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Every woman should have a little Joan Armatrading in her music collection. And no college girl should finish college without giving Joan a good, long listen. I discovered her myself when I was in college, after seeing her perform “(I Love It When You) Call Me Names” on TV. She just seemed to be having so much fun performing, and the song is so sinisterly funny, something that really appealed to me at that age. (Though I confess that when I hear it now, I do twinge a bit.) My favorite song by her, though, is “Rosie,” about a capricious transvestite. No matter how bad a mood I’m in, I can scroll to that on my iPod and immediately feel better. There are too few songs like that in the world.

I love Joan Armatrading for many reasons, but probably mostly because her songs are all over the map. Some are happy, some are sad. Some are funny, some are poignant. Some are about how great it is to be independent, some are about how deeply a person can love. Some are slow, some are fast. Some are for listening, some are for dancing. And that massive range is illustrated beautifully on this CD, “The Millennium Collection: The Best of Joan Armatrading.” (I don’t actually have this collection. The greatest hits CD I have isn’t available anymore, but I found this one on iTunes, and it’s pretty close. And I think a greatest hits type CD is a good intro to her. Not to mention, it contains both of the above mentioned songs.)

In fact, every song on here is fabulous. “Drop the Pilot.” “Weakness in Me.” “Love and Affection.” And, of course, “Me, Myself, I,” which was one of many anthems I hugged to myself when I was in college.  That’s the song, I think, that all young women should embrace. It’s about doing all the things you want and need to do, and doing them on your own. (Hey, I love romance as much as the next woman, and I think human beings, by nature, want to have mates. But I think the only healthy mate is one who has become content with her- or himself before making that commitment to another. But I digress.)

Armatrading is a truly gifted songwriter and guitarist (one of her guitars is on display in the Harrods “Born to Rock” guitar exhibition alongside guitars from Keith Richards and The Edge). Her music is a lovely mesh of pop, rock and folk, maybe a little bluesy sometimes, with some reggae and a little ska thrown in. There’s even a hint of funk here and there. She was born on St. Kitts in 1950 and raised in Birmingham, England, so she came of musical age during a time, and in places, where there were A LOT of influences to be had.

There’s just a lot here to love, regardless of your gender, but I do think she speaks to women in ways that many musicians miss. And as she sings on “I’m Lucky,” “...the world loves a winner.” Indeed they do. All the more reason to give this CD a try.