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Tina Turner’s 1984 album Private Dancer was the ultimate comeback record, reviving her career after she fled an abusive marriage and was left destitute by divorce.
One track that didn’t make the grade was ‘Hot for You Baby’, known to have been recorded but thought to be lost. But the master tape was recently unearthed and on Thursday it premiered on BBC Radio 2.
The song is a vocal barnstormer and it’s exciting to hear Turner’s throaty rasp tackle a new melody. But there’s little beneath the surface: how many times can you hear the words “hot for you” in a song? The answer, apparently, is about 50.
The track doesn’t hold a candle to those that made it onto Private Dancer, but that’s no slight on Turner. Its absence from the record shows she knew the difference between an ok song and a great one.
