Something's Got a Hold on Me

AMG Review of Something's Got a Hold on Me

Fred Beldin
All Music Guide

Something's Got a Hold on Me is a great live document of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue circa 1971, full of sweaty, greasy hythm and blues that burns as hot as it did when originally recorded. The sad facts of the wretched abuse endured by Tina have tainted the duo's material for many listeners, but despite Ike's sins, it can't be denied that the man led a crack band, and the evidence is here. Opening with Ike's rousing composition "Finger Poppin'" (a defiant farewell to an uncaring lover delivered by Tina without a shred of irony), the band slips and slides through big funk arrangements of past hits, and standards of the day. The performances are live and raw, but a few bum horn notes here and there can't disguise the energy, and Tina is on fire as usual, stopping the show on every number with her trademark gospel shout. She transforms "I Can't Stop Loving You" and the title track into spiritual odes to the overwhelming power of romance, and whips herself into a frenzy during the hyperactive closer, "Tell the Truth." Tommy Tucker's "Hi-Heel Sneakers" is coarsened and gender-tweaked to better suit the duo, changing "red dress" to "tight pants," "boxing gloves" to "forty-five" and "wig-hat" to "toupee." Ike duets with his wife only once during the set, on "You Are My Sunshine," but he doesn't provide the same wry counterpoint here that he added to hit singles like "Proud Mary" and "I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine." Only a dry run-through of "Twist and Shout" feels like a concession to the pop market, but that's just due to being surrounded by such killer material. Something's Got a Hold on Me is worth seeking out for those who thrill to the velocity of Ike and Tina Turner's ock-inspired final years together.