The string arrangement helped make the song sound more like a ballad than a blues number.”

"Money", "I Got My Mojo Working”, and "Ya-Ya" were three outside tunes that were from Ike's sessions for Blue Thumb Records (circa I969) that were never submitted for release. Even when he and the Revue performed more rock-oriented material, he never stopped doing the oldies. Ike said, "These were tunes we had sung and recorded over the years. Through time, we changed the tempo of these songs, added synthesizers to the mix and gave the tunes a more rock-feel to make them sound current, up to date. For example, the tempo for 'I Got My Mojo Working' is the same as the one I used for 'I\lutbush City Limits'. As for 'Money' I wanted it to sound funkier than the original (by Barrett Strong) plus I layered many keyboard tracks on the song. With 'Ya~Ya', Jesse Knight played simple, but distinct, bass runs through the song while I patched my ARP through a wah-wah pedal. That's why the notes bend when you hear the ARP."

"You Ain't Enough For Two" and "He's Mine” are originals that not only feature Ike at the various keyboard instruments, but also on some electronic devices as well. "That's an oscillator at the beginning of 'He's Mine', and I played clavinet on the track," explained Ike. "I used the ARP on 'You Ain't Enough For Two' - if you listen to the staccato notes during the bridge, that's the ARP." "I Woke Up This Morning" and "I'lI Be Any Way You Want Me To Be" featured the Revue's tight horn section of Johnson, Burke, Reed, Williams & Smith.

One song that created a problem in the studio was a blistering version of Alice Cooper's "OnIy Women Bleed". "Tina did not like singing that song at first," said Ike. "She thought the song was about a woman having her period and hated the lyrics. After listening to Cooper's original, she had a change of heart and cut the song." One song Tina did like was the R&B chestnut "Sit & Hold Your Hand". "She was hav- ing fun on that song in the studio," Ike explained. "It's another one of those tunes we did from time to time in our concerts."

As a whole, "His Woman Her Man" is a reflection of Ike's acceptance of the new technology that in the years to come would dominate popular music. Yet at the same time Ike did not allow the technology to overrule his musical powers. The result is a modern yet funky testa- ment to Ike's love for rock, R&B, blues and soul as well as his creative production genius.

Kevin L. Goins -- November 2003
Sources - Interviews with Ike Turner - January 2003, September 2003 and November 2003. All Music Guide - Ike Turner biography