What the fuck has to be done to get an American record label to release a definitive (I'll settle for 2 discs) retrospective of Chaka Khan's career?! The only domestic comp of her work is the decade-old Epiphany, which is spotty as hell: 16 tracks, a full 5 of which were new to this album (admittedly including the great Me'shell NdegeOcello collaboration "Never Miss the Water"), and only two Rufus songs (one a live version of "Tell Me Something Good"). Not only does Chaka deserve a deluxe compilation of her work, we need one. (For my money, 1988's Life Is a Dance: The Remix Project is a much more interesting look at her career, though obviously it's not complete, either.) Part of the problem is label-wise: Warners seems to be the one major label without a solid retrospective brand (a la UMG's Gold and SonyBMG's The Essential series) - and hell, they're not even particularly good at reissuing/remastering their rich catalog, leaving that work to Rhino (c'mon, people - the Talking Heads catalog just got remastered last year! And don't even get me started on Prince... None of Chaka's albums, meanwhile - let alone Rufus's - have been remastered). Why does Warners blow at this? And what can be done to get them to get their catalog house in order? Frustrating.

*From her lovely 1980 album Naughty.