CD review: Wanda Jackson “The Party Ain’t Over”
A version of this review appears in Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.
Rock
Wanda Jackson “The Party Ain’t Over” (Nonesuch/Third Man Records)
Oklahoma’s own Queen of Rockabilly gets suitably royal treatment from producer Jack White on her rollicking new album “The Party Ain’t Over.”
Wanda Jackson, 73, proves she’s still the “sweet lady with the nasty voice” on her follow-up to 2005’s “I Remember Elvis,” her tribute to the King who urged her to become the first woman to sing rock ‘n’ roll back in 1956. It’s hard to believe that 55 years have passed when Jackson belts rock classics like “Rip It Up” and “Nervous Breakdown” with the same half-kittenish purr, half-wildcat snarl that made her old hits “Let’s Have a Party” and “Mean, Mean Man” so memorable.
And if the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer’s singular voice has lost just a bit of its considerable power, White isn’t going to let anyone know it. As he did with country great Loretta Lynn on her Grammy-winning 2004 album “Van Lear Rose,” the rocker best known for fronting The White Stripes again demonstrates his masterful knack for celebrating a veteran performer’s storied past while still pushing her out of her comfort zone. Jackson even mentions those pushes as she launches into a smoldering rendition of Amy Winehouse’s creepy bad-girl theme “You Know I’m No Good.”
Jackson’s steamy growl, White’s blistering guitar and a scorching horn section blast off the album with a cover of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates’ “Shakin’ All Over” that’s even more explosive than the live version that rendered David Letterman nearly speechless when they played it on his show. The opener confirms that “The Party Ain’t Over” is really a duet album, even if White doesn’t sing a note. White brings to “The Party” a fired-up retro style and incendiary guitar work distinctly his but deftly designed to match Jackson’s still-smoking vocals.
The album pays homage to Jackson’s rock ‘n’ roll trailblazing with a bubbly cover of the Andrew Sisters’ “Drinking Rum and Coca Cola,” a calypso cousin to her own rockabilly classic “Fujiyama Mama,” and a jumping rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Thunder on the Mountain” that references her pal Jerry Lee Lewis, her Sooner State ties and her hit “Funnel of Love.”
But “The Party” also recalls the Oklahoma City resident’s forays into country and gospel, getting shockingly funky on the old chestnut “Dust on the Bible” before closing in surprisingly stripped-down fashion with Jimmie Rodgers’ “Blue Yodel #6.”
With the new album, Jackson affirms that “The Party Ain’t Over,” and thanks to White, it is a musical celebration fit for such a queen.
— BAM
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