River Deep, Mountain High (1966)

River Deep, Mountain High was the first single from the album River Deep, Mountain High. Although the record was credited to Ike & Tina Turner, it was written and produced by Phil Spector and Ike was paid $20,000 to stay away from the studio. The song was recorded using Spector's „Wall of Sound“ production technique with 42 session musicians and background vocalists. The single was very successful in Europe, but flopped in the United States. Spector was so disillusioned about it, that he totally stopped working for two years and released the River Deep, Mountain High album not before 1969 in America. The b-side track „I’ll Keep You Happy“ was written by Phil Spector as well and is only available on this single. Ike & Tina promoted the song at several TV-Shows and performed it live in their concerts, but in a very different version produced from Ike Turner. A live version is available on the album The World of Ike & Tina from 1973. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and the Rolling Stone magazine put it at #33 on it's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

The single was reissued variously with different b-side tracks over the years and a very strange version with lead vocals from Ike Turner was released as a promo in 1971. In Europe, an Ike Turner produced version was released as a single in 1974 and for Tina’s 1991 greatest hits album Simply The Best, Phil Spector remastered the original version at Tina’s request.

Producer: Phil Spector
Release: May 1966 / 1968 / January 1969 (UK) / September 1969 (USA) / 1971 / Various
Label: Philles (USA) / London (Europe) / A&M
Format: 7“ Vinyl
Charts 1966: UK: #3 / USA: #88 (Pop) / 1969: UK: #33
Grammy: Hall of Fame (1999)
Album: River Deep, Mountain High