Johnnie Taylor set the tone for his recording career at Stax with Wanted: One Soul Singer, a consistently gritty collection of blues and raw, hard-hitting Memphis soul. In addition to his appealing medium-sized hits "Just the One I've Been Lookin' For" and "I Had a Dream," Wanted boasts pleasant surprises ranging from the addictive "Toe-Hold" to gutsy versions of Merle Travis' "Sixteen Tons" and the standard "Blues in the Night." Adding lyrics to Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man," Taylor removes the song's jazz elements and turns it into pure Southern R&B. When Wanted was released, Taylor (who has occasionally been confused with bluesman Little Johnny Taylor) had yet to become the soul-radio fixture that "Who's Making Love" would make him, but these solid performances show that he was definitely on the right track.

The live attempts at recreating the seminal jam chemistry of Super Session were hit-and-miss affairs, and this one, previously unreleased, has its fair share of off-key and off-target tunes. The rhythm section is erratic, the repertoire–ranging from Simon & Garfunkel's "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" to an Elvis-flavored "That's All Right Mama"–is a bit odd, and co-leader Al Kooper is competent but rarely inspired. Guitarist Michael Bloomfield, however, is uniformly brilliant and his graceful blues virtuosity is by itself well worth the price of admission. Bloomfield and the group are joined on B.B. King's "It's My Own Fault" by a then-unknown Johnny Winter and things get really interesting.

Tina Live in Europe is the first live album by Tina Turner, released on Capitol Records in 1988. The album is compiled of live performances made between 1985 and 1987, the majority of which are from Turner's Break Every Rule World Tour but also from the 1985 Private Dancer Tour, as well as the 1986 Tina Turner: Break Every Rule HBO special recorded in London at the Camden Palace (now Koko), masquerading as Le Club Zero in Paris, also released on video. The double album reached #8 in the UK Albums Chart. In 1989 the album won a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. The double CD version of Tina Live in Europe includes four bonus songs not featured on the original double vinyl album.

Etta James followed her two deeply jazzy mid-'90s albums of torch songs with Love's Been Rough on Me, a flirtation with Nashville writers. On Life, Love & the Blues, she returns to her blues and soul repertoire, enlivening even the hoariest of tunes ("Spoonful," a gender-flopped "Hoochie Coochie Gal") with her growl. The tinges of funk underpinning "Born Under a Bad Sign" are given full room to stretch on a cover of Sly Stone's "If You Want Me to Stay," and James nearly swipes "The Love You Save May Be Your Own," one of Joe Tex's great preaching ballads, from the master.