Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett or even Rolf Harris may have tapped into a surprise youth market with show-stopping Sunday afternoon slots at Glastonbury, but was there ever a more remarkable reinvention of an “old guard” artist than Tammy’s hook-up with The KLF? Justified & Ancient took her to No 2 in 1991, only her second ever appearance in the Top 10, but it’s the clear oddity on this comprehensive 20-tracker.
Normal service is resumed among the rich canon of country heartbreakers and kick-ass anthems of defiance, and if I Don’t Wanna Play House or Kids Say The Darnest Things are a little schmaltzy, the balance is redressed with evergreen Nashville classics such as Your Good Girl’s Gonna Go Bad and ’Til I Can Make It On My Own.
The quiver in Wynette’s voice gives much of the material a real-world resonance, such as on the duet of Golden Ring with volatile ex-hubby George Jones, displaying an earthy humanity that was plainly beyond many of her contemporaries. The impression that Tammy actually “lived” these songs is inescapable, and is still as affecting today, 10 years after her passing.
