Album Review – Wanda Jackson’s “The Party Ain’t Over”
One thing is for sure, whatever criticism one can come up with for this album, it is difficult to say that it lacks vision, or scope, or that it needs fleshing out. With a full accoutrement of musicians, a horn section, pedal steel and keys, various vintage effects, Jack White’s heavy-handed blazing guitar, all captured on the warmth of 2-inch tape, there were few if any stones left unturned. Jack White, who produced this monster, pulled out all stops and compromised nothing.
The most remarkable thing about this album is the continued purity of Wanda Jackson’s voice. If you didn’t know Wanda Jackson from Adam, and the only clue to her identity was these recordings, you’d think she was sumptuous 20-something filly. The adorable, almost child-like quality to her voice has not weathered whatsoever despite being used as a weapon of rock & roll for over 50 years, and the rockabilly growl that adds a touch of devil to the angel voice is as raspy and enchanting as ever.
But Wanda’s voice seems like an afterthought sometimes to these heavy and loud compositions. The rockers of the album like “Shakin’ All Over” “Rip It Up” and “Thunder On The Mountain” come at you like a wall of sound, with very little to no space, and no elbow room between instruments or parts. Wanda gets buried as a horn section and Jack’s guitar vie for attention, and a muddy drum and bass duo walk all over each other. If you can zero in on any individual part, it is probably pretty damn good, but the band feels like it is playing at each other, instead of with each other.
There’s just a lot blurriness on this album, much of it in the bass and drums. I’m all for warmth and volume and a vintage feel, but the rhythm section seems to reverberate and clog up any breathing room in these songs, especially the more up-tempo ones. “Rum & Coca-Cola” is a fun song with some great arrangement and vision, but the vocal harmonics diminish the natural purity of Wanda’s voice. The wandering, swaying drunk of a tavern song called “Busted” works well until the horns and pedal steel come in all at once at the end of phrases, blasting your brain until your head feels like it’s been swaying in a pinball machine and you’re wrenching the wrong way on the volume knob.
However as the album goes on, the arrangements thin out a bit to let Wanda’s voice and inflections shine. The rockers on this album will get most of the attention, but “You Know That I’m No Good” was my fav, with Wanda commanding the mood of this sultry, seductive sonnet with her enchanting growls and coos. Generally speaking this album is more rockabilly than country, and maybe even more rock n’ roll than rockabilly, but the end track “Blue Yodel #6” adds that tie to the roots from whence this music came, and allows Wanda again to show off her audible acrobatics with clean, confident, and classic yodels.
I like this album, I do. It’s good to put on in the background of a party and let it play, and it has some favorable aesthetics. But I wish there was a little less Jack White production and guitar, and a little more Wanda. The way it is set up, Jack’s name deserves to be on the front cover just as much as Jackson’s. If this album was presented with both names on equal footing, I might judge it differently. As it sits right now, it seems more like Jack White using the medium of Wanda Jackson to play music through. It’s still some very good music, and I like Jack White, but let’s not forget who the star is supposed to be.
1 1/2 of 2 guns up!
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February 8, 2011 @ 9:44 am
I just couldn’t get into this album at all.
February 8, 2011 @ 9:57 am
I got into Wanda Jackson’s voice and style, and that is how I could garner an appreciation for this album. Her voice is where this album should have started, and everything should have descended from that. Instead it was about Jack White’s heavy-handed arrangements and textures, which are commendable, but in the end, just not as appealing to listen to.
I know the appeal for Wanda is nostalgia, but I could have used a little more evolution in the songs as well.
February 8, 2011 @ 9:49 am
When they appeared on Letterman Wanda Jackson and Jack White pushed it as more of a collaboration, even interviewing together after their performance.
February 8, 2011 @ 9:59 am
Well it is a collaboration, and in some ways Jack is being very stand up for deferring to Wanda, but this album is way more about him than her, and if Jack didn’t want it to be this way, he didn’t do a good job selling that in the production.
