Tina Turner - Definitely An Undisputable Rock'n'Roller

I really don't think you'll get any serious argument from anybody that Rita Mae Bullock a.k.a. Tina Turner did her best work artistically when accompanied by husband/producer/abuser Ike. I mean, "River Deep Mountain High" alone should make her a first-ballot hall of famer. And their amazing two-tempos cover of CCR's "Proud Mary"? At least as good as the original. Commercially, though? Man, did her 80s comeback and the ensuing years of reigning on AOR radio belatedly fill in the coffers, not to mention give her some long-deserved respect and reputation. Of course, no one deserved it more than Tina, not only for all the evil shit from Ike she had to put up with, bt also because when she started her solo career in the 70s, she ws basically left for dead. That a decade later she would fill stadiums and reign the charts was...not something a lot of people would have put money on in, say, 1975. 

The title of the compilation I sourced most of the music here from is called Queen Of Rock'n'Roll, but you know what was missing from it? Real, bad ass rock'n'roll! Most of the tracks wade in a very safe AOR mainstream sound that rocks a little bit, but please not too much or too hard to not chase any radio listeners away. And to be fair, Queen Of Rock'n'Roll had another issue. Three discs with 20 songs each is an impressive package, but 60 tracks mostly from Tina's AOR/Adult Contemporary years is...a lot of the same thing which is not the best thing. There is not a lot of music from discs 2 and 3 covering the late 80s, 90s and early 2000s on this comp, and that despite me having a natuarally high resistance to mainstream AOR radio Tina. 

That was my Tina, as she was inescable on the channels my parents listened to in the car, or occasionally at home, when I was young. So yeah, gimme "The Best", gimme the "It Takes Two" duet with fellow AOR hero Rod Stewart, hell, gimme her cover of John Waite's "Missing You", a great AOR treasure in its own right, that I didn't remember her covering. But the ton of mid-tempo, just sort of there AOR/adult contemporary fare was left in the dust, and this badly needed an injection of more rock'n'roll, so I added a bunch of rockers, movers and shakers: "Steel Claw" from Private Dancer which deserves better than being an almost forgotten album track, the driving "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby", the chugging early "Bayou Song"  plus a folk/country rock-ish take on "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You", and "Rock'n'Roll Widow", a Private Dancer era b-side that is just on the right side of the line concerning power ballads.

Now we're talking Queen Of Rock'n'Roll, or rather Undisputed Rock'n'Roller, as the compilationj is now called. Epecially when also highlighting her superb and quite transformative cover of "Whole Lotta Love", one of my favorite covers ever, with a really intriguing funk plus stabbing strings arrangement, as well as new (almost) title song and early barn burner "Root Toot, Undisputable Rock'n'Roller", and mid-80s singalong classic "We Don't Need Another Hero". Throw in her slinky and/or sassy covers of "Let's Stay Together", "Help" (a U.K. only single) and "I Can't Stand The Rain" plus the Bowie torch song "Girls" and you have yourself an attractive package of what Ol' One Buck Guy thinks is some of the best work of Tina's solo career.

Check out these twenty tracks and see if you agree. And now, ladies and gentlemen, the Queen Of Rock'n'Roll, an Undisputable Rock'n'Roller...