IKE AND TINA TURNER, THE SOUL OF LP 1960 RARE SUE LABEL

$

150

I am parting with some of my treasured LPs.  Here's a rare FIRST PRESSING of IKE AND TINA TURNER'S DEBUT LP from 1960.  No matter what people now think about Ike Turner, he was one of the most important people in not only the development of Rock and Roll, but in the shape Rock would take decades later.  Sometimes things happen to certain people for a reason, and he was far from a perfect person, but he wound up with an incredible career where he was uncredited for so much of it, and that started at the beginning.  ROCKET 88 was anointed the first Rock song.  The Kings of Rhythm was his band.  It was a bunch of his friends from high school that were playing juke joints in the late 40's that would be all night boogie sessions in small hot clubs in Clarksdale MS.  He played with Guys like Robert Nighthawk, Sonny Boy Williamson 2, and BB King.  When he got an opportunity to go to Sun Records on 3/3/51 in Memphis to meet Sam Phillips, the whole band jammed into a station wagon with all their gear.  The amp they had hit something along the way and the speaker had a hole in it.  That created the dirty, distorted sound they wound up with at Sun, and Phillips loved it.  They cut Rocket 88, and Phillips sold the song to Chess records.  Although written by Ike, Chess gave songwriting credit to the sax player, Jackie Brenston because Chess thought it a good marketing move.  The song has been credited as the first Rock song, and Ike was paid $20.  Needless to say Ike was pissed, and Jackie went on a tour promoting that song, but didn't go on to do much more.  Over the next 9 years Ike would work as a talent scout for Sun and other labels bringing to the fore artists like BB King, Junior Parker, Bobby Bland, Little Milton, and Howlin Wolf.  Ike would play on many of the first songs these artists were cutting.  Simultaneously, Ike was playing gigs with his Kings of Rhythm, minus Jackie and a few who left with him.  The KOR would be Ikes band throughout his life, and went through numerous personal changes.  
In 1958, Box Top was the first recording that Ike Turner made with Anna Mae Bullock, who he would later name Tina because it rhymed with Sheena. He had a vision that her persona in his band would be inspired by Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. Ike sang and played lead guitar. Upon hearing this track the head of Sue Records, Juggy Murray asked to hear more. When Ike was set to record A Fool for Love, his male singer didn't show up and Tina stepped in on the lead. They were offered a $25G advance to record an LP for the Sue Label, and that's how Ike and Tina haphazardly became a band. 2 years later they would release their debut LP THE SOUL OF IKE AND TINA TURNER in which all songs were written by Ike, as well as produced. After getting rooked for songwriting credit on the first Rock song, Rocket 88, Ike was making sure credit earned where credit due...

I could go on forever about Ike.  He's one of my all time favorites, and never gets the recognition he deserves for his phenomenal body of work, so much of the early sessions aren't even documented because he was contracted with Sun and other labels, he went uncredited, or under alias names when he played on other artists tracks in the 50's.. 


So this LP is very rare, and just about impossible to find in great condition.  It wasn't a big seller when released, and the folks who bought it played it like it was the first Beatles LP, for them.  This is a very nice copy, but well used.  The front cover is slightly faded in the white area, a couple pinholes in the top and bottom corners where someone may have pinned it to a wall?  A few small usage marks, one on Tina's neck, another on the I of Ike.  Small corner dings- the worst being top left.  The seams and spine are in remarkably good shape with half inch break of the bottom seam at each corner, the spine shows age, but is nicely intact and top seam has a 3/4" split at the top left above the corner ding.  The back cover also shows wear with the aforementioned pin holes, and a ding on the record opening about 4" from the bottom that is 1/8".  The overall cover given the above detailed description is actually very nice.  The cover colors are brilliant, and the cover looks used but not abused.  The LP has a few small marks around the spindle hole, but the labels are otherwise clean bright and beautiful.  The vinyl has marks on it.  This LP was released in 1960, and when records were played then, they lacked the sophisticated turntables and cartridges that came later. So, records from this era that were heavily played look like this does.  The record sounds amazing. The mono recording has a serious punch to it, and Ike's production on this has the levels high.  The music out shines any surface issues which are a constant.  The Cover and vinyl are technically graded as VG-, but this is a difficult record to accurately grade.  There's no pops, skips or jumps at all.  The first pressing of this sounds just fantastic and takes you back in time.  This isn't an LP you can expect to ever find a perfect condition of... Maybe once a decade if you're lucky.  Very rare, and Priced accordingly.

PLEASE CHECK OUT MY OTHER LPS FOR SALE NOW ON EBAY.  I AM POSTING SOME VERY COOL RECORDS.

 SS    = (STILL SEALED) The record itself is in brand new condition, assumed never to have been played.M      = (MINT)  The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.M -    = (MINT MINUS)  MINT- is not MINT but is very close to it, near new, there might be a blemish or two, but overall record and jacket are like new or very close to new.EX     = (EXCELLENT)  The record shows some signs of having been played, but there is very little lessening in sound quality. The cover and packaging might have slight wear and / or creasing. VG    = (VERY GOOD)  The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and theoccasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.G      = (GOOD)  The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discoloration, etc.F       = (FAIR)  The record is still just playable but has not been cared for properly and displays considerable surface noise; it may even jump. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and / or defaced.P       = (POOR)  The record will not play properly due to scratches, bad surface noise, etc. The cover and contents will be badly damaged or partly missing.B       = (BAD)  The record is unplayable or might even be broken, and is only of use as a collection fillerWe also use + or - to adjust grades in between, so...this scopes out to: SS/M/M-/EX+/EX/EX-/VG+/VG/VG-/G+/G/F/P/B