CD reviews: Wanda Jackson, James Blunt, Social Distortion

Wanda Jackson, "The Party Ain't Over" (Nonesuch)

Jack White serves as producer and guitarist on this comeback album of the queen of rockabilly with the unique wail who in the '50s performed with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis. Originally a country singer, she added sass and glamour and hot guitar licks to become a star. After years of her performing gospel, Jackson returns to her rock 'n' roll past with help from White -- who did similar duties for Loretta Lynn on her 2004 comeback, "Van Lear Rose." "Party" is a bit of a mixed bag, a fun album on one hand, but it doesn't necessarily enhance admiration for Jackson or prompt anyone to investigate her old hits like "Fujiyama Mama" and "Honey Bop."

White gives the new album a frat-party atmosphere, rockin' horns, searing guitars, funky organ licks. Classic rockers like "Rip It Up," "Shakin' All Over" and Eddie Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown" are done with a solid professionalism that will have you bopping but not forgetting the originals. Bob Dylan's "Thunder on the Mountain," supposedly chosen by the man himself, gives Jackson a chance to let loose. Some of the other cuts are curious or novelties -- Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good" and the Andrews Sisters' hit "Rum and Coca-Cola." On Jimmie Rodgers' "Blue Yodel .6," accompanied only by White on acoustic guitar, you get more of a hint of the raw Jackson, and there is a poignancy in that. At 73, she may not have the voice she once had, but "Party" could have used a bit more of it.

ROB LOWMAN, LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS

James Blunt, "Some Kind of Trouble" (Custard/Atlantic)

"Everything that I'm trying to say/ Just sounds like a worn-out cliché," Blunt sings on "I'll Be Your Man" on his third album -- and he appears to be heading critics off at the pass. The album overreaches in its slickness and underachieves in terms of inspiration. All could be forgiven, however, if Blunt's latest material proved catchier. Despite all the work put into his workmanlike pop, it ultimately comes off as agreeable, but not memorable.

MATT DIEHL, LOS ANGELES TIMES

"Life gets hard and then it gets good, like I always knew it would," Mike Ness declares on Social Distortion's new album. Old-school fans of this long-running Orange County punk band might have trouble accepting the latter half of that couplet, but "Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes" does indeed exude an essential optimism. He even taps a disarmingly tender vein for the plaintive "Writing on the Wall," in which he ruminates on the complexity of his relationship with his teenage son.