Rockin R&B from Ike & Tina Turner

Ike & Tina Turner “Stagger Lee and Billy” (Sue, 1965)

For anyone who has read Griel Marcus’ excellent book Mystery Train, every version of Stagger Lee that you come across while digging should at the least illicit an a slight additional twinge of curiosity about the contents of the record.  I’d also bet that anyone who sees and Ike & Tina single from the mid-60’s has another appeal that will result in them walking out the store with said 45.

This record is a bit of a curiosity because it does not follow the very well established traditional Stagger Lee narrative and instead recreates from Tina’s perspective, a bar fight from which she can’t escape where Billy beats the living snot out of Stagger Lee.  The song is rowdy, the lyrics are wild and Tina holds it all together with her usual aplomb.

This record delivers without question, pure mid-60’s greased out (but kinda up tempo) R&B with an absolutely killer boot-dusting guitar and vocal intro.

This record came 5 years after their first hit with Sue “A Fool In Love” though they were never tied exclusively to the label.  Over the course of the sixties there were releases coming out, for both Ike & Tina and The Ikettes, on as many labels as they could sign on with or labels they created on their own:  Sonja, Warner Bros, Kent, Loma, Modern, Philles, Innis, Blue Thumb, Minit, A&M and others.

It goes without saying the output from this period is all incredible and following Tina’s career into the 80’s comeback and her presence as a saintly, genius buddhist in our current world is ‘simply the best.

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