Happy 35th: Tina Turner, PRIVATE DANCER

35 years ago this week, Tina Turner released her comeback album…and when we say “comeback album,” it was truly a comeback album for the ages, the standard by which comeback albums are still judged to this day.

Recorded at a number of different locations and with the help of a number of different producers… Oh, heck, let’s just lay it all on the table as far as who produced what:

1.    “I Might Have Been Queen” (Rupert Hine)
2.    “What’s Love Got to Do with It” (Terry Britten)
3.    “Show Some Respect” (Terry Britten)
4.    “I Can’t Stand the Rain” (Terry Britten)
5.    “Private Dancer” (John Carter)
6.    “Let’s Stay Together” (Martyn Ware and Greg Walsh)
7.    “Better Be Good to Me” (Rupert Hine)
8.    “Steel Claw” (John Carter)
9.    “Help!” (Leon “Ndugu” Chancler, Wilton Felder, and Joe Sample)
10.    “1984” (Martyn Ware and Greg Walsh)

You’ll recognize the big hit singles, of course, like the title track, “Better Be Good To Me,” and “What’s Love Got to Do with It,” but the whole album is top-notch, offering Tina’s best performances in years – thanks, no doubt, to the complete absence of her abusive ex-husband Ike Turner – which were then polished to a sheen by the aforementioned individuals.

35 years later, PRIVATE DANCER still holds up. Indeed, like Turner herself, it only gets better with age, which you can easily prove to yourself by hitting “play.”