Customer Reviews

The Party Ain't Over

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just need to spit a little about this record. You'll see a reviews here complaining about Jack White's production, and I'll go as far to say that there's a touch of "horn porn" going on on this record. The arrangements on the horns are a little raucous, regardless of the songs vibe. But, as far as hearing complaints about the mix of Wanda's vocals- they're recorded within the spirit of the songs. But what really got my goat was reading some reviews ripped off from Sound Opinions comparing the production to Jack White pretending to be Phil Spector. You know who you are. Really? Isn't it bad enough Jim Derogatis doesn't know what he's talking about, now I see folks emulating his ignorance on Amazon reviews? Maybe it's just coincidence, and if it is and TWO people in the world think this record sounds anything like Phil Spector's work, I apologize for comparing an innocent bystander to the "frozen-in-pubescence-holier-than-thou-fatboy-snobbery of Derogatis.... *ahem* I digress.
This album is an attempt to catch the spirit of a woman's music who had been out of the limelight for years. I think it's absolutely great a 73 year old woman can make an Amy Winehouse song feel sexier. When I first heard "Shakin' all Over" on the radio, I was literally fired up! I had no idea who Wanda Jackson was, I had no idea she was in her golden years, and I had no idea Jack White had anything to do with it, and you know what? I wanted to see the dirty pin-up girl screaming out those vocals. I was thinking something like the girl from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs hot; grungy, unhinged, all-woman kind of hot. And she actually looks like an elderly waitress from Houston! I mean, that alone is enough to listen to this record! This lady still has it!
Instead of making the record anybody else would have made, with guest appearances from old timers and taking her greatest hits from her storied career and making a nostalgic piece for all of those who listened to Wanda Jackson back in the day, Mr White made an album from scratch. Something that has energy and spitfire and the spark of creativity. It's a record the whole band could go on the road with and have a blast playing out every night. Isn't that what it's all about? This record is different, sure, but it's really a lot of fun! Most importantly, it has brought Wanda Jackson to my attention, a thirty-something guy who would have never heard of her otherwise, and the first thing I did after listening to this record was go and look at Wanda's back catalogue.
So now, when I hear complaining about Jack White not being a good producer, I want to scream. You think Rick Rubin could have done this job? Joe Chicarelli? Phil Spector?!? Who? Maybe if someone had laid some nice electro-pop synth back there it would be "cutting edge"? Maybe if it was just microphone and her singing her old ballads mournfully it would be safer than a septuagenarian shaking her pelvis to some raunchy backbeats and champagne-room horn blasts. This record is good. Buy it now and listen to it loud in the car when summer finally comes. It'll be perfect. Promise.

If I ran into producer Jack White I'd probably have to restrain myself from giving him a powerful bear hug for this project!!
Wanda Jackson may indeed be (a deserving) R&R Hall of Fame inductee, but,let's face it, she's still a far undervalued commodity and artist as far as the general public is concerned. Here,however, an obviously caring and immensely talented fan has not only solidly reconnected her with ALL of her roots, but he's coaxed her undiminished power to near full throttle and backed her with a band to match.
Wanda was far from a one trick pony; she could rock like the King, country like Dolly, and praise the Lord like Amy Grant. White's A&R reminds us of all of that, and Wanda and the guys blow the roof off the widely varied & well chosen material.
This is no novelty folks!! "Respect and Honor Your Elders" is an important maxim...and it's mighty clear it's one the amazing Jack White lives by.

i have to say, i love this cd, jack white did a wonderful job on it, the only song i would have loved to hear on here was Fujiyama Mama....Its fun and in a strange way has a wild sound. you go wanda, at 73, you still got it going on. rock on wanda...I want more. and just to say, I love the version of rum and coca-cola. and would would have loved to hear a new version of riot in cell block number 9#, maybe next cd...yes jack??????

I really liked this album a lot, but I can understand someone not liking it. I enjoyed all the horns and thought they went perfectly with the songs. I thought her voice was still amazing and they picked some great songs to cover and it was a very energetic album. My only complaint of the album would be that she didn't write any of the songs, but she is 73 years old so I can let it slide at this point of her career. When she was on Letterman she did "Shakin' All Over" and they did so good he asked them to do the song a second time to end the show. Besides "Shakin' All Over" my other favorite songs on the album are "Nervous Breakdown", "Thunder On The Mountain", "Dust On The Bible", and "Blue Yodel #6". I look forward to another new album from Wanda Jackson and wouldn't mind if she works with Jack White again.

I was not prepared for what I heard on this CD. Wanda Jackson, the seventy three year old, iconic country western star, with ties going all the way back to Elvis, lives up to her profound title, "The Party Ain't Over".

