Tina Turner - Albums Collection 1984-2008 (6CD)

The most dynamic female soul singer in the history of the music, Tina Turner oozed sexuality from every pore in a performing career that began the moment she stepped on-stage as lead singer of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue in the late '50s. Her gritty and growling performances beat down doors everywhere, looking back to the double-barreled attack of gospel fervor and sexual abandon that had originally formed soul in the early '50s. Divorced from Ike in the mid-'70s, she recorded only occasionally later in the decade but resurfaced in the mid-'80s with a series of hit singles and movie appearances; her high-profile status was assured well into the '90s.

Born Annie Mae Bullock near Brownsville, TN, she began singing as a teen, and joined Ike Turner's touring show as an 18-year-old backup vocalist. Just two years later, Tina was the star of the show, the attention-grabbing focal point for an incredibly smooth-running soul revue headed by Ike and his Kings of Rhythm. The couple began hitting the charts in 1960 with "A Fool in Love," and notched charting singles throughout the '60s, though the disappointing position of "River Deep, Mountain High" – cited by Phil Spector as one of his best productions – was very hard to take. All expectations were fulfilled in 1971 with "Proud Mary," a number four hit that became the capstone of Ike & Tina's Revue. Frustrated by Ike's increasingly irrational behavior, though, Tina walked out just three years later.

She celebrated her newfound freedom in 1975 with a role in the film version of The Who's Tommy. Playing the Acid Queen, she delivered an outrageous, all-too-brief performance in an otherwise forgettable mistake of a movie. Several albums were recorded for United Artists during the late '70s, but she appeared to be washed up by the turn of the decade. Surprisingly, Tina returned in 1983, first teaming with a Heaven 17 project named B.E.F. on a remake of the Temptations' "Ball of Confusion." Tina's vocal offering was understandably apocalyptic, and she gained a solo deal with Capitol that same year. Her first single, a cover of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," hit the Top 30 early in 1984. Second single "What's Love Got to Do with It" became one of the year's biggest hits, spending three weeks at number one. Her album Private Dancer included two more Top Ten singles, the title track and "Better Be Good to Me."

With another movie role in 1985 (Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome), she found a number two hit with its theme, "We Don't Need Another Hero." Her next big hit followed in 1986 ("Typical Male"), after which Tina began to decline, still charting occasionally and selling respectably with albums including 1989's Foreign Affair, 1996's Wildest Dreams, and 2000's Twenty Four Seven. In 2009, Turner oversaw and added spoken word segments to Beyond: Buddhist and Christian Prayers, which featured singing from Regula Curti and Dechen Shak-Dagsay. The CD was officially released a year later in 2010

Biography by John Bush, Allmusic.com

In 1984, a 45-year-old Tina Turner made one of the most amazing comebacks in the history of American popular music. A few years earlier, it was hard to imagine the veteran soul/rock belter reinventing herself and returning to the top of the pop charts, but she did exactly that with the outstanding Private Dancer. And Turner did so without sacrificing her musical integrity. To be sure, this pop/rock/R&B pearl is decidedly slicker than such raw, earthy, hard-edged Ike & Tina classics as "Proud Mary," "Sexy Ida," and "I Wanna Take You Higher." But she still has a tough, throaty, passionate delivery that serves her beautifully on everything from the melancholy, reggae-influenced "What's Love Got to Do With It" to the gutsy "Better Be Good to Me" to heartfelt remakes of the Beatles' "Help," Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," and David Bowie's "1984." A reflection on the emptiness of a stripper's life, the dusky title song is as poignant as it is depressing. Without question, this was Turner's finest hour as a solo artist.

Review by Alex Henderson, Allmusic.com

Because it contains its share of memorable and inspired material – and even a few gems – it seems inappropriate to call Tina Turner's Break Every Rule a disappointment. But because Private Dancer was so incredible a comeback, one greeted this anxiously awaited follow-up with such high expectations that anything less than outstanding would have been disappointing. And the album isn't outstanding – it's generally quite enjoyable and far from weak – but not outstanding. Be that as it may, there's a lot to savor here. "Two People" is forgettable, but Turner definitely has some gems in the power ballad "I'll Be Thunder," the driving rocker "Back Where You Started" and the haunting David Bowie piece "Girls." While Private Dancer would be a much better introduction to Turner's work as a solo artist, this has more pluses than minuses.

Review by Alex Henderson, Allmusic.com

Turner's last studio album for Capitol was produced by the late Dan Hartman of "Instant Replay" disco fame; however, this was not a retro '70s-style album. This set was comprised of 12 mature, middle-range, adult rock and pop songs. Turner tackled rock on "Steamy Windows" and "The Best," the latter a universal hit. She created fine club tracks such as "Falling Like Rain," "I Don't Wanna Lose You," and "Look Me in the Heart." Still, she cooled down long enough for a couple of gutbucket ballads in "Be Tender With Me Baby" and "Ask Me How I Feel." The most interesting cut was the scorching return to Turner's Delta roots on the flawless "Undercover Agent for the Blues," one of the finest pop-blues performances since B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone." Despite the slight musical style variations, the whole project was wrapped in an enticing pop style that gave it buoyancy and synthesis.

Review by Bil Carpenter, Allmusic.com

An exuberant album of euphoric tales and exhortations. Wildest Dreams reflects Tina Turner's happiness with life after Ike Turner and with finally reaching megastardom in her fifties. The 13 songs buoy her thesis and provide almost an hour of listening pleasure, most notably on a remake of John Waite's "Missing You," a saucy soul duet with Barry White on "Wildest Dreams," and an understated funk jam entitled "Something Beautiful Remains."

Review by Bil Carpenter, Allmusic.com

The album is actually credited to just Tina, and no one has earned the right to a single moniker more than the former Mrs. Turner. Now over 60, Tina has picked a suite of songs about survival, a topic she knows well, and imbued them with as much soul as she can muster. Tina still puts Mariah Carey and Celine Dion to shame. But unfortunately, on Twenty Four Seven, the famous Turner passion is often submerged in glossy production that virtually defines "adult contemporary." In some transcendent moments, Tina reminds us of the woman who sang "River Deep, Mountain High" – like when she spits out "I've never been a winner but I still play the game" in "All the Woman," or during the powerful coda to "I Will Be There." As Tina sings in "Absolutely Nothing's Changed," she's lived to fight another day, and that's proof she ain't been broken.

Review by Mark Morgenstein, Allmusic.com

Released as a tie-in to Tina Turner's fall 2008 tour of North America, Tina! follows her last greatest-hits album All the Best: The Hits by a mere three years and it has the same number of tracks as its predecessor, six of which are songs shared between the two compilations. This makes Tina! feel similar to All the Best but it's a different compilation in many ways, with a broader scope, reaching back for "River Deep Mountain High" and "The Acid Queen," neither of which were on the 2005 comp, and containing two previously unreleased bonus tracks. It also contains a hefty dose of live tracks – "Let's Stay Together," "I Can't Stand the Rain," and "The Best," are all present in live versions – her James Bond theme "Goldeneye" and a 1993 re-recording of "Proud Mary." So, Tina! covers a lot of ground and gives a pretty good indication of Turner's far-reaching talents and long-ranging career, but it's also a bit of a mess, jumping between eras, overlooking some big hits, and substituting live versions when the studio is superior. So don't think of Tina! as a definitive comp, something that has yet to be assembled on Tina, but rather as a sampler that contains some, but not nearly all, of her best.

Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Allmusic.com