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The Deal: Rare Ike and Tina blues sides light a fire under back porch thumper standards.
The Good: File this one under the "woke up this morning and went upside your head" category. Ike and Tina put a ass whuppin' on the blues on this resurrected treasure from 1969. Tina pays homage to Robert Johnson by screaming like a scalded cat on "Dust My Broom." Ike, who played bass on most of his work, steps to the foreground on these cuts. That's his lead guitar slithering all over the place, doing a psychedelic impersonation of B.B. King on the Ike-penned instrumental "Grumbling." But with Tina on board there's no need to waste much time on instrumentals. She groans out a version of "Motherless Child" that sounds like Mahalia Jackson being tortured. But she's at her hoarse, howlin' best on Jimmy Reed's "You Got me Running" with Ike's snaky guitar hissing at her back. The collection's highlight is the duo's cover of Barbara George's 1961 hit "I Know." It's a nasty, funky throw-down, with Tina sounding like she's just smoked a box of cigars then gargled with kerosene, telling her old man who don't love her no mo' to hit the road.
The Bad: Yes, it is. It's bad as hell, in the best possible way.
The Verdict: "Proud Mary," my ass. This stuff is what legends are made of.
Acrobat; Release date: Oct. 21, 2008
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