The Collected Recordings: Sixties to Nineties (Tina Turner)

Tina Turner's The Collected Recordings: Sixties to Nineties is a three-disc career overview released in 1994. The first disc selects tracks from the Ike & Tina Turner years. The second disc is of b-sides, rarities, and minor hits. The third disc collects some of her biggest solo hits. While the first and third discs are cool, better overviews of each are done by other sets, such as, respectively, The Ike & Tina Story and All the Best. The appeal here lies in the second disc, which includes such great tracks as Turner's original version of "Don't Turn Around," released as the b-side to "Typical Male," an awesome live version of Prince's "Let's Pretend We're Married," released as the b-side to "Show Some Respect," and a remake of Robert Palmer's "Johnny and Mary," contributed to the soundtrack to the film Summer Lovers. It is for these and other great recordings found on the second disc, as well as a pleasant booklet, that I would recommend this set.

Tracks:
Disc 1 (Artist for all tracks is Ike & Tina Turner)
1. A Fool in Love
2. It's Gonna Work Out Fine
3. I Idolize You
4. Poor Fool
5. A Letter from Tina
6. Finger Poppin'
7. River Deep - Mountain High
8. Crazy 'Bout You Baby
9. I've Been Loving You Too Long
10. Bold Soul Sister
11. I Want to Take You Higher
12. Come Together
13. Honky Tonk Women
14. Proud Mary
15. Nutbush City Limits
16. Sexy Ida (Part 1)
17. Sexy Ida (Part 2)
18. It Ain't Right (Lovin' to Be Lovin')

Disc 2 (From here on out, artist is Tina Turner unless otherwise noted)
1. Acid Queen
2. Whole Lotta Love
3. Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)
4. A Change Is Gonna Come
5. Johnny and Mary
6. Games
7. When I Was Young
8. Total Control
9. Let's Pretend We're Married (live)
10. It's Only Love (Bryan Adams & Tina Turner)
11. Don't Turn Around
12. Legs (live)
13. Addicted to Love (live)
14. Tearing Us Apart (Eric Clapton with Tina Turner)
15. It Takes Two (Rod Stewart and Tina Turner)

Disc 3
1. Let's Stay Together
2. What's Love Got to Do With It
3. Better Be Good to Me
4. Private Dancer
5. I Can't Stand the Rain
6. Help!
7. We Don't Need Another Hero
8. Typical Male
9. What You Get Is What You See
10. Paradise Is Here
11. Back Where You Started
12. The Best
13. Steamy Windows
14. Foreign Affair
15. I Don't Wanna Fight

Twenty Four Seven (Tina Turner)

Tina Turner's 2000 album Twenty Four Seven is pretty solid. It contains some strong tunes that make for enjoyable listening. Her voice and personality both shine on this album, and it's overall a good one. Standout tracks include "All the Woman," "When the Heartache Is Over," "Don't Leave Me This Way," and the Bryan Adams duet "Without You."

Tracks:
1. Whatever You Need
2. All the Woman
3. When the Heartache Is Over
4. Absolutely Nothing's Changed
5. Talk to My Heart
6. Don't Leave Me This Way
7. Go Ahead
8. Without You
9. Falling
10. I Will Be There
11. Twenty Four Seven

All the Best (Tina Turner)

To slightly alter the expression: go broke while the iron's hot. My last post brought up the Tina Turner song "What You Get Is What You See." While I was in the mood, I decided to finally start my Tina Turner collection by picking up a copy of All the Best. This is a two-disc set focusing on Turner's solo career, although a couple of Ike & Tina tracks are present.

As far as the music goes: It's awesome. There's a reason Tina Turner has had a long career in the industry and has achieved the great status she has. The tracks here represent diverse styles and time periods, but they all range from pretty good to awesome. Not one bad track present.

The selection of hits is also pretty representative. With a discography as extensive as Turner's, it would take several more discs to even come close to being complete; however, most of her major hits are present. Also included is "Open Arms," a great track that is amongst the few new songs on this set. I could pick out a few more tracks I'd like to have, but overall I can't fault the song selection here.

My one complaint is that the liner notes are pretty sparse. You get writing and production credits for the songs, a few photos, and that's it.

Tracks:
1. Open Arms
2. Nutbush City Limits (Ike & Tina Turner)
3. What You Get Is What You See
4. Missing You
5. The Best
6. River Deep, Mountain High (Ike & Tina Turner)
7. When the Heartache Is Over
8. Let's Stay Together
9. I Don't Wanna Fight
10. Whatever You Need
11. I Can't Stand the Rain
12. Goldeneye
13. I Don't Wanna Lose You
14. Great Spirits
15. Proud Mary (note: This isn't the Ike & Tina hit version, but a 1990's solo version. I believe it was recorded for What's Love Got to Do With It but I'm not positive there.)
16. Addicted to Love (live)

Disc 2:
17. In Your Wildest Dreams (solo version)
18. Private Dancer
19. Why Must We Wait Until Tonight
20. Typical Male
21. Tonight (David Bowie with Tina Turner) (This is the studio version from Bowie's Tonight album, not the one from Turner's live album)
22. Complicated Disaster
23. On Silent Wings
24. Something Special
25. We Don't Need Another Hero (Thunderdrome)
26. It's Only Love (Bryan Adams and Tina Turner)
27. Cose della vita (Eros Ramazzotti with Tina Turner)
28. Steamy Windows
29. Paradise Is Here
30. What's Love Got to Do With It
31. Better Be Good to Me
32. Two People
33. Something Beautiful Remains

Song of the Day: "What You Get Is What You See"

ARTIST: Tina Turner
TITLE: "What You Get Is What You See"
YEAR: 1987

While this was a pretty big hit for Tina Turner at the time, it's pretty much ignored now. That's a shame, because it's a really great song. Turner brings such energy to it, and it's a good blend of rock's past with rock's present. Kinda rockabilly-meets-rock. However you describe it, it's a solid song.

The song can be heard here and is available for purchase on many Turner compilations, including All the Best.