Delivered months after her May 2023 death, Queen of Rock 'N' Roll is the first comprehensive solo retrospective assembled on Tina Turner in many years. Spanning either three CDs or five LPs, the box set follows a chronological order, opening with a trippy reading of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" -- popularized in Disney's Cruella -- then swiftly running through several late-'70s tracks that didn't often appear on collections before the comp reaches her great comeback of 1984. By this point, the collection is seven cuts deep and there's another 48 songs to go, which means Queen of Rock 'N' Roll relies heavily on her international hits of the 1990s and beyond, building upon her basic hits with live cuts and re-recordings. It perhaps winds up getting a little too glossy and tasteful by the close of the collection, yet this, of all Turner compilations, paints a portrait of the entire arc of Tina's solo career. Her rawest, nerviest, and funkiest material is missing, but this depicts her comeback and reign in vivid detail.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

When she released Private Dancer in 1984, Tina Turner was already 45 years old and had a solid career behind her. Alongside her ex, the violent but brilliant Ike Turner (they divorced in 1978 after 16 years of marital hell that she described in a book), she sang soul and rhythm’n’blues like no one else before, venturing into other genres. But her solo début didn’t interest many people, especially since at the beginning of the ‘80s vintage soul was no longer popular. Supported by the record label Capitol, the Tennessee lioness decided to immerse soul in a blend of rock FM and synth pop. This resulted in her reaching the top of the charts and a boost to her career, mostly thanks to the hit What’s Love Got to Do With It. Tina Turner also enjoyed being more daring and covering songs as diverse as Private Dancer by Dire Straits (with Jeff Beck on guitar), Help! by The Beatles, 1984 by David Bowie but also soul classics like I Can’t Stand The Rain by Ann Peebles and Let’s Stay Together by Al Green. An eclectic repertoire that is accompanied perfectly by her fierce feline voice. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz

When she released Private Dancer in 1984, Tina Turner was already 45 years old and had a solid career behind her. Alongside her ex, the violent but brilliant Ike Turner (they divorced in 1978 after 16 years of marital hell that she described in a book), she sang soul and rhythm’n’blues like no one else before, venturing into other genres. But her solo début didn’t interest many people, especially since at the beginning of the ‘80s vintage soul was no longer popular. Supported by the record label Capitol, the Tennessee lioness decided to immerse soul in a blend of rock FM and synth pop. This resulted in her reaching the top of the charts and a boost to her career, mostly thanks to the hit What’s Love Got to Do With It. Tina Turner also enjoyed being more daring and covering songs as diverse as Private Dancer by Dire Straits (with Jeff Beck on guitar), Help! by The Beatles, 1984 by David Bowie but also soul classics like I Can’t Stand The Rain by Ann Peebles and Let’s Stay Together by Al Green. An eclectic repertoire that is accompanied perfectly by her fierce feline voice. © Clotilde Maréchal/Qobuz

On the surface, a band blending driving hard rock with powerful ballads would seem like a fairly boilerplate proposition in a world already populated by Shinedown, Three Days Grace, and any number of other faceless post-grunge acts. Fortunately, Halestorm have their not-so-secret weapon, singer Lzzy Hale, whose powerful vocals easily set the band apart from its peers on its sophomore album, The Strange Case Of.... Delivering another versatile performance, Hale helps to give every song that special something, adding the right amount of snarl and grit to more aggressive songs like "Love Bites (So Do I)," while also bringing genuine passion to the more emotional "In Your Room." Her ability to convey emotion without being dramatic is an asset that Halestorm take full advantage of, and to some extent, probably rely on. This isn't to insinuate that the compositions backing up Hale are bad, but the music, while solidly written and cleanly executed, isn't anything that fans of the genre haven't already heard before. It's a bit of a boon, then, that the strength that Halestorm play to is an exceptional one, and anyone that has grown tired of the current crop of meatheaded hard rock bands trying to seem sensitive would do well to give The Strange Case Of... a spin.© Gregory Heaney /TiVo

Having been left for dead -- quite literally -- Howard Tate and his return to the music world made for one of the more remarkable and most unexpected stories of 2001. With Rediscovered, his first new studio album in nearly 30 years, Tate makes the comeback complete. While Rediscovered makes for a perfectly fitting (if perfectly obvious) title, it works on another level: the album reunites Tate not only with the music world, but also with his key writer and producer, Jerry Ragovoy. Ragovoy, who had long been particularly sympathetic to Tate's style and taste in material, produced this set and wrote or co-wrote 11 of its 12 tracks, adding his touch on piano to most of them as well. The recaptured combination is at its most magical on the ballads "Sorry Wrong Number," "Don't Compromise Yourself," and the Elvis Costello collaboration "Either Side of the Same Town." The latter, which in lesser hands would be just another tale of a dismantled relationship, is colored with vivid imagery and some of Tate's most inspired and colorful interpretation. "Don't Compromise Yourself," clearly inspired by some of the more unseemly aspects of the music business, is another standout in its remarkably personalized reading, while the equally personal "Eternity" allows him to interpolate a touch of the preacher. The album closer, a revisitation of his previously recorded (and lauded) "Get It While You Can," serves the same spiritual purpose. All the facets of Tate's voice that had drawn R&B aficionados to his work in years past are still present, particularly his sweetly effortless falsetto fills. His delivery is wiser but not wizened, and the absence of overemoting is a refreshing reminder that so often in deep soul, less is more. A few tepid bar-blues arrangements temper the power of the collection; the Uptown Horns, while entirely competent, are nowhere near as innovative or funky in arrangement or delivery as, say, the punchy brass section on Tate's self-titled 1972 release. Additionally, the tracks "Organic Love" and "She May Be White (But She Be Funky)" are a little too gimmicky for their own good (though the latter slyly and smartly addresses lingering attitudes against miscegenation). These quibbles aside, Tate proves with Rediscovered that his was -- and remained -- a voice to be reckoned with, one underappreciated yet worthy of being considered alongside such luminaries as Al Green. Rediscovered, yes -- and one hopes, someday, rewarded.© Joseph McCombs /TiVo

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The soft commercial performance of 2013's Britney Jean made it clear that it was time for Britney Spears to shake up her recording career -- a move made somewhat less urgent due to the success of Britney: Piece of Me, the residency show she launched at Las Vegas' Planet Hollywood a few months after the release of Britney Jean. Sin City's influence can be heard within the splashiness of the arrangements of certain portions of Glory, the 2016 album designed to be Britney's return to the Top 40. To that end, Glory downplays the show biz glitz of Vegas in favor of modern dance-pop, one with EDM undercurrents and hip-hop overtones. Sometimes echoes of other stars can be heard -- Justin Bieber's Purpose appears to a primary text -- but despite this contemporary gloss, the album usually relies on sounds of Spears' past, trading heavily on the cloistered dance of Blackout and the shimmering neon of Femme Fatale. Glory is much lighter than either album, a reflection of Britney's maturation -- the softer nocturnal numbers make a play for Ellie Goulding territory, but they could slide onto adult contemporary -- and her willingness to be goofy. Some of the highlights are the silliest songs: the swinging "Clumsy," the overheated flamenco chorus of "Do You Wanna Come Over?," and "Private Show" and "Slumber Party," a pair of heavy-breathing come-ons that never manage to seem sexy despite the flood of innuendo. Such moments accentuate Britney's playfulness, an aspect of her persona that's been in hibernation for nearly a decade, and it's a welcome return, as is Glory as a whole: it feels as fun and frivolous as her earliest music while retaining the freshness of her best mature work.© Stephen Thomas Erlewine /TiVo

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