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Eagle Eye Media presents

Ike & Tina Turner: The Legends Live in '71 (1971)

"We never, ever do nothing nice and easy. We always do it nice and rough."- Tina Turner, vamping into "Proud Mary"

Stars: Ike Turner, Tina Turner
MPAA Rating: Not RatedRun Time: 00h:55m:10s
Release Date: 2004-11-02
Genre: rock

Style
Grade
Substance
Grade
Image Transfer
Grade
Audio Transfer
Grade
Extras
Grade
B+ B+C+C B

 

DVD Review

Tina Turner has become one of the grandes dames of rock, and ex-husband Ike is now a shadowy dark prince, a Svengali who has justifiably done some time; if you've seen What's Love Got to Do With It, one of the roughest film portrayals of a public marriage going south, you know that those images are indelible, and that what Ike did to his wife was abhorrent and unforgivable. But put all that aside for an hour or so with this DVD, and you can concentrate on the art, and not the artists; and when it came to putting on a show, there are few that can compare with the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, both in terms of raw talent and energy. Ike is billed as the musical director, but he's not the most charismatic stage presence; the champion in the family by a long way for that was Tina, who sings lead, and paces the revue through a set typical of their shows of the time.

The Ikettes, three women with great voices filling out tiny little pink minidresses, open the proceedings (after a musical intro) with Sweet Inspiration; soon they're joined by Tina, whose own minidress is festooned with spangles, all in blue. Her stage persona shows her as hardworking, even overwrought, nowhere more so than on the song she first sang for Phil Specter, River Deep, Mountain High, which even features the Ikettes on maracas. The group does a Beatles cover (Come Together) and a Rolling Stones cover (Honky Tonk Woman, on which the band sounds especially good), and the apex of the show is Proud Mary, their signature song, complete with its own reprise.

This concert took place on February 11, 1971, in a venue not far from the Hague; it was broadcast on Dutch television shortly thereafter, and then wasn't heard from again for decades. The sedate crowd claps politely, but they don't demonstrate much energy; the cutaways to them show them smiling pleasantly, but most seem as if they'd be just as happy at home, or are sitting on their hands. You won't want to, though, as you listen and watch this setlist:

Them Changes
Sweet Inspiration
I Want to Take You Higher
Ooh Poo Pah Do
A Love Like Yours (Don't Come Knockin' Every Day)
River Deep, Mountain High
Come Together
Honky Tonk Women
Proud Mary
I Want to Take You Higher (reprise)
I Smell Trouble


Beware: the DVD track list is out of order on the back of the case.

Rating for Style: B+
Rating for Substance: B+

 

Image Transfer

 One
Aspect Ratio1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratioyes
Anamorphicno


Image Transfer Review: The source material seems to be pretty degraded; much of it is faded and discolored, and you'll see plenty of glitches. The transfer to DVD seems to have been done in a workmanlike manner, no more, no less; a restoration demonstration shows that it's been improved considerably, but it's still not a concert film of the first order.

Image Transfer Grade: C+
 

Audio Transfer

 LanguageRemote Access
DS 2.0Englishyes
Dolby Digital
5.1
Englishyes
DTSEnglishyes


Audio Transfer Review: The limits of the original recording equipment are evident on all three available audio tracks; the remix for DVD has taken the buzz out of much of it, but you can still hear some, along with lots of hiss. But the music sounds fine, and on a title like this, there's not a lot else that matters.

Audio Transfer Grade:

Disc Extras

Animated menu with music
Music/Song Access with 11 cues and remote access
2 Featurette(s)
Packaging: Gladiator style 2-pack
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extra Extras:
  1. accompanying audio CD
  2. insert booklet with an extended essay by Rob Bowman
Extras Review: The best extra here unquestionably is the accompanying audio CD, which features the same material as on the DVD, with three bonus audio tracks: Respect, Land of 1000 Dances, and I've Been Loving You Too Long. The aforementioned side-by-side restoration comparison (03m:07s) is instructive; there's also what's more or less a music video (03m:08s) from Soul to Soul, featuring more Ike and Tina. And the accompanying essay by Rob Bowman is a thoughtful, informative look at the careers of the Turners, separately and together.

Extras Grade: B
 

Final Comments

The Dutch audience may not have known how good they had it, but on DVD you can check out the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in all its brazen glory. The bonus CD means that you can listen, too, when you're not in front of the television and want to go rollin' down the river.

Jon Danziger 2004-11-19