Because of her blues-based comeback in the '90s, Etta James was thought of by the general public — if she was thought of at all — as a blues singer, but there was a good deal more to the picture than that, as this two-disc, 35-track set makes clear. In many ways, James resembled a female Ray Charles in her unerring ability to tackle (and sometimes combine) all of the strands of American popular music, from rock & roll to R&B, blues, country, gospel, jazz, and pure pop and soul, while still maintaining a distinct feel and sound that was all her own, and she did this throughout a five-decade career that is impressive for its consistency.