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.
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