River Deep – Mountain High: Difference between revisions

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The [[Flamin' Groovies]] also covered the song in early 1981. They recorded at Gold Star Studios as well for a French label, Underdog Records, and it can be found on their 1989 compilations ''Grease'' and [[Groovies Greatest Grooves]].
The [[Flamin' Groovies]] also covered the song in early 1981. They recorded at Gold Star Studios as well for a French label, Underdog Records, and it can be found on their 1989 compilations ''Grease'' and [[Groovies Greatest Grooves]].

===1990s===
[[Jimmy Barnes]] recorded a cover for his album [[Soul Deep (Jimmy Barnes album)|Soul Deep]]. It is the closing track of the album.

[[Annie Lennox]] performed the song live in July 1992 on her ''[[MTV Unplugged]]'' special and released the audio track on the ''[[Walking on Broken Glass]]'' EP.

[[Neil Diamond]] released a version on his album ''[[Up on the Roof: Songs from the Brill Building]]'' in 1993.

The [[Eric Burdon]]–[[Brian Auger]] Band performed the song live and released it on ''[[Access All Areas (1993 album)|Access All Areas]]'' in 1993.

A live cover was performed by [[Celine Dion|Céline Dion]] on the ''[[Late Show with David Letterman]]'' in 1994, which resulted in a studio version, produced by [[Jim Steinman]], for her extremely successful 1996 album ''[[Falling into You (album)|Falling into You]]''. Later, Dion performed it live on [[VH1 Divas|VH1 Divas Live]] concert in 1998 as the opening number of her part. She also performed this song from November 2006–December 2007 in her [[A New Day...]] show in [[Las Vegas Strip|Las Vegas]]. The song was also part of her 2008/9 [[Taking Chances World Tour]], as well as her new Las Vegas show, ''[[Celine (residency show)|Celine]]''.


==Personnel==
==Personnel==

Revision as of 08:08, 11 November 2014

Not to be confused with Ain't No Mountain High Enough.
"River Deep – Mountain High"
Song
B-side"I'll Keep You Happy"
"River Deep – Mountain High"
Song
B-side"Listen, Learn, Read On"
"River Deep – Mountain High"
Song
B-side"White Houses"
"River Deep – Mountain High"
Song
B-side"Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music"

"River Deep – Mountain High" is a 1966 single by Ike & Tina Turner. Considered by producer Phil Spector to be his best work,[3] the single was successful in Europe, peaking at #3 in the United Kingdom, though it flopped on its original release in the United States. Spector claimed to be pleased with the response from the critics and his peers,[2] but he then withdrew from the music industry for two years, beginning his personal decline.

After Eric Burdon and the Animals covered the song in 1968, it was re-released a year later, and has since become one of Tina Turner's signature songs, though it charted even lower, "bubbling under" at #112.

In 1999, "River Deep – Mountain High" was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Recording

Written by Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich, "River Deep - Mountain High" was among the first recordings that Ike & Tina Turner did for Phil Spector's Philles Records. Spector was well aware of Ike Turner's controlling attitude in the studio, and therefore he drafted an unusual contract: the River Deep – Mountain High album and single would be credited to "Ike & Tina Turner," but Ike was paid $20,000[4] to stay away from the studio, and only Tina Turner's vocals would be used on the record.[5]

The track was recorded using Spector's "Wall of Sound" production technique, cost a then-unheard-of $22,000, and required 21 session musicians and 21 background vocalists. Due to Spector's perfectionism in the studio, he made Turner sing the song over and over for several hours until he felt he had the perfect vocal take for the song. Turner recalled, "I must have sung that 500,000 times. I was drenched with sweat. I had to take my shirt off and stand there in my bra to sing."[6]

The recording of the song was later dramatized for Tina Turner's biographical film, What's Love Got to Do with It. At Ike Turner's 2007 funeral, Phil Spector chastised the film's depiction saying that he had a good relationship with Ike Turner and that the film was "garbage" stating that he insisted for Ike's name to be included on the recording despite the fact that executives of Spector's label Philles had only wanted Tina billed on the recording.[citation needed]

Reception

The single entered the lower end of the Billboard 100 and stopped at #88 on the pop charts. Even though it had better fortune in the United Kingdom, peaking at #3 in the singles charts on first release, Spector was so disillusioned that he ceased involvement in the recording industry totally for two years, and only intermittently returned to the studio after that; he effectively became a recluse and began to self-destruct.[7]

Ike Turner remarked that he felt the record did not do well in America because the sound was "pop or white", while Tina Turner's voice was R&B, so that "America mixes race in it" — though the writer Michael Billig speculated that although earlier records which had mixed black singers with a white pop sound had sold well, by 1966 the black political movement was encouraging African Americans to take a pride in their own culture, and "River Deep – Mountain High" was out of step with that movement.[8]

Later Rolling Stone was to put it at #33 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

George Harrison praised the record,[2] declaring it "a perfect record from start to finish. You couldn't improve on it" [citation needed] "River Deep - Mountain High" compared a woman's love and loyalty, respectively, to that which a child feels for a doll, and a puppy has for his master.

