The Best Of The Classic Capitol Singles

Available February 12, 2013
 
Career-Defining Tracks from the Queen of Rockabilly,
29 A & B Sides from the Original Mono 45 Masters!

Idolized by three generations of rockers, from Las Vegas to Stockholm, Wanda Jackson, the “Queen of Rockabilly,” has never worn her crown as to the attitude born. Debuting on country radio when she was still too young to drive, she would enter middle-age singing joyfully for the Lord. But in between, she would meet Elvis Presley and record her legendary Capitol singles, some of them fueled by rock ’n’ roll nitroglycerin. Yet, to hear this selection now is to also marvel at how wildly Wanda veered from style to style, as if the gorgeous, spaghetti-strapped Oklahoma rockabilly cared no more for the confines of genre than she did for a respectable neckline.

For every A-side rave-up like “Mean Mean Man” or “Fujiyama Mama,” she offers a B-side weeper like “(Every Time They Play) Our Song” or the hillbilly tragedy of “No Wedding Bells For Joe.” In one giddy jukebox pairing, her “Little Charm Bracelet” flips to a distaff remake of The Robins’ “Riot In Cell Block Number Nine.” Punch side A, you hear “Little charm bracelet, means so much to me.” Punch side B, it’s “Pass the dynamite, Molly, ’cause, man, this fuse is lit!”

She tore through songs that Elvis sang, The Cadillacs sang, Betty Hutton sang. She drew from jazz greats, R&B legends, and writers revered in the Nashville song factories. But none gave her better Wanda Jackson songs than Wanda herself, her pen opening the microphone range from “Cool Love” to “Right Or Wrong.”
Were it not for the riot of her rock ’n’ roll, she might be revered as a wayward princess, if not the queen, of sawdust-soaking honky-tonk. It’s all there in her Capitol debut, “I Gotta Know,” the stop-and-go-go-go three minutes of dance-floor fun that kicks off this collection. Upon its release in 1956, Capitol’s own ad men scratched their heads, then gamely pitched the record as a “jumping rock-’n’-waltz novelty.”

 

 
 
 

Capitol Rarities

Available in record stores only on Record Store Day/Black Friday, November 23, 2012
 
Unique 10″ vinyl EP in a beautiful picture sleeve!
Vinyl debut for all 6 tracks, all unissued in their time!

From her recordings with the legendary Capitol Records producer Ken Nelson, to her recent work with producer/musician, Justin Townes Earle and present-day legend, Jack White, Wanda Jackson is the undisputed true Queen Of Rockabilly! With her 31st studio album, Unfinished Business, hitting the shelves on October 9, Omnivore Recordings adds a treat from the vault to make this autumn a great one for Wanda’s legion of rockin’ fans.

Six Capitol-era rarities will grace a new 10″ E.P. on November 6th that will be released in advance of a new CD in the spring of 2013, The Best Of The Classic Capitol Singles. The E.P. contains songs never released back in the day, and alternate versions of well-known tunes, ranging from 1956 to 1962, the height of her work with Capitol Records.

 
10″ E.P. Track List:

    Side 1:
1. STEP BY STEP Recorded June 8, 1956 – originally unissued outtake
2. IN THE MIDDLE OF A HEARTACHE Recorded January 6, 1960 – originally unissued version
3. THE WRONG KIND OF GIRL Recorded January 6, 1960 – originally unissued outtake

    Side 2:
1. I CRIED AGAIN Recorded April 18, 1961 – originally unissued version
2. BEFORE I LOSE MY MIND Recorded October 31, 1961 – originally unissued outtake
3. TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH Recorded April 26, 1962 – originally unissued take 14

 
Be sure to visit Wanda’s official site for more news and wonderful releases!