Consumer Guide Album

Wanda Jackson: Rockin' in the Country: The Best of Wanda Jackson [Rhino, 1990]
Although she wasn't quite Nick Tosches' "greatest menstruating rock 'n' roll singer the world has ever known"--check the Chantels, or the redundant originals and unoriginal covers on Wanda's Charly 32-track--she did leave more than nine hormonal epiphanies. Why no "Who Shot Sam," no "I Gotta Know," no (pthhh, wah, neeny-neeny-ni) "Tongue Tied"? To give country purists their due, I guess: her evolution through rockaballads toward the spunky c&w morality of "My Big Iron Skillet" and "A Girl Don't Have To Drink To Have Fun" is archetypal. And her Betty Hutton rip makes "You Don't Own Me" sound stingy. Hot dog, she made him mad. A−