B-side "I'll Keep You Happy" Format 7" single Length 3:40 | Released May 1966 Genre Soul, pop | |
Recorded Gold Star Studios, Los Angeles, 1965 | ||
"River Deep – Mountain High" is a 1966 single performed by Tina Turner and credited to Ike & Tina Turner. Considered by producer Phil Spector to be his best work, the single was successful in Europe, peaking at number 3 in the United Kingdom, and peaking at number 16 in Australia 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, but he then withdrew from the music industry for two years, beginning his personal decline.
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After Eric Burdon and the Animals covered the song in 1968, the original version 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 number 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 to stay away from the studio, and only Tina Turner's vocals would be used on the record.
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."
The recording of the song was later dramatized for Tina Turner's biographical film, What's Love Got to Do with It.
Reception
The single entered the lower end of the Billboard 100 and stopped at number 88 on the pop charts. Even though it had better fortune in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 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.
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.
Later Rolling Stone was to put it at number 33 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
George Harrison praised the record, declaring it "a perfect record from start to finish. You couldn't improve on it." "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.
Personnel
Cover versions
The original Ike & 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 herself without Ike, recorded in 1986, 1991 and 1993 respectively. Turner included live performances on her albums, Tina Live in Europe and Tina Live.
Harry Nilsson covered the track for his first full-length album the 1967 LP Pandemonium Shadow Show.
A ten-minute version was 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 number 53 in early 1969 and number 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.
In 1970, the post-Diana Ross Supremes and the Four Tops released a version. 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 number 7 on the soul chart and number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971, making it the highest-charting version of the song in the United States. Their version also peaked number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and number 25 on Netherlands' MegaCharts.
Céline Dion covered the song on her 1996 album Falling Into You. She had previously performed the song in some of her concerts, as included in her live album Live à Paris, recorded in 1995. Subsequent live performances are included on the CD/DVD releases, VH1 Divas Live, Taking Chances World Tour: The Concert, Céline une seule fois / Live 2013, as well as the DVD release, Live in Las Vegas: A New Day.... Dion's studio version is also included in her 2008 compilation, My Love: Essential Collection. In 2016, Dion also performed this song live during her 2016 Summer Tour.