Wildest Dreams [Import]

In the 1980's, the now legendary success story of Tina Turner made her one of the biggest female recording artists ever. Her days of loneliness with Ike were over, and she now back on track, with multi-million selling albums such as "Private Dancer," "Break Every Rule" and "Foreign Affair." A greatest hits collection, "Simply The Best" followed in 1991, with the soundtrack to the autobiographical movie on Tina's troubled life, "What's Love Got To Do With It?"

Fans were left eagerly awaiting Tina's latest release - her first album of brand new songs in seven years. It arrived in September 1996, and was called "Wildest Dreams." The album has experienced moderate success in America, but big sales have been achieved in Europe where Tina is by far at her most famous. The album produced many Top 10 hits and further proved that - now in her 60's - Tina Turner is still a rock legend and a true force to be reckoned with.

Wildest Dreams opens with the fantastic song "Missing You." This cover-version is absolutely fantastic, and Tina's vocals are very impressive. Heavy guitars and drums are added to awesome effect and violin strikes towards the end are particularly enjoyable. A fantastic Tina classic. "In My Wildest Dreams" is another highlight. There is only one word to describe this song - sexy! Tina's vocals are gravely and husky in such a mysterious tone, and the beat is deep and moody. The lyrics are equally intense, and a vocal guest appearance from Antonio Banderas spices things up even further. With "Whatever You Want," Tina goes back to her hardcore rock roots by pumping out this absolutely amazing power ballad and sings to her lover, telling him that whatever he wants, he can have. "Do What You Do" is a pure pop dance number. An infectious beat dominates the song, and Tina's incredible vocals twist around the arrangement perfectly.

"Thief Of Hearts" is a brilliant dance number in which Tina hits the disco floor and belts out a fantastic song about loving guys, giving them what they want, and running away while stealing their hearts. "On Silent Wings" is a wonderful mid-tempo ballad which will relax any listener. Tina's vocals are once more on top form, and the beat is very open and beautiful. You can imagine Tina stood on a mountain top singing this song, because it has such an excellent melody. "Something Beautiful Remains" is an average song on this album. It's not the best song, but it's good enough with some great lyrics and a mysterious beat. "Confidential" is another highlight. Penned by the Pet Shop Boys, the song is about Tina telling her lover that she can keep anything confidential if he indeed confides in her. The melody is relaxing and tranquil, and Tina's voice is smooth and silky.

"The Difference Between Us" is not featured on my version of this album, so I cannot comment on it. "All Kinds Of People" is a wonderful mid-tempo song about the various races in the world, and how everyone is equal. A real quality power anthem. Tina's cover-version of Massive Attack's "Unfinished Sympathy" isn't as good as the original version, but it's a worthy effort. "Goldeneye," the theme from the James Bond film of the same name, is another album highlight. Tina's trademark husky vocals make this song sizzle, and the traditional strings of a Bond theme are also present. "Dancing In My Dreams" is an excellent ballad in which Tina sings about dancing in her dreams. There isn't much of a beat, but the drums make for a heavenly kind of image in the brain.

OVERALL GRADE: 9/10

Wildest Dreams is not Tina Turner's best album, but it does come very close to being so. It seems that at present, Tina Turner is taking a well-deserved break after a hectic 40 years in the music business. The woman deserves all her success and the fact that her record sales are fast approaching 100 million is something to be very proud of. Wildest Dreams is the kind of album that you can put on to chill out or relax to. It's definitely not a party album, but it's not meant to be. Buy it now and experience this legend.

Ultimately, all Tina Turner CDs will likely be measured against "Private Dancer," and I think that's unfair. "Private Dancer" is a product of its time and place, and will long be remembered as Tina's big breakthrough, but its big contribution to popular music is that it gave Tina Turner the opportunity to make albums like "Wildest Dreams." "Wildest Dreams" is an under-appreciated and deeply satisfying Tina Turner classic. The first song on the CD, John Waite's "Missing You," is low-key and fairly inconsequential, but she gathers momentum with "In Your Wildest Dreams," which is a sexy, dreamy duet with Barry White. By the opening notes of "Whatever You Want," it is clear that this is a singer at the peak of her power and confidence. As much as I love Taylor Dayne, her version of "Whatever You Want" (which Ms. Dayne wrote) pales in comparison with Tina's. "Do What You do" and "Thief of Hearts" are rock-flavoured pop, along the lines of "Steel Claw" and "Better be Good to me" from "Private Dancer." Tina takes on the Pet Shop Boys' sound in the lovely "Confidential," with the boys (well, Neil Tennant anyway) adding tasteful background vocals. "All Kinds of People" (co-written by Sheryl Crow) is a stirring, bouncy piece about racism, respecting diversity, and not teaching children to hate. The U2-penned "Goldeneye" is Tina's foray into Shirley Bassey territory. "Dancing in my Dreams" is intensely moving in its meandering pace. Track 7, the Britten/Lyle composition "Something Beautiful Remains," is probably the most beautiful song Tina has ever recorded. It's about the perseverance of memory in tribute to a departed loved one, and Tina adds grace and heart-breaking emotion to the song. You can't call yourself a Tina Turner fan if you don't own this CD!

I feel sorry with the appreciation that the US has for Tina Turner and her record company aswell.
Since 1989 when Tina released "Foreign affair" seems that there's not a support for her in this country. The example is that "Foreign affair" turned out to be the best-seller album back in 1989 in Europe, the selling arrive close to the 7 million, whether in the US was only certified Gold (up to 500,000 copies).The singles "The best" and "Steamy windows" were successful but not in the magnitude that they had been in Europe or Asia or even Australia, ("The best" reached #15 and "Steamy windows" #39 in the US).
In 1991 Tina released her last album with Capitol Records ("Simply the best" which sold several million copies) and signed with the EMI family. Her first work with them wasn't a new album, it was the soundtrack of her biogical movie "What's love got to do with it". The first single was "I don't wanna fight" which was a hit in the US peaking at #9 and "What's love?" was certified Platinum.
But the time that all Tina's fans were waiting came in 1996 when she released her first new album after almost 7 years. The up-coming album was "Wildest dreams" which had a wonderful production, the songs in the album are great aswell are the lyrics. "W.D" has special features by Sting, Barry White and Antonio Banderas.
The album came out in Europe in may of 96 and was a hit, the first single "Whatever you want" was going up to #1 all over Europe and then in october of the same year was the release of WD in the US, the first single was the 1984 cover "Missing you" which sounds wonderful from Tina but the song went nowhere it only reched #16 in the Hot Adult Contemporary and WD wasn't even certified Gold in the US, it sold around 450,000 but I think that the fault is actually from her record company because thay don't promote her much.
The album it's full of energy with songs like: "Whatever you need", "Do what you do", "Missing you". "W.D" also has great love songs such as: "Something beautiful remains", "Confidential", "Dancing in my dreams" and the wonderful "On silent wings".
It's a pitty that Tina lost the chance to return after 7 years with a big success in the US because the album also had the theme from the James Bond's "Goldeneye".
Tina made a world tour during 1996 and 1997 were she sold-out all the shows and sang in front of 5 million people.
The results of "Wildest dreams" were 3 Top 10 hits in Europe. Multi-Platinum status in the UK, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Iceland, Platinum in Greece, Holland, Germany, Norway and other and Gold in Australia, Japon, Korea and China.