Hello,
Today's Artists are an American funk and soul band signed to Daptone Records. They are part of a revivalist movement recreating mid-1960s to mid-1970s style funk and soul music. In December 2014, the band was nominated for a Grammy, in the category Best R&B Album of the Year for Give the People What They Want. Yeah... N Joy
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By the sound of them, you would have thought Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings started making funk-threaded soul music together in the 1960s. Few devotedly retro acts were as convincing. Few singers as skilled as Sharon Jones at stuffing notes with ache and meaning would be willing to invest in a sound so fully occupied by the likes of Bettye LaVette and Tina Turner in the Ike years, too. But what Jones brought to the funkified table had legs of its own -- eight of them, to be exact -- and they belonged to Binky Griptite, Bugaloo Velez, Homer Steinweiss, and Dave Guy -- her Dap-Kings.
Jones, like James Brown, was born in Augusta, Georgia; there she sang in her church choir, and from fellow parishioners picked up the kind of back-patting she needed to convince her to go mainstream. As a teenager, she moved with her family to Brooklyn, where she immersed herself in 1970s disco and funk with an eye toward cutting a record of her own. Instead, studios came calling and with them steady work -- by her twenties, Jones was turning in backup vocals for gospel, soul, disco, and blues artists, most of it uncredited. In the '80s, however, Jones' sound was deemed unfashionable, and instead of pushing ahead with her soul diva's dream she went back to church singing. She also took a job as a corrections officer at New York's Rikers Island.
It wouldn't be until 1996 that Desco Records would rediscover Jones' sweat-basted, lived-in talent. With that label's house band, the Soul Providers, Jones released several singles in the late '90s; their warmth and genuineness propelled the act across the Atlantic, and Jones picked up a moniker -- the queen of funk -- that stuck. Jones released her first full-length with the Dap-Kings, Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, after signing with Daptone Records in 2002. Years of touring behind it, as well as cutting singles with other artists (including Greyboy) ensued. In 2005, Jones re-teamed with the Dap-Kings for the winking groovefest that is Naturally, following it up two years later with 100 Days, 100 Nights. Jones also had a bit part in The Great Debaters as the singer Lila. A new studio effort, I Learned the Hard Way, appeared in 2010.
In 2013, Jones revealed that she had been diagnosed with cancer -- initially in the bile ducts, and later stage two pancreatic cancer -- but she continued to perform as often as her therapy schedule would permit, sometimes appearing on-stage with a bald head after chemotherapy caused her hair to fall out. In late 2013, Jones was well enough to complete work on the next Dap-Kings album, and Give the People What They Want appeared in 2014. Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple premiered a film about the vocalist, Miss Sharon Jones!, at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival; Jones was in attendance for the debut screening, and revealed that her cancer had returned but defiantly added, "I'm gonna keep fighting, we got a long way to go." Fittingly, the determined Jones and the Dap-Kings returned in October 2015 with a collection of Christmas and Hanukkah tunes titled It's a Holiday Soul Party. As the film Miss Sharon Jones! was poised to go into theatrical release, in August 2016 Daptone Records released an original soundtrack album. The Miss Sharon Jones! album featured a selection of Jones' most memorable performances along with a new track, the autobiographical "I'm Still Here." Sadly, however, she would lose her valiant battle with cancer, which took her life, at age 60, in November of that year. Shortly before her death, Jones completed vocals for a final album with the Dap-Kings. That album, Soul of a Woman, was released in November 2017, a year after her death. No specific announcement has been made regarding the band's future; however, The Dap-Kings have subsequently performed at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in 2017.
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It's hard to believe that Sharon Jones' debut LP is a product of the year 2002, for several reasons. Given the excellent singles she recorded for Desco beginning in the late '90s, it seems like she would have gotten the opportunity for a full-length sooner; plus, her brand of raw, heavy, hard-driving funk is such a throwback to the '70s, and she pulls it off so well, that you wonder how she could have escaped that decade without at least a few rare, classic 45s (in the vein of labelmate Lee Fields). It's not hard to believe she once made her living as a prison guard, based on the tough-as-nails, no-nonsense performances she belts out on Dap Dippin' With Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, the first full-length release on Desco's descendant, Dap-Tone. Backed by the Dap-Tone house band (a conglomeration of studio pros with connections reaching back to the Desco orbit), Jones delivers a storming set of tunes that would have sounded perfectly at home on the James Brown's Original Funky Divas compilation. The style and quality are pretty consistent all the way through, but it's hard not to single out the nearly unrecognizable cover of Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done for Me Lately," which is transformed into a churning blast of funk full of biting guitars (and nary a synth or drum machine in sight). Other highlights include the chunky leadoff track, "Got a Thing on My Mind," the would-be dance-craze "The Dap Dip," the slow-burning "Make It Good to Me," and the trials-and-tribulations tale "Ain't It Hard." Plus, label head Gabriel Roth throws in his usual "authentic" trappings -- the fake live introduction running down Jones' "hits," the intentionally dated copy on the back cover -- that make the whole package even more fun. All in all, a terrific debut.
