"Wanda Jackson (Debut Album) Plus Right Or Wrong: The Definitive Remastered Edition" by WANDA JACKSON – July 1958 US Debut Album on Capitol Records in Mono, October 1961 US Fourth Studio LP on Capitol Records in Stereo Plus Six Bonus Tracks (August 2013 EU-UK Hoodoo Records CD Compilation – 2LPs Of Original Capitol Records Recordings Remastered onto 1CD Plus Six Bonus Tracks – Part of 'The Definitive Remastered Edition' Series) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...Here We Are Again..."

These Hoodoo Records compilations are such great value for money, offering up a whole ton of rare Fifties and Sixties albums onto CD, whilst throwing in rare stand-alone and Non-LP 45-single tracks as period-relevant bonuses.

 

The annotation is proper too and best of all, original recordings are used and the Remastering is as clean and full as you could hope for. Considering that our Queen of Rockabilly and her 1958 debut album are a whopping 64 years ago - the sound here is gorgeous and even better on her fourth studio platter which is presented here in lovely Stereo. To the details...

 

EU/UK released August 2013 - "Wanda Jackson (Debut Album) Plus Right Or Wrong: The Definitive Remastered Edition" by WANDA JACKSON on Hoodoo Records 263441 (Barcode 8436542013208) offers 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD (1958 Mono and 1961 Stereo) Plus Six Bonus Tracks (Mono). It plays out as follows (74:01 minutes):

 

1. Day Dreaming [Side 1]

2. I Wanna Waltz 

3. Heartbreak Ahead 

4. Making Believe 

5. Here We Are Again

6. Long Tall Sally 

7. Just Call Me Lonesome [Side 2]

8. Let Me Go Lover 

9. Money, Money 

10. I Can't Make My Dreams Understand 

11. Happy, Happy Birthday 

12. Let's Have A Party 

Tracks 1 to 12 are her debut album "Wanda Jackson" - released July 1958 in the USA on Capitol T 1041 in Mono (not issued in the UK). MONO MIX is used.

 

13. Right Or Wrong [Side 1]

14. Why I'm Walkin'

15. So Soon 

16. The Last Letter 

17. I May Never Get To Heaven 

18. The Window Up Above 

19. Sticks And Stones [Side 2]

20. Stupid Cupid

21. Slippin' And Slidin'

22. Brown Eyed Handsome Man 

23. Who Shot Sam 

24. My Baby Left Me 

Tracks 13 to 24 are her fourth studio album "Right Or Wrong" - released October 1961 in the USA on Capitol T 1596 (Mono) and Capitol ST 1596 (Stereo). It was also issued in the UK on both formats using the same catalogue numbers. 

STEREO Mix is used.

 

BONUS TRACKS (Mono):

25. I'd Be Ashamed - September 1961 US 45-single on Capitol 4635, B-side of "In The Middle Of A Heartache" (see also Track 28 for the A)

26. Funnel Of Love - April 1961 US 45-single on Capitol 4553, B-side of "Right Or Wrong"

27. A Little Bitty Tear - December 1961 US 45-single on Capitol 4681, A (see 29)

28. In The Middle Of A Heartache - September 1961 US 45-single on Capitol 4635, A-side (see also Track 25 for the B-side)

29. I Don't Wanta Go - December 1961 US 45-single on Capitol 4681, B (see 27)

30. Let My Love Walk In - March 1962 US 45-single on Capitol 4723, B-side of "If I Cried Every Time You Hurt Me"

 

The 16-page booklet is crammed full of colour - album sleeves, three gig posters, concert tickets, Capitol 45-labels, publicity photos and loads more. GARY BLAILCOCK provides the new 2013 liner notes examining the albums and their 'Lady Elvis Presley' pitch right up to the weird rawhide vs. the orient B-side "Funnel Of Love". We also learn from the session-notes that Buck Owens, Roy Clark and Vernon Sandusky provided the Guitars with Merrill Moore, Big Al Downing and Marvin Hughes on Piano with Ken Nelson at the Production controls for the lot. They even repro the original back-sleeve liner notes for both LPs and despite the '24-Bit Digitally Remastered' logo on the rear, the release never indicates from whom or where. But don't let that bother you - even on stuff like the memory of your love smoocher "In The Middle Of A Heartache" (Track 28) - the audio is spotless and clear. To the chunes...

 

For the debut album you might be forgiven for asking 'where's the Rockabilly man?' 1958's "Wanda Jackson" is more Country with a swing than the wild Rockabilly many would hop for - a sort of Patsy Cline set about heartache and waltzes and holding your darling close - the oohs and aahs of the backing male singers on "Here We Are Again" ringing in your ears as she croons on about dim-light cafes (an early Don Everly song). Then of course she loves the 'heartless one' who just can't be true (what a schmuck he is). Wanda does Kitty Wells on "Making Believe", Jim Reeves on "Just Call Me Lonesome", Peggy Lee for "Let Me Go Lover" and the ultimate Doo Wop/Girl Vocal Group smooch of "Happy, Happy Birthday" - originally tapped by The Tune Weavers. 

 

But just as you're about to give up on Wanda as being another emotional teenage casualty of Slick Willy and his gang of Love Bandits, Wanda finds her mojo and smacks you fierce with Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally". Suddenly, Wanda's great echoed voice takes on the demon's rasp as she rips 'some fun tonight' - Big Al Downing and Merrill Monroe tearing up the piano keys. That tomboyish Elvis Presley equivalent vocal returns for Jessie Stone's 50ts classic "Money Honey" and the Honky Tonk boppin' "Let's Have A Party" - great Billy moments on a mixed LP.

 

The sound slips sweetly into a gorgeous STEREO for the "Right Or Wrong" LP - ballads like "The Last Letter" and "I May Never Get To Heaven" sounding sweet - pianos tinkering in the left speaker while celestial wings carry the guitar-pickers (Buck Owens and Roy Clark) in the right speakers. You have to flick all the way to Track 19 for more convincing Bop - scandalize my name with "Sticks And Stones"- see if I care!  Fantastic is the only way to describe the wicked "Slippin' And Slidin'" - Little Richard's Rock 'n' Roll dancefloor bopper suiting her to a tee (better surrender). 

 

No surprise either to hear her reach for the wit and beat of Chuck Berry with his brilliant "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" - the loss of Venus De Milo's arms explained (a boxing match over a Brown Eyed...). "Who Shot Sam" is another silly-billy wham-bam thank you mam bopper - here in toppermost Stereo. And as if to give a nod to her main squeeze - she does Arthur Crudup's "My Baby Left Me" which Elvis Presley had of course brought to the attention of the masses on Sun and RCA only three years earlier. 

 

In all honesty, you do wish there were more rockers and boppers on this ample CD, but then you hear "I Don't Wanta Go" with its weird fuzzed-up guitar solo from 1962 and realize that you've been missing those truck-stops in-between. A cool little reissue really...  

 

PS: 31 January 2012 saw Hoodoo also reissue her 2nd and 3rd albums (May 1960 and January 1961) as "Rockin' With Wanda + There's A Party Goin' On". Hoodoo Records 263410 (Barcode 8436028690725) offers both of these LPs Plus Six Bonus Tracks on another 'Definitive Remastered Edition' single CD that comes with the same level of annotation and great sound as 236441 above...