A three disc set that illustrates women’s contributions to rock, the Rolling Stone collection begins with the blues of Big Mama Thornton and ends with the folk-pop of Shawn Colvin, covering almost every popular genre in between. There’s the Motown of The Supremes (“Stop! In The Name Of Love”), the Bacharach cool of Dionne Warwick (“Walk On By”), the psychedelia of Jefferson Airplane (“Somebody To Love”), the peerless soul of Aretha Franklin (“Chain Of Fools”), and the blues holler of Janis Joplin (“Me And Bobby McGee”). And that’s just the first disc.

The second disc focuses on the 70s and covers folk (Janis Ian), new wave (Eurythmics), punk (X-Ray Spex), and disco (Donna Summer). The third set includes more recent material, such as Lucinda Williams, Queen Latifah, Sarah McLachlan, Jewel, Melissa Etheridge, and Sheryl Crow. It all makes for an engaging listen, as well as providing a compelling overview of the history of rock.