Ike Turner - Rocket 88

There are plenty of reasons to dislike the man - if even half the stories about him are true, he was fairly despicable - but Ike Turner the musician was responsible for quite a lot of fantastic music. Although I would say that calling "Rocket 88" the first rock'n'roll record is, to say the least, debatable (I actually would consider it more of a rollickin' R'n'B, wailin' sax number), it is mighty rockin' and this compilation shows that he was involved in quite a bit of wild sides well before he met Tina.

The CD's subtitle, "The Original 1951 - 1960 R'n'B and Rock'n'Roll Sides", gives you a pretty darn accurate description of what appears inside. The first 11 cuts are variations of Ike's combos and are upbeat, bluesy R'n'B in the style of Little Richard (who Ike says was an acolyte) with some stingin' guitar work. I particularly love the swampy voodoo of "She Made My Blood Run Cold" and the boogie-woogie swing of "Loosely", not to mention the hip blues of "Trouble and Heartaches" and the wild, sax-driven "My Real Gone Rocket".

Following these numbers, we get Ike's blues-based work with celebrities like Bobby "Blue" Bland, Otis Rush, Junior Parker, Howlin' Wolf" and numerous others, not to mention a couple of early Ike'n'Tina tunes. So, there are some fantastic, hard-core blues, some updated doo-wop, some amazing soul ("A Fool In Love" is a true classic), some hip boogie-woogie with another of Ike's wives, Bonnie Turner (a few duets with her), a couple of blues shouters and more!

Maybe not every song is a true classic, but they are all pretty damn cool and worthy of any R'n'B/Blues wailer! A great compilation with a superior booklet with lots of info and plenty of pix.