Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Jan 28, 2011All in all, The Party Ain't Over proves to be a bold success.
-
Jan 24, 2011If you think Jack White's given 73-year-old Wanda Jackson a new lease of life, then think again; she's been kicking up a hot fuss since she ditched that Elvis fella in the mid-'50s.
-
Jan 10, 2011A rich, warm, big-hearted and hilarious album.
-
Jan 25, 2011Most artists her age would be content to release a greatest-hits compilation and wait for the checks to roll in, but Jackson's willing to let White guide her through new territory. After all, they're trying to say the same thing. They just say it a little different.
-
Jan 25, 2011There are a lot of ideas at work on The Party Ain't Over, and while some come off as too calculated, the album's pervasive sense of fun and audaciousness usually wins out.
-
Jan 25, 2011Her thin, raspy voice retains plenty of sass six decades on, and White's live-sounding band conjures the ambience of a gritty gig in some back alley bar for a rowdy crowd of mariachi bikers. Well done, Grandma Wanda.
-
Feb 1, 2011Jackson's gritty mobile-home-park vocals elbow their way through a mix where the outcome is as much punk as it is rock and the Queen confidently executes both with unexpected exactitude.
-
May 24, 2011At its core, The Party Ain't Over is a strong testament to Jackson's enduring talent, and White's vision for how best to deploy it. Even though Jackson was never actually gone, it's a pleasure having her back.
-
Jan 28, 2011It's no real surprise that teaming one of today's great rockers with one of the great rockers of all time would yield such great results, but the surprise here is in how natural they sound together.
-
Under The RadarJan 27, 2011Jack White leads a rock and roll gang that manages to put the focus on Jackson while practically rebuilding the framework of old-school rock. [Year End 2010, p.70]
-
Jan 26, 2011In the main, she remains stylistically faithful to the originals.
-
Jan 26, 2011This Party succeeds in merely rejuvenating, rather than reinventing, wonderful Wanda.
-
Jan 25, 2011The Jackson-White reboot casts the song as a swampy, country vamp, and while it isn't a horrible idea in theory, it does feel contrived and a bit of an unnecessary pander. Even with that misstep in mind, though, it's pretty tough not to root for Wanda Jackson and The Party Ain't Over.
-
Jan 25, 2011Jack White's collaboration with rock's original trouble girl is at once reverent and uproarious.
-
Jan 18, 2011For "Shakin' All Over," White runs Jackson's goblin-queen croak through the analog fetishist's version of Auto-Tune, while "Rum and Coca Cola" rides the most lopsided punk-calypso groove since Kid Creole and the Coconuts.
-
Jan 10, 2011The Party Ain't Over may well be dogged by obvious comparisons with Van Lear Rose, but Jackson's effort deserves to be judged on its own terms. Whilst the results are mixed, its best moments are captivating.
-
Dec 19, 2011The sheer ballast of [Jack] White's vision can be exhausting, the individual elements clanking chaotically and never quite gelling. Jackson gives as strong as a performance as she can, tearing into the oldies with ease and valiantly attempting the new songs, but she sounds most at ease with the quieter moments.
-
MojoApr 20, 2011Gentleman Jack White does his Loretta Lynn production thing for another grand old lady. [Feb. 2011, p. 108]
-
Q MagazineFeb 2, 2011Rockabilly queen gets the Jack White treatment. [Feb. 2011, p. 118]
-
Jan 31, 2011One of White's strengths has always been his ability to separate pastiche from a genuine aesthetic, and The Party Ain't Over is suffocated by its overly stylized, affected '50s put-on.
-
Jan 26, 2011This Jack White-produced comeback album suggests there can be few septuagenarians keener on raising hell.
-
UncutJan 19, 2011Bits and pieces, even within the album's successful tracks, are overcooked and threatens to capsize the project into mere camp or noodly instrumental preening. [Feb 2011, p.91]
-
Jan 13, 2011It's an odd decision, but The Party Ain't Over is attended by the sense that the normally sure-footed White doesn't really know what to do with Jackson.
-
Jan 28, 2011We get truckloads of overzealous horns that sound ripped off from his buddy Conan's late-night band, White's own fuzzed-out guitar, bustling drums, and cartoon-y slide work. The wild excess often ends up shoving Jackson to the sidelines on her own album.
-
Mar 4, 2011Younger listeners will get the most out of this sometimes-inspired, retro-leaning smorgasbord; the more observant among them may even discern that Wanda's "bad girl" '50s persona, unlike today's blunt and blush-worthy equivalent, is nothing more than an act.
-
Jan 25, 2011In the end, this album just doesn't make it.
-
Jan 21, 2011Her voice often sounds overly pinched, and the horns come off as gimmicky.
-
Jan 27, 2011The Party Ain't Over makes a great Jack White LP, but Wanda Jackson should've taken a page from Rosie Flores' Girl of the Century and roped in Jon Langford.