This CD kicks butt with incredable arrangements of covers that range from oldies to contemporary. I particularly liked Wanda's fueled up version of Bob Dylan's "Thunder on the Mountain" from his "Modern Times" CD. The song revved up into overdrive, with Wanda belting out the lyrics at hyperspeed and just when you thought it couldn't get any crazier, the guitars kicked in and blew me away.

There were unusual and incredable arrangements of Little Richard's, "Rip it Up", Amy Winehouse's "I Cheated Myself",in which Wanda sounded remarkably like Ms. Winehouse, and even an exquisite version of the old classic by the DeJohn Sisters...."Teach Me Tonight", along with many more.

White Stripes leader, Jack White,produced the project and worked magic, in a Rick Rubin way of getting the most that an artist has in them. Along with a diverse and powerful band including Mr. White, and Patti Smith's son Jackson, among other great musicians, the final product was an eclectic group of covers that will just blow you away and lives up to Wanda's prophetic title, that "The Party Ain't Over" yet baby.

Frank Stefanko

Great Album! Wanda Jackson sounds even more "crazy psycho rock n roll" than she did back in the day! And it's not just Jack White's production--it's the way Wanda's full-commitment hillbilly Minnie Mouse voice has gotten rougher in the last six decades or so. It's gone from distinctive to...how to put it? INSANELY distinctive.
Check it out if you like real rock and roll.

Wanda Jackson is still the Queen of Rockabilly at 70something years old. She still sounds like a young woman and still can rock. Great song selection on this album. All hail the Queen!

Jack White is back in the respect your elders phase of his production psyche, giving 50's rockabilly Queen Wanda Jackson a spin in his Third Man stable. I was lucky enough to see Mrs. Jackson play live this year at a festival, and have to admit, wasn't expecting much. After all, the woman taking the stage is in her mid-70's, so the best I was figuring on was a jukebox experience.

Boy, was I wrong. She came on stage and burned the audience to a cinder. Her voice might be catching up, her energy and performing skills are still at dynamo stage.

Hence, went right home and picked up a copy of "The Party Ain't Over," which Wanda described from the stage as being produced by White with "a velvet brick." Like he did for Loretta Lynn's "Van Lear Rose," White surrounds Jackson with elements that would seem perfect to her past, at the same time throwing in curve-balls that throw you for a loop. Sometimes it works (her bluesed out cover of Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good," the rockabilly standard "Nervous Breakdown") and just as often, not. Why cover "Rum and Coca-Cola" at all? And while Jackson has made a latter day career singing on the country-gospel circuit, "Dust on The Bible" falls flat.

There is also the question of White's production. Jackson is a force of nature, therefore, the Phil Spector wall of sound that buries some of these songs is reverb and horns weighs "Busted" (another odd selection) and "Teach Me Tonight" down. She fares so much better on Bob Dyaln's "Thunder On The Mountain" (allegedly recommended to her straight from Dylan) because White and Wanda manage to balance each other. You get the impression that White was maybe over-thinking the album when all he really needed to do was bring in Jackson's live band and record them studio verite. Jackson may be 73 years old, but she can still rip it up.

Wanda Jackson has been known by such titles as "Queen of Rockaabilly" "The Sweet Lady With The Nasty Voice" and I won't even go into the fact that until Wanda and Marty Stuart go into the Country Music Hall fo Fame--there ain't no such animal.

What we have here is a genuine rock and soul album. I include soul because as far as I am concerned anything with a horn section has to be some kind of soul band--nature of the beast. This is the real deal. The kind of stuff you might see Springsteen doing live--but hasn't figured out how to put on album since "The River". With the possible exception of Connie Smith you aren
't going to find any female singers that still sound this good this late in life. Jackson't spirit is obviously alive and well. This is a heck of a album. Hats off to Jack White for finding a way to bring Wanda back and make her shine, and hats off to Wanda for being so willing to try something new with such enthusiasm and kick it into overdrive.

This album needs to be heard and bought. Bought because I really feel the need for another Wanda Jackson album already. This lady is 100 per cent addictive. When you hear albums like this it reminds you that radio may be a wasteland but there are still places that music matters. This is one of those places---where the human spirit never dies. A+!

I am a Wanda Jackson fan of long-standing, and have great admiration for her and her work. For someone in her 70s, I think she sounds great on this album. It's unreasonable to expect that she'll sound that same now as she did back in the Fujiyama Mama/Cell Block #9 days.

My real complaint about this album is, if anything, that Wanda's vocals are overshadowed by the musical tracks. Everything has been mixed in such a way that it actually emphasizes the tinniness and frailty of her voice against a backdrop of full-bodied music. I would have liked for this to be a much more stripped-down production, in which the rawness of Wanda's voice (even now) was complemented by the rawness of her backing band. Basically, I wish "Jack White of De Stijl" rather than "Jack White as latter-day Phil Specter" had been in charge of this production.

All in all, I enjoyed listening to this, but I'll stick to classic Wanda. And, for that matter, to classic Jack White.