When he was out on tour in 1969 with his regular gig, [wimpLink artistId="11368"]the Ike & Tina Turner Revue[/wimpLink], [wimpLink artistId="3576125"]Ike Turner[/wimpLink] found the time to cut the instrumental album A Black Man's Soul. Whenever he had some spare time he would drag the band into a local studio and lay down tracks, resulting in these 12 funky soul jams that sound like they were lifted from the soundtrack to a blaxploitation film. The band is tight and laid-back at once, with horns at the forefront most of the time. [wimpLink artistId="3576125"]Turner[/wimpLink] came up with some fine grooves like "Thinking Black," "Getting Nasty" (with [wimpLink artistId="933"]Billy Preston[/wimpLink] on piano), "Scotty Souling," "Nuttin' Up," and the monumental "Funky Mule." However, the record lacks [wimpLink artistId="3576125"]Turner[/wimpLink]'s usual fire and flair and ultimately is too polite and slick to be very memorable ("Funky Mule" aside). [The 2004 reissue on Funky Delicacies adds an instrumental version of "Chain of Fools" plus three tracks with [wimpLink artistId="9214"]Tina[/wimpLink] on vocals. The addition of her vocals provides the fire that the rest of the album lacks; of course she tears it up, but the band sounds tougher too, especially on their moody cover of "Drifting Blues."] ~ Tim Sendra