17.11.11

Fontella Bass and Tina Turner (1963)


Spellbinding and utterly hypnotizing blues ballad from some dusty corner of soul history, this little single is unpolished,raw and earthy sound of black ghetto. Just a guitar and few instruments in the background,piano plinking and girl (in this case great Fontella Bass) pouring her heart out to a song that actually belong more to already out-of-fashion doo wop style of previous decade. Think Lula Reed, Esther Phillips or any of classic rhythm n' blues songbirds. It is a dark, smokey sound of after-hours hang outs, with strange characters and only a tired waiter still around. Yes,it has Ike Turner written all over it and Tina joins harmonizing in refrain, her recognizable deep, soulful voice matching main vocalist note by note. Side B is another doo wop ballad "This Would Make Me Happy" that actually has Ikettes around for a background vocals. Delicious glimpse into the past. Old jukebox. Almost never anthologized on CDs although it definitely should have been. I love this so much that I could listen this all the time.

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