Tina’s Cassette Singles – A Retrospective

Back in 1980 the first cassette single (or “cassingle” if you would like to use a cool and hype (hype in the 80´s, we should mention that for your own safety) saw the day of light with Bow Wow Wow´s „C30, C60, C90, Go!“ being released in the UK. With such an unusual title it was surely no wonder that the CS was not even half-way as successful as the CD single. Tina Turner also released quite a few of her singles on magnetic tape, and the nearly the full history of the cassette single can be explored just by examining these cassettes.

Old version of the article: Only the better part of the 80s are missing – or at least we could not find any cassette singles for the albums „Private Dancer“ and „Break Every Rule“. So, in case you store them secretly in your collection don´t be shy and share that knowledge in the comments section. As you will see, we already found more but the call for help better remains in the article…you never know what to expect…maybe unknown tracks as secret B-sides…?

Believe it or not the record companies started to focus on cassette singles esp. around 1987 because the popularity of the LP began to decline. Maybe not really surprising but they declined in favor of the cassette because people wanted to listen to their music on their walkman (the Sony version of an iPod without MP3 files) as you could not carry around an LP player. And they expected that the cassette single would replace the 45 record as the cassette album was in the process of replacing the vinyl album.

Humble beginnings

When we asked „if you know more cassette singles than the ones we have in our collection and which were released in 1989 please send us photos“ we indeed got a response from Germany. Andreas from Hamburg dug up two early specimens which were so brand new back in the day that the record company even printed „cassette single“ on the front cover. Not only that: so as to make extra sure that everybody knows that the affordable price is not fo a full cassette album but only for two or four songs even the titles appeared prominently on the front. What we did not like so much about this finding, however, was that the record for „cassette single with four tracks and hence longest track list in Tina´s carreer“ had to be thrown overboard – and the „On Silent Wings“ cassette single with four songs as well. The cassette single for „Typical Male“ proves to be interesting for another reason as well: it is an exact alternate release of the 12 inch maxi single LP while all the others are mainly or mostly counterparts of the 7 inch releases.

1989

It was then only in 1989  that the cassette single reached a climax for Tina Turner releases as Tina fans could find all single releases from the „Foreign Affair“ album also in cassette single format. They came all in traditional cardboard covers while only a few cassette singles came in a standard plastic box with a paper insert.

Releases:

• The Best, feat. also: Undercover Agent For The Blues
• I Don´t Wanna Lose You, feat. also: Not Enough Romance
• Steamy Windows, feat. also: The Best (Single Muscle Mix)
• Be Tender With Me Baby, feat. also: live edit version

1991

All new songs on „Simply The Best“ were also released as cassette singles with „Way Of The World“ being designed in the US and the European style. For „“Way Of The World“ and „It Takes Two“ (duet with Rod Stewart), we could also find the rare plastic boxes.

Releases:

• Nutbush City Limits (The 90´s version), feat. also The Best
• Way Of The World, feat. also I Don´t Wanna Lose
• You (European edition) and You Know Who (Is Doing You Know What) (US edition)
• I Want You Near Me, feat. also Let´s Stay Together
• Love Thing, feat also. I´m A Lady
• It Takes Two, feat. also Hot Legs (Rod Stewart only)

1993

There couldn´t be no bio pic without a soundtrack or without cassette singles back in the day. Hence, the three singles from that album plus the additional “Proud Mary” featuring two live versions from the 1993 tour could be found in the stores.

Releases:

• I Don´t Wanna Fight, feat. also The Best
• Why Must We Wait Until Tonight, feat. also Shake  A Tail Feather
• Disco Inferno, feat. also I Don´t Wanna Fight
• Proud Mary (live), feat. also. The Best (live) from the 1993 US tour

1996

For every aficionado of the cassette single format Tina Turner´s „Wildest Dreams“ album turned out to be massive because no less than 6 singles were releases on cassette. Here, „On Silent Wings“ was a remarkable exception because you could find not only the same two songs on both sides but even four different tracks which set a record for Tina´s releases – although surely not a very important one but still a good quiz question. But be careful: the cassingle of “Typical Male” also contains four tracks because it features three different versions of the title track. So you should ask for “[first|last] one to contain four tracks” or “four different songs” in your Tina trivia quiz.

Releases:

• GoldenEye, feat. also the “club edit” version
• Whatever You Want, feat. also GoldenEye
• In Your Wildest Dreams, feat. also What´s Love Got To Do With It
• On Silent Wings, feat. also Private Dancer, The Best, and I Don´t Wanna Lose You
• Something Beautiful Remains (Joe Urban Remix Edit), feat. also Addicted To Love

1999

And out of the sudden, the party was over. Because the storage space of a cassette single was practically the same as for the regular album and as the cassette was doomed anyway nobody could help the cassette single stay in business. For „Twenty Four Seven“ the last cassette singles for any Tina Turner album were launched – only a few years earlier before the market shut down completely.

Releases:

• When The Heartache Is Over, feat. also the metro mix
• Whatever You Need, feat. also The Best and River Deep Mountain High from The Birthday Special in London