Customer Reviews

Queen of Rockabilly

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I heard an excerpt of this CD on NPR along with an interview of Wanda Jackson. The first and just about only lady of Rockabilly was friends with Elvis and should be more of a legend that she is. And she is still around, still making music.

Wanda's voice is absolutely unique; once you hear her raspy, dirty-girl version of "Let's Have a Party" you may be as hooked as I was. Her voice has great variety, her arrangements are classic. Since Amazon puts up clips for you to hear, listen to "Let's Have a Party" and "Fujiyama Mama" for starters.

I bought this CD and played it for my rock n' roll loving mate and he was absolutely smitten. He had never heard of Wanda Jackson, but now she's his favorite.

If you love Elvis, Rock 'n Roll, you will adore Wanda Jackson and this CD is not only great for the songs it includes but it has SO MANY OF THEM. You cannot go wrong with this CD.

When I listened to this for the first time, I fell out of my chair. Next thing I knew my [...] started shakin' involuntarily. This has GOT to be some of the most raw and rockin' stuff to come out of the 1950's. After I recovered the first question that came to my mind was "WHY IN THE HELL AIN'T I NEVER HEARD OF THIS BEFORE?" The answer's simple: 1950's America could barely handle Elvis and Gene Vincent, and there ain't no way in hell they woulda been ready to handle a sexy white Southern gal doing the same thing. Wanda may not have been the first woman to sing rockabilly, nor was she the last by any means, but whereas the rest of these women seemed just a bit too "ladylike" to really cut raw rockabilly, Wanda was the exact opposite. This is stuff about drinkin', hell-raisin' and fornicatin', as all rockabilly should be, and her performances here give off a raw sexual energy that even Elvis, Gene, and Jerry Lee had a tough time matching. Wanda was not exclusively a rockabilly singer, most of her career was spent in the country genre, but her country stuff, as good as it is, can't hold a candle to this. One other thing that set Wanda apart in my mind from many of the other female rockabillies is there's never a sense of cutesiness or that she was only doing it to sell a few more 45's. Like Elvis, Carl, Jerry Lee and all the rest of 'em, this was girl was country born and bred but had a deep love and respect for the blues and r&b. And when it comes to the blues, this chick can hang with Big Mama Thornton, Ruth Brown or any of the rest of 'em. Also, all rockabilly has GOT to have some bangin' and twangin' guitar work on it, and this doesn't disappoint. If I'm not mistaken, most of the guitar on these tracks was by legendary session cat Joe Maphis, and the rest feature Roy Clark(!). Both absolutely burn. Anyway, to summarize, buy it. You'll be dancing around the room shortly afterwards.

Along with the more refined Janis Martin, Wanda Jackson is the Queen of Rockabilly, she growls, and moans with her voice often purring like a cat, and groaning like a motor of a 57 Chevy, even at times sounding like a groovy rhythmic chipmuck(only occasioanlly, and in a good way). Jackson rocks, stopms and swings her way thru this cd on 30 songs. showing she was capable, rockabilly, swing, and blues singer. One surprise is Jackson handling the jazz standard "Kansas City" with ease and verve sounding more like Helen Humes! She is a versitile singer, and a furious guitar player. A great cd, and it's all the Wanda you'll need. Though I have seen her recently and she still sounds the same, and I've been told her latest cd is worth picking up. Buy this 1st, if you are a rockabilly greaser type, you NEED this!

I love the twangy rockabilly guitar sound and was looking for some oldies type music, but didn't want the mainstream stuff so much. Some of the new music out there is great, but I really wanted to get to the heart of rockabilly guitar sounds. I searched Amazon for Rockabilly CDs and this Wanda Jackson one caught my eye. Listened to some of the tracks and went to all of the local stores. Couldn't find the CD anywhere, so I purchased here on Amazon. Received it in just 3 days, and am really, really happy with it. Great guitars and lots of fun rock and roll. Don't make the same mistake I made at first and buy her country stuff - I thought her other CDs would have some Rockabilly stuff on them - WRONG! This Queen of Rockabilly is the CD to get for Wanda's rock and roll stuff.

