‘On The Road with Ike & Tina’ reviews

Some of us already had the pleasure of watching the new Ike & Tina Turner DVD by Bob & Nadya Gruen. We enjoyed it a lot and asked a few of our friends and Tina historians Alan, Hank & Marco to review it for the blog. Since their full stories were too big for print, below you’ll find a glimpse at each one of their reviews on the blog. And since they all are  worth a reading, the unedited versions of the reviews are available to download!

And for the record, Laurel couldn’t write one, being kept away from the DVD by her husband until Christmas. Courage Laurel; only a few days left!

Hank:

“We observe an intimate relationship of The Turners and see why together, they worked so well professionally. Ike was one of the most influential musicians in rock and roll history, writing what is considered to be one of the first rock and roll songs, ‘Rocket 88’. He was already a star in St. Louis when he discovered Anna Mae Bullock a.k.a. Tina Turner. Their match was made in soul heaven. The Turner life was composed of non-stop touring and recording while maintaining a household in CA. The documentary On The Road show us what a seemingly, fairly ‘normal’ life Tina led, fixing meals and taking care of her children. She always said she had two different lives; the hip-shaking, wig-flinging, red-hot rock temptress (“an act” as she described her stage persona) and then mother of four sons, a woman who was known to be seen by interviewers down on her knees scrubbing her floors, washing her car and picking up her kids after school. This is one of Tina’s endearing traits.”

Alan:

“Tina seems to effortlessly pose with little instruction from Bob who snaps away in the background at their home and during backstage rehearsal. Her mannerisms appear the same, yet her accent is certainly more southern in tone than today. For the die-hard fans many will recognise furniture dotted around the house which appears in her autobiography and latterly the ‘Whats Love..?’ film. […] The slide show features a fantastic and extensive selection of stunning stills (many unseen) from Gruen’s archive of the Turners at home and on stage, a shame no audio was included, but that’s a minor gripe. Some of the still photography also features in the enclosed colour booklet which shows Gruen’s mastery of the camera and of knowing his subject.
So did the DVD live up to the expectations of a fan of 30 years and who was born the same year that some of this was filmed – then absolutely yes, do we want more – hell yes – because there will never ever be another Ike and Tina Turner!”

Marco:

“[…] Every fan will find his or her private trivia details in the DVD. The Bob Gruen DVD ‘On the Road 1971-1972’ is now one of these shining examples where out of a sudden a treasure box is lifted from the seabed and turns out to be a plethora full of remarkable moments […] Sadly enough, this holds even true for the quality and won´t appeal to everybody but maybe only the deeply interested fans. We can find both material in color and black-and-white, but the B/W material is quite dominant and pays its tribute to the many years which lay between today and the time of recording. We can also find many one-angle shots, shots from the TV screen for lack of the original material and situations apparently filmed without much planning or planning at all. Or other spontaneous situations where the camera was only recording in order to save material which could have been edited or cut later. Especially the YouTube-like effects which many scenes can stir up form a certain magnetic impulse and force the viewer to continue: Tina Turner, more than 30 years ago, in a kitchen preparing a meal for her family while answering interview questions in a chit-chat style and not during a staged press conference with special sound and lighting. Ike & Tina Turner in the changing room with photographers and then in the following scene the band and Ikettes making fun of the camera man like in any recent scene of that kind.”

Download the unedited versions of the reviews here!