One thing I can tell you is you got to be free (The Beatles) #408 - 409

Ike and Tina Turner Come Together/ Honky Tonk Women (Liberty, LYK-3557, 1970)
Ike and Tina Turner I Wish It Would Rain/ With A Little Help From My Friends (Liberty, LYK-3136, ?)

Couldn't find any reference to the I Wish It Would Rain single so I'm not sure about its specifics like the year it came out and I think it's the A side - if I'm wrong, then it should have been. It's a great song with a great groove but...

...listening to Ike Turner play now comes with that yuck factor. I have huge respect for Tina but having read her autobiography there is no way back for Ike.

Given that, I tend to concentrate on Tina in her early incarnation as a part of the Turner regime and she is, of course, a riveting performer and a one in a million vocalist. A force of nature - from her unique female position she delivers Come Together as the sexually charged stream of consciousness that The Beatles could never carry off - even given their omniscient fabness.

Hidden gems: Honky Tonk Women? Tina knew how that felt and her powerful performance makes this song her own and a million miles away from the lewd country honk of The Stones.

For some reason With A Little Help...never takes off. The pace maybe? Not sure, but where she's brilliant with Come Together, she seems unsuited to the quirkiness of the Ringo Starr vehicle from Sgt. Peppers.

My back is broad but it's a hurting (The Rolling Stones) #286-287

Bette Midler  Mother's Eyes/ Chapel Of Love (Atlantic, 45 3771, 1980)

Bette Midler  Beast Of Burden/ Come Back Jimmy Dean (Atlantic, 7-89712, 1983)

Why I have two Bette Midler singles in my collection is a mystery to me, but, have them I do. No disrespect meant to Bette - she's not very rock'n'roll though, is she? The Rose fools no one - it's a movie role!

She's got that brassy-with-a-heart-of-gold image down. A real softy. The real Bette Midler? Who knows who she was.

Mother's Eyes is the kind of thing Bette gravitates towards from time to time - she was born to sing Tom Waits songs (yes I'm aware he didn't write this one but it's very much his territory). This one walks the sentimental tightrope and mostly stays on its feet. There's zero edge to it though (unlike a Tom Waits' song).



Beast is a different, um, animal. As Stones covers go its pretty straightforward and anodyne in its approach-clearly lacking the Stones raunch. Good album track but not really a single. The presence of Jagger in the video doesn't help. His 'acting' is atrocious.


Hidden gems: She usually picks her material very carefully. Sometimes she gets it right (Shiver Me Timbers) but sometimes she strays into over sentimentality (Come Back..) and sometimes she gets into sugary schmaltz (Chapel). Chapel links to my last post as it's the classic Greenwich/Barry writing combo who created it.

Again - why I have these two singles is a mystery. But, have them I do.