This cd will appeal to anyone who likes a wide variety of cool music ranc=ging from 50's jump blues to jivin' swing. Wanda covers it all, she's not just a rockabilly singer, she's able to handle straight blues like "Kansa City" r&b "Let's Have a Party" and jump blues "Havin' Me Some Fun Tonight." She is no dought the queen of r=swinging e=rockabilly as she shows on tunes like Baby Loves Him and Mean Mean Man. She occasionally revs up her voice, and growls like a tiger. She also sings in a r&b style Ruth Brown made poplular on "Mama, he treats your daughter mean", the high pitched squeel. She can really handle swing style numbers like "Fujiyama Mama" that are heavily based on jump blues. This gal's got soul, which is more than one can say about many rockabilly or rock singers, she is the ultimate jump blues, western swing, rockabilly, r&b singer, and this cd is all the proof you need. ESSENTIAL for hipters, swingers, rockabilly's and hep-chicks.

I love listening to this glorious cd while cruising downtown El Monte(when i make the drive down to California, once a year) in my lowrider 51 Mercury hotrod. I crank this up roll my windows down and all the sinoritas wink at me!!! Wanda has a lovely vocie taht can be as smooth as silk or asd coarse as sandpaper, and she constantly goes back and fourth between the styles sometiems within the same song. Her backup bands are always small swing type combos, with slap bass, and she plays a mean guitar too!!!!!!!!!

You must own this cd

it is good

you will love it

Wanda is the Queen of rockabilly

She might be the greatest rockabilyl singer who ever lived. and she stil lsings great today.

Check out her 2004 latest cd Heart Trouble, she sounds liek she did i nteh 50s!!!

Buy

this

cd

today

OK?????//

Hey, I've only got one leg, but I know good rockabilyl singers when I hear em'(I've still got 2 ears!!!). I hop around on my one leg when I play thsi cd, because it makes you wanna dance! I especailly love it when she sinsg Let's have A Party, Mean mnean Man, and Kansas City, everys song is good and Wanda can sing the blues from her soul, with a soft velvet voice or a screetching hollerin' rock'n'roll mamas vocie. A greta cd, one leggen willie highly reccomends thsi cd!

Bottom line: Hey if oen legegd willie says buy it, you'd better just take his advice and buy it.

This very good rockabilly cd, with great music from 1950's. I like every song on cd. Cd have good sound too, and good song selection as well. You like, I gaurentee. Make u want to dance, and many good song. Wise choice, it would be, to buy this cd.

Wanda have great voice, can sound rough or can sound soft, sound gentle like stream in my village in China, before I move America, and grow pompadour hair with ductail, and drive 58 Fury. Love America, and 50's rockbilly music, much very.

Must get cd, you love it.

What can I say? This is one of the greatest musicians I have ever heard. I am a huge music lover. Hank Williams Sr. or Social Distortion. Rancid or Roy Orbison. I just respect and love true music that comes from the heart.
The first time I heard Wanda Jackson, it sent chills down my spine. She is such a great vocalist and guitar player that's gone virtually unoticed for many years. Overshadowed by Elvis and the male dominated rockabilly. Many music lovers have never heard of her. She deserves so much more recognition.
Simply put, if you are reading this, you have somehow heard of Wanda Jackson. Don't think you can just walk into a music store and find this album anywhere. It is virtually impossible. You can't even special order. I know, I tried. Buy this album now or any Wanda album, you will not regret it.

I think it's unfathomable that Wanda Jackson was not better known in her time, but at least we are fortunate enough to have her music to listen to today, and I feel fortunate for having discovered her myself. Her music is way before my time, but I love 50's rockabilly and do-wop... I'm a big fan of Elvis, for example. This is very reminiscent of Elvis' early music style-wise, however the vocals are of course quite different. One thing that both vocalists share, however, is the "coolness" factor... these cats are "cool," plain and simple.

This CD is great, it has a ton of songs on it and I really feel like I got my money's worth. The recording quality is great too... I once bought an old compilation of Buddy Holly and was shocked at how bad the mix was. The quality of this album is actually very good. Songs I like include "Hard Headed Woman," "I Gotta Know," and "Tongue Tied."