Five isolated vocals that prove Tina Turner was a genius
What constitutes a great singer? Is it the ability to hit every note with dead-on accuracy every time they perform, or do they take a moment to inhabit a character whenever they portray a song, almost like an actor inhabits a role? It’s one thing to be able to get every note correct, but Tina Turner could deliver her entire life story within the first two lines of every tune she ever worked on.
From her days performing with Ike to her stellar solo career, every facet of Turner’s music was about the raw emotion oozing from every pore. Despite being known as one of the fiercest performers that ever touched a microphone, one of her greatest strengths came from being able to take all of that energy into the crowd when she sang, whether it was taking on someone else’s material or making her own from the ground up.
Although most of her greatest songs rely on her raw rock and roll power, there are other classics where she gets incredibly solemn. She was always the kind of woman who could put anyone in their place if the time called for it, and yet when she let herself be vulnerable on her songs, there was hardly a dry eye in the audience half the time.
So when you’re listening to the isolated tracks of some of Turner’s greatest vocals, just remember that you’re not just listening to a woman deliver an amazing performance. You’re listening to a woman who has lived a life that most people don’t survive, so every time she reaches the top of her register, she may as well be a sonic phoenix coming from ashes.
Five isolated tracks that prove Tina Turner was a genius
5. ‘I Might Have Been Queen’
The entire journey Turner had to make from her husband Ike’s side was the kind of feat that modern superhero movies can’t even touch. Ike was a despicable character throughout their time together, and some of the worst pain of her life came from having to cower to him. Once she stepped out of his shadow to make it alone, ‘I Might Have Been Queen’ brought her back to the masses the right way.
Although the 1980s production of the original tune is a bit much to take in all at once, the beauty of ‘I Might Have Been Queen’ is how refreshed Turner sounded after a break in the action. Now that she didn’t have Ike at her side anymore, this is where she finally got to own the spotlight and let the world know what kind of superstar they were working with.
This wasn’t just a woman looking to take orders from her domineering husband anymore. This was a true performer who was going to speak her truth in whatever way she saw fit, and she was never going to let an abusive monster get in the way of that.
4. ‘Proud Mary’
That’s not to say that Turner didn’t have any great songs with her husband before. Say what you want about what happened backstage, but their life as a live act had the kind of manic energy that could even put some of the biggest rock bands in the world to shame. While they were still an R&B group on songs like ‘River Deep Mountain High’, it’s hard to argue with how Turner ploughs through Creedence Clearwater Revival’s ‘Proud Mary’.
The John Fogerty original is fine just the way it is, but hearing Turner break down the song and talking about playing the first part nice and easy feels like you’re about to jump onto a sonic rollercoaster. Once the band finally kicks in and the BPM almost doubles, Turner is in her element, taking the crux of what the song was about and livening it up to a tempo that most punk bands would have difficulty playing accurately.
That kind of energy almost recontextualises the song as well. Fogerty was singing about a humble man working at a dead-end job before hitching a ride on a riverboat, but when Turner sings the exact same words, you can hear all those hours spent at the job before she managed to find salvation on the other side.
3. ‘The Best’
For Turner’s classic fans, some of her best work in the late 1980s tends to be a little too overbearing in retrospect. As much as people love to hear her voice cutting through the mix, hearing her with every other synthesiser around her can be like staring into the sun after a while. Then again, no amount of high-tech studio toys would get in the way of Tuner sounding amazing.
Even after making her massive comeback on Private Dancer, ‘The Best’ feels like the victory lap Turner had after conquering the world twice. Although it’s a shame that you can’t hear the sounds of those twinkling keys on the isolated track, what’s there is the pure bombast Turner had in her early days is back in full force, as if she had scrubbed all of her past away and finally made peace with herself.
Most people in Turner’s situation usually never make it to this point, but for all of her songs that were defined by her past, this isn’t about any of those moments. Turner had spent the last few years purging herself of her beginnings, and when she sang this that day, she sounded like a woman who was finally happy.
2. ‘The Acid Queen’
Even in rock’s prime, there weren’t many bands that ever bothered to get that close to Turner’s range. As the British Invasion started taking shape, even artists like Mick Jagger were looking backstage to see if there was any chance that he could see how Turner perfected her dance moves. So when Pete Townshend needed someone to play the bombastic Acid Queen in Tommy, casting Turner almost made too much sense.
While the titular queen is a complex figure in the world of the rock opera, Turner sells the idea of this villainous woman who comes to fix the deaf, dumb, and blind boy by opening his eyes to the world of psychedelics. Then again, there’s probably no amount of mind-expanding drug that can prepare someone for what Turner lays down.
Whereas most acid might attempt to open someone’s eyes to the greater truths of life, Turner doesn’t mess around on this song, delivering the kind of massive vocal runs that almost seem gospel-infused in some spots. Tommy already had an angle talking about the spiritual side of music, and when Turner opens her mouth, it makes you want to believe in the Holy Church of Rock and Roll.
1. ‘Better Be Good To Me’
Okay, so most people know what to expect when they put on Tina Turner. There’s a brashness to how she sings all of her songs, so naturally, the one that lands at the top of this list should be a tune that shows her at her absolute peak, right? Yes, and yes, but Turner was about much more than raw power. She was about crafting an experience, and ‘Better Be Good To Me’ is one of the most achingly beautiful tracks that she ever made.
While most fans gravitate towards ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ as one of her most powerful songs, hearing her sing lines about not being ready to take on another lover is much more heartwrenching. The former song was about telling off someone who was taking her for granted, but being willing to open her heart to someone else is all the more pointed, and hearing her come to play with her defences up is both sad and beautiful at the same time.
Most love songs tend to just have one note whenever they talk about emotion, but Turner isn’t ready to just pick herself up and move on. She was going to learn from her mistakes, and ‘Better Be Good To Me’ is the moment where Turner turns her lack of innocence into her greatest strength.
