Twenty Four Seven

In spite of the numerous critical and artistic successes she has enjoyed since her defiant Heaven 17-led reincarnation in the ’80s, Tina Turner has never matched the frenzied assault of ‘River Deep, Mountain High’ with ex-hubbie Ike in 1966 – and she probably never will. Yet while overwrought divas like Celine and Whitney sing love songs to themselves, Turner’s cast-iron lungs can still elicit depths of sexual promise and disappointment from the most mundane material.

That sinuous, suggestive vocal style can transform chart fodder like ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ (not the Communards’ hit) and ‘I Will Be There’ into something brimming with innuendo.

She can do tender and subtle as required too, contrary to her public persona. Where she is restrained, as on ‘Talk To My Heart’, with its brief hint of Indian spice, she is even more effective. Despite using a fairly basic 12-bar based structure, ‘Without You’ featuring Bryan Adams, is stunningly Princed-up.

The production, including lush orchestral sweeps, rarely intrudes, and the use of synths never takes over, but one can’t help wondering why an artist of the stature of Tina Turner can’t be fed a diet of more nutritious songs than some of the sub-nursery rhyme stuff she’s lumbered with here. That said, her sheer vocal prowess makes this a worthier addition to her impressive canon, and a more rewarding listening experience, than it looks on paper.