''Outta Season'' is a 1969 album by

Ike & Tina Turner Ike & Tina Turner were an American musical duo consisting of husband and wife Ike Turner and Tina Turner. From 1960 to 1976, they performed live as the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, supported by Ike Turner's band the Kings of Rhythm and backing vocal ...

, released on

Blue Thumb Records Blue Thumb Records was an American record label founded in 1968 by Bob Krasnow and former A&M Records executives Tommy LiPuma and Don Graham. Blue Thumb's last record was released in 1978. In 1995, the label was revived and remained active un ...

in the US and

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

in the UK. The album contains their signature live song "

I've Been Loving You Too Long "I've Been Loving You Too Long" (originally "I've Been Loving You Too Long (To Stop Now)") is a soul music ballad written by Otis Redding and Jerry Butler. Considered by music critics and writers to be one of Redding's finest performances and a ...

Content and release

''Outta Season'' is a heavy

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

album produced by

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

and Bob Krasnow. The album contains the track "I Am a Motherless Child," which is based on the spiritual "City Called Heaven". The first single, "I've Been Loving You Too Long," peaked at No. 68 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 23 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart in April 1969. The second single "Crazy 'Bout You Baby" was only released in the UK.

Cover art

The art direction was by

Tom Wilkes Thomas Edward Wilkes (July 30, 1939 – June 28, 2009) was an American art director, designer, photographer, illustrator, writer and producer-director. Life Wilkes was born in Long Beach, California and raised in southern California. Wilkes atte ...

and photography by

Barry Feinstein Barry Feinstein (February 4, 1931 – October 20, 2011) was an American photographer and filmmaker, known for his photographs of 1950s Hollywood, the 1960s music scene, and his close personal and professional relationships with celebrities like ...

. As a sarcastic statement,

Amos and Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' is an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show ...

are credited for the design & photography on the album due to the history of the characters being portrayed by white actors wearing

blackface Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-Black people to portray a caricature of a Black person. In the United States, the practice became common during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereo ...

in the film ''

Check and Double Check ''Check and Double Check'' is a 1930 American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code comedy film produced and released by RKO Radio Pictures based on the ''Amos 'n' Andy'' old-time radio, radio show. The title was derived from a catchphrase associated wit ...

''. The album cover features the Turners (Ike on the front and Tina on the back) in whiteface eating watermelon. Due to the white audiences' interest in blues music in the 1960s, music critic Pete Johnson noted that the Turners are "pictured in whiteface eating big slices of watermelon each winking broadly at any young record buyers who might suspect that black people can't sing the blues."

Critical reception

The album received positive reviews. Music critic Pete Johnson wrote for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' (March 29, 1969):

Tina is as good a blues interpreter as can be found in the contemporary scene and the material is expertly—if a bit unimaginatively—selected to show off her versatility. Ike Turner's arrangements and guitar playing are consistently good and tasteful. ... "Outta season" is a strong album by some talented people who have been ignored too long.

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' (March 29, 1969):

The 'now' sound is blues, and the blues are now the sound of Ike and Tina Turner. This newly-recorded set features the vet R&B/Pop duo in a more contemporary framework than ever before, with increase emphasis on instrumental happenings. Material includes such blues standards as "Honest I Do," "My Babe," "Rock Me Baby," "Crazy 'Bout You Baby" and "Mean Old World" as well as several Ike or Tina originals and Otis Redding's "I've Been Loving You Too Long."

Track listing

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control 1969 albums Ike & Tina Turner albums Albums produced by Ike Turner Blue Thumb Records albums Liberty Records albums Blues albums by American artists Soul albums by American artists