Cover versions

1960s

In 1967, Harry Nilsson (who had worked with Spector as a songwriter early in his career) released a cover version of the song on his first RCA Victor album, Pandemonium Shadow Show. This was followed by an epic ten-minute version recorded by Deep Purple for their 1968 album, The Book of Taliesyn. An edited version was released as a single in the United States and reached #53 in early 1969 and #42 on the Canadian RPM charts. It had a progressive rock sound to it, as Deep Purple had not yet adopted the hard rock sound for which they are most famous.

The original Ike and Tina Turner version of the song was re-released the same year to a more receptive public, and since then, has gained the recognition Spector wanted from the record. Numerous versions have been recorded since, including two different recordings that do not feature Spector's "Wall of Sound" production style: one featured on 1973's Nutbush City Limits LP and another from an undetermined era that was featured on 1991's Proud Mary: The Best of Ike & Tina Turner, as well as some by Tina Turner herself without Ike Turner, recorded in 1986, 1991 and 1993 respectively.

Eric Burdon & The Animals recorded an extended version of the song, with additional musical sections and a heavily dramatized arrangement, for their 1968 album Love Is. An edited version was released as a single, and the full version also appears on their 1969 compilation The Greatest Hits of Eric Burdon and The Animals. In 1985, Burdon recorded a live version of it and released it in 1992 on "That's Live".

The Australian band, The Easybeats, did a cover version in 1967. Another cover version was by 2 of Clubs, a Cincinnati-based American female pop duo, which failed to chart.

Leslie Uggams recorded a version for her 1968 Atlantic LP What's an Uggams?.

1970s

The Shadows performed an instrumental version of this song in their 1970 album Shades of Rock.

The Bob Seger System did an extended cover version on their 1970 album Mongrel.

Also in 1970, the post-Diana Ross Supremes and The Four Tops released the most successful cover version to date. Produced by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, the single was one of several recordings that paired the two Motown groups. The Supremes/Four Tops cover, included on the 1970 LP The Magnificent 7, with its soaring vocals and string section, peaked at #7 on the soul chart and #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971,[9] making it the highest-charting version of the song in the United States. Their version also peaked #11 on the UK Singles Chart and #25 on Netherlands' MegaCharts that same .[citation needed]

The Australian punk band, The Saints, covered the song on their 1977 EP One Two Three Four.

1980s

Katrina and the Waves did an upbeat version of the song in 1984 but it was not released on their main albums (the track appears as a bonus on some MP3 downloads of their first album).

This song was also featured in the 1985 Broadway musical, Leader of the Pack, based on the life of songwriter Ellie Greenwich. This version is sung by Darlene Love (who plays herself in the show) and is considered one of the most popular versions of the song.

The English synth pop duo Erasure covered the song on their 1988 album, The Innocents. The BBC extensively used the non-vocal section of the "Private Dance Mix" during the Seoul Olympic Games in that year.

The Flamin' Groovies also covered the song in early 1981. They recorded at Gold Star Studios as well for a French label, Underdog Records, and it can be found on their 1989 compilations Grease and Groovies Greatest Grooves.

Personnel

References

  1. ^ Dave Thompson, Wall of pain: the biography of Phil Spector, page 116, Sanctuary, 2003, ISBN 1860745431
  2. ^ a b c Show 21 - Forty Miles of Bad Road: Some of the best from rock 'n' roll's dark ages. [Part 2] : UNT Digital Library
  3. ^ Ribowsky, Mark. He's a Rebel. Cambridge, MA: Perseus, 2007.
  4. ^ Equivalent to $187,815 in today's dollars.
  5. ^ Richard Williams, Phil Spector: out of his head, page 111. Omnibus Press, 2003, ISBN 0711998647. 2003. ISBN 9780711998643. Retrieved 2009-10-24. {{cite book}}: horizontal tab character in |publisher= at position 26 (help)
  6. ^ "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  7. ^ Michael Billig, Rock 'n' roll Jews, page 110. Syracuse University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8156-0705-9. 2001. ISBN 9780815607052. Retrieved 2009-10-24.
  8. ^ Michael Billig, Rock 'n' roll Jews, page 109. Syracuse University Press, 2001, ISBN 0815607059. 2001. ISBN 9780815607052. Retrieved 2009-10-24. {{cite book}}: horizontal tab character in |publisher= at position 38 (help)
  9. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 558.
  10. ^ "Ike & Tina Turner Featuring Tina* – River Deep - Mountain High". www.discogs.com. Retrieved October 9, 2011.
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