February 8, 2011 @ 9:54 am
I couldn’t agree with you more on this. Love Wanda and I think she strayed a little with this one. Being a fan I am listening to the album more and more. It’s something that grows on you. Sure wish she would put out something more along the lines of Blue Yodel #6 though!
February 8, 2011 @ 10:43 am
I like it more the more I listen to it too.
This is a Rock & Roll album, and if you were going to mention a sub-genre, it might be Swing or something. Wanda’s influence is where rock & roll meets country, but there’s very little, if any twang here. I like rock & roll too, but this takes Wanda out of the territory that she does best in, the territory she created.
February 8, 2011 @ 10:03 am
To be totally honest: I’m not a big fan of Wanda to begin with. And I don’t like this album either. But I liked reading this review. I’m glad you didn’t compare this to American Recordings or some such crap. If anything this is the exact opposite of what Rubin has done. This sounds like a Wanda & Jack White album (which in itself is nothing to complain about – I just don’t like it, that’s all). Whereas American Recordings sounded like Johnny Cash (and consequently got inferior, at least for me, when it sounded too much like Rubin’s vision).
Anyway, I wish her the best with this album, but I really don’t like it.
February 8, 2011 @ 10:41 am
People will be trying to create the Rubin/Cash magic for years to come, and they will fail because there’s only one Johnny Cash, one Rick Rubin, and that collaboration fit into that period in music, and may have not worked 10 years before or 10 years after. What Rick Rubin did that was so great was stripping everything back to highlight the strengths Johnny Cash had left despite his age. What Jack did seems almost trying to compensate for Wanda weaknesses, but when you listen through his production, I don’t know what Wanda’s weaknesses are.
I still like the album more than I dislike it though. And I hate talking about production things in reviews, things like “warmth’ that most people don’t understand, but that is what is holding the album back. Wanda is great, Jack’s guitar and the horns are even great, but you’re not given a chance to realize this because the muddy sound doesn’t allow you to focus.
February 8, 2011 @ 11:11 am
I really enjoy the album. I may be a bit biased, because I am a huge White fan. I do agree that it should’ve been considered a colaboration record for sure because Jack is all over it. But, as he did for Loretta, he gave a new spark to a career. If it wasn’t for Jack, we probably wouldnt have gotten a Wanda Jackson record in 2011.
February 8, 2011 @ 12:08 pm
That’s a very good point Jashie and we can’t look over that, or the fact that lending his name to Wanda opens up ALL of her music to a new generation of fans. And I like Jack too, and I like his guitar on this and many of the arrangements. My beef is with the finished product being somewhat inaccessible because of the busyness and muddiness. Many people are not going to be able to look or listen through it, or identify why they don’t like it, they will just say they don’t. Again I like the album, but the muddiness is too present to ignore.
February 8, 2011 @ 3:25 pm
I love Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose (got the CD, got the shirt, saw the movie, got the SHOES!) and had so much admiration for Jack White introducing Loretta to a new generation. He’s definitely very sincere and I thought the album was beautiful. However, I just don’t think rockabilly is a genre one can grow old gracefully in. Sorry, I know many will disagree with that assertion. I just think the energy and spirit of rockabilly is a young man (or woman’s) game. I think of young Elvis and most that stuff spawned out of Sun Studio back in the ’50s. That stuff still sounds amazing 60 years later. When I hear (and see) Wanda performing, it just seems like a novelty act, I just can’t take it seriously. At best I could say it was quite sweet. If I want to hear a vital and energised rockabilly act I’ll spend my money on supporting Rosie Flores or up and coming acts like Kitty, Daisy & Lewis. Enjoyed your review. I was curious as to what you’d think of it.
February 8, 2011 @ 7:59 pm
This is one I’d have to hear before I buy. I think Jack White’s ok but I’ve never actually had any of his stuff so I’d need to sit with it and see if it’s something that’d hold my interest enough to justify buying it.