Rough (album)
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| AllMusic |   [1] |
Rough is Tina Turner's third solo album, released in September 1978 on the EMI label in the UK, Ariola Records in West Germany and United Artists in the United States.
Overview
Rough was Turner's first solo album after her 1976 split with husband Ike Turner. Her first two solo albums, Tina Turns the Country On! (1974) and Acid Queen (1975), were recorded while she was still married to Ike Turner and also a member of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. Rough would be the first album where there was no association with Ike Turner. The divorce proceedings between the Turners finally ended in 1978, the same year Rough was released, leaving Tina penniless - but with the legal right to still use her stage name Tina Turner.
The album was made up of rock songs, instead of the soul, bluesy, and R&B music that she typically had performed with the Revue. But the album was recorded at the height of the disco era and so shows influences from that genre. The opening track, "Fruits of the Night", for example, was co-written by Giorgio Moroder's longtime collaborator Pete Bellotte. Turner also included a cover of Bob Seger's "Fire Down Below", which was later covered again by Bette Midler for the 1979 movie The Rose. The album also includes Turner's first cover version of Elton John's "The Bitch Is Back", which she re-recorded in 1991 for the tribute album Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin.
The album Rough along with its four singles, "Viva La Money", "Root Toot, Undisputable Rock & Roller", "Sometimes When We Touch" - a cover of Dan Hill's ballad - and "Night Time Is the Right Time", all had minor success on the charts. The album received no certifications. Just like the preceding Acid Queen, the album was an indication of the direction that Turner wanted to take her music; combining rock with elements of pop and R&B.
The album was re-issued on CD by EMI in the early 1990s but is currently out of print.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Fruits of the Night" | Edo Zanki, Vilko Zanki, Pete Bellotte | 4:05 |
| 2. | "The Bitch Is Back" | Elton John, Bernie Taupin | 3:30 |
| 3. | "The Woman I'm Supposed to Be" | Cliff Wade | 3:10 |
| 4. | "Viva La Money" | Allen Toussaint | 3:14 |
| 5. | "Funny How Time Slips Away" | Willie Nelson | 4:08 |
| 6. | "Earthquake & Hurricane" | Willie Dixon | 2:30 |
| 7. | "Root, Toot Undisputable Rock 'n Roller" | George Jackson | 4:29 |
| 8. | "Fire Down Below" | Bob Seger | 3:13 |
| 9. | "Sometimes When We Touch" | Dan Hill, Barry Mann | 3:54 |
| 10. | "A Woman In a Man's World" | Archie Jordan, Hal David | 2:41 |
| 11. | "Night Time Is the Right Time" | Leroy Carr | 6:21 |
Personnel
- Rick Kellis - horn, saxophone, string and horn arrangements
- Ken Moore - piano, background vocals
- Airto Moreira - percussion
- Dennis Belfield - bass
- Michael Boddicker - synthesizer
- Peter Bunetta - drums
- Al Ciner - acoustic guitar
- Denise Echols - background vocals
- Dennis Farias - horn
- Venetta Fields - background vocals
- Ed Greene - drums
- Billy Haynes - bass
- Maxayn Lewis - background vocals
- Deborah Lindsey - background vocals
- Lenny Macaluso - electric guitar
- Bill Oz - harmonica
- Mary Russell - background vocals
- Julia Tillman Waters -background vocals
- Stephanie Spruill - background vocals
- Michael Stephenson - background vocals
- Ron Stockert - synthesizer, clavinet
- Marsha Thacker - background vocals
- Tony Walthers - background vocals
- Jeff "Dino" Deane - horn
- W.D. Smith - Hammond organ
- The L.A. Horns - horns
- The Gerald Lee String Company - strings
- Jill Harris - assistant producer
- Claude Mougin - photography