At last! The all-encompassing Joan Armatrading retrospective I've been hoping for ever since I made my first Armatrading best-of tape, back in the early '80s. One of the exemplary voices of the genre-bending eclecticism of the 1970s, Great Britain's Armatrading fused rock, funk, pop, folk, reggae and blues, all bound together by her inviting, expressive vocals, and emotional/confessional songwriting style. This 2-CD set spans the breadth of her stint with A&M Records, from her awkward, jazz-inflected second album, through her late-'70s glory years, and into her faltering stabs at mainstream musicmaking as the New Wave era pushed the '70s sounds aside. This collection does a first-rate job capturing Armatrading at her best, particularly the first disc, which picks all the right tunes from all her best albums. The second CD is devoted to her '80s work, and lingers, perhaps, a bit too long on 1980's "Me Myself And I" (I prefer the frothier delights of the subsequent album from 1981, "Walk Under Ladders," a synth-heavy guilty pleasure, featuring keyboards by Thomas Dolby, and slick, poppy production by Steve Lillywhite, which only rates about half as many songs on this collection...) But, oh! those early years! Her self-titled 1976 album is a masterpiece, as was the follow-up in '77, "Show Some Emotion," each a mix of tender acoustic balladry and tough, vigorous rock riffs. These albums brought Armatrading into the pantheon of '70s singer-songwriter greats, alongside Cat Stevens, Elton John, Bill Withers and Joni Mitchell, artists whose strength as composers, emotional range and stylistic diversity keep their work as fresh today as when the songs were first recorded, all those years ago. This is definitely the best collection around for anyone who wants to check this groundbreaking gal out... HIGHLY recommended.

I don't know how I got into JA's music. I think I read a review of a concert she gave in Dallas back in 1995, and in the body of the review the writer listed some of Joan's song titles, and the titles, themselves, intrigued me. I went out and bought her then new CD, The Shouting Stage, and thought it was really horrible. Fast forward to last year when I somewhat capriciously decided to pick up her one disc greatest hits CD. I instantly fell in love with how unique some of the songs such as Cool Blue Stole My Heart, Heaven, and Love and Affection were. This 2 CD set has a lot of songs devoid of any hooks or brilliant lyrics (Simon, How Cruel, Temptation) but it has a lot of great songs that are exclusive to this CD. The track "I Must Be Going" is the most brilliant track I have ever heard and only available on CD format here....

A great pair of CDs with one glaring problem: Track 20 on CD #2 is supposed to be "What Do Boys Dream?" but is instead "Tell Tale", which is a decent song, but not as good as the one it replaced. What went wrong?

There's nothing much I can say about Joan that other reviewers have already said....but, I was very upset they didn't include one of her best songs, "Temptation." How could they possibly leave this song off of this collection? Now I have to buy the single CD collection just to get that song! Gggrrrrr.

I don't know what it is about her songs that have such an affect (or, is it effect?...geez) on me. It's music that makes me feel, think, love. It's what it means to be a woman, to be a lover, to be whoever you are in this world. It's what music should be.

I own all the CDs. All of them. This is my favorite compilation. It's the music I listen to when I paint. It's one of those CDs that you lend to a potential bf; and if he says it's "okay," he loses his potential.

If you already love Joan, you have to have this. If you've never really heard her music and stumbled onto this page, you'll find something unique and from the soul in this music. Give it a try.