Generally at the beginning of the year, you'll set your hopes high for a handful of releases and odds are, one of those will be one of your albums of the year. The last two years for me though, has had surprising candidates come out of left field to steal my heart and take home that coveted award. This year is looking to be no different. While releases from Xiu Xiu, Sufjan Stevens, and Dirty Projectors are very anticipated by me, all of them might end up losing to a certain soul sister by the name of Sharon Jones and her backing band, the Dap-Kings.
Jones has played shows with some of the greats, the Four Tops and the Drifters just to name a few. She has been commonly referred as the "Female James Brown" which you can only understand when you see her live. Her stage presence harkens back to such greats as Otis Redding and the "Godfather of Soul" himself, James Brown.
As you may have noticed though, Jones isn't the only name that graces this record. The Dap-Kings are the house band for Daptone Records and I couldn't imagine a better compliment to Jones' voice than these 8 men. They play some of the most genuine funk that you could hear in this day and age and they do it just as well as some of the greats from yester-year. The horn section, led by Neal Sugarman of The Sugarman Three, is very complimentary to Binky Griptite and Tom Brenneck's guitar playing. Homer "Funky-Foot" Jenkins drumming is far from flashy but is some of the best drumming you might hear on a record this year.
When it comes to top songs on the record, nearly every single one is a candidate. Whether Jones is belting out an original or singing out on a cover of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land," it's hard not to be incredibly pleased with everything that comes out of your speakers from this record. "How Do I Let a Good Man Down," finds the right medium between soul singing and a more funk feeling to the music. "Natural Born Lover" doesn't try to find any sort of medium as it is pure soul gold. "Stranded in Your Love" features Lee Fields and is one of the best duets I can think of in recent memory.
I could go on forever telling you how amazing songs like "How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?," "Your Thing Is a Drag," and "You're Gonna Get It" are but honestly, you just have to hear this record to know just what I am talking about. The art of true soul, funk, and R&B have been lost over the years and Jones knows just that. Jones and the Dap-Kings are going to give a whole new generation of kids and adults alike a history lesson on how it used to be, and why it used to be so good.