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Dap-Dippin' With.. (flac 266mb)
01 (Introduction) 1:30
02 Got A Thing On My Mind 2:58
03 What Have You Done For Me Lately? 3:16
04 The Dap Dip 4:01
05 Give Me A Chance 3:10
06 Cut The Line 3:28
07 Got To Be The Way It Is 3:25
08 Make It Good To Me 4:25
09 Ain't It Hard 4:30
10 Pick It Up, Lay It In The Cut 4:07
11 Casella Walk 3:09
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Dap-Dippin' With.. (ogg 84mb)
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Following up her excellent 2002 debut, Sharon Jones stays true to the formula she laid down on her early releases and Dap Dippin' by presenting another session of full-force funk that pays homage to the genre's glory years without coming off as contrived. The deep funk revival continues with Jones belting out commanding vocal performances that are uncompromisingly forceful yet full of rich, soulful emotion. It's a session worthy of being found in any beat-miner's record collection and any funk enthusiast's basket of obscurities and rarities. Her cover of "This Land Is Your Land" is equally as impressive, as she somehow takes the song from being an American folk standard and turns it into a full-on sonic explosion. Fans of her earlier work will no doubt find great joy in this follow-up, and those seeking Jones out for the first time certainly will not be disappointed in what they find.
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Naturally (flac 272mb)
01 How Do I Let A Good Man Down? 3:03
02 Natural Born Lover 3:05
03 Stranded In Your Love 5:47
04 My Man Is A Mean Man 3:16
05 You're Gonna Get It 5:00
06 How Long Do I Have To Wait For You? 4:04
07 This Land Is Your Land 4:31
08 Your Thing Is A Drag 3:33
09 Fish In The Dish 3:18
10 All Over Again 4:44
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Naturally (ogg 102mb)
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Sharon Jones, the big-voiced lead singer of the Dap-Kings -- a band that recently began making its name known outside those enthusiasts of the Daptone label and the reaches of the soul community thanks to appearances with Amy Winehouse and work for Mark Ronson, including a version of Dylan's "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)" -- is no music-world neophyte. 100 Days, 100 Nights is just her third full-length with the Dap-Kings, but Jones has been singing on and off since the 1970s, without much of a break until she began working with her current label. Meaning, she's certainly paid her dues, and she has enough life experience behind her voice to make the words she sings sound that much truer. Because soul music -- and this isn't neo-soul, or contemporary R&B, but straight-up Stax and Motown brassy soul -- is so much more than the actual lyrics themselves; it's about the inflection and emotion that the vocalist is able to exude, and Jones proves herself to be master of that, moving from coy to romantic to defiant easily and believably. The album is much smoother, even gentler, than her previous releases, and though the Dap-Kings still power their way through the ten songs with bright horn licks, inspired drumming, and staccato guitar lines, there's a deeper, bluesier edge to the record, heard in "Let Them Knock" or the slower "Humble Me." "Don't let me forget who I am," Jones croons in the latter, her voice rising to a sweet falsetto at the end of the phrase. It's a very clean record, not over-produced but well produced, with a lot of great pop moments tucked in between the brassier, funkier bits. The title track relies on a sultry organ and a minor vamp to make its point, while "Something's Changed" uses strings and punctuated sax and bass as the singer drops a bit of her lungs out, bringing a kind of immediacy to her words, as if the actuality of the situation around her hasn't quite set in enough for her to wail about it, as if she's just realizing it and listeners are right there to hear about it. But that's the magic and power of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings: their ability to convey passion and pain, regret and celebration, found in the arrangements and the tail ends of notes, in the rhythms and phrasing, and it is exactly that which makes 100 Days, 100 Nights such an excellent release.
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights (flac 224mb)
01 100 Days, 100 Nights 3:45
02 Nobody's Baby 2:27
03 Tell Me 2:46
04 Be Easy 3:03
05 When The Other Foot Drops, Uncle 3:15
06 Let Them Knock 4:29
07 Something's Changed 2:56
08 Humble Me 4:05
09 Keep On Looking 2:49
10 Answer Me 4:08
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights (ogg 82mb)
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Since so few acts in the new millennium attempt the old-school soul that’s the specialty of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, it may be easy to assume that they’re heralded simply because of their rarity: although they certainly sound like plenty of acts from back then, they’re praised because nobody else sounds like them now, something that’s all well and good but doesn’t quite suggest how good the group really is. I Learned the Hard Way, their fourth album, goes a long way in illustrating that they’re very, very good, holding their own with all the ‘60s Southern and Northern soul they hold so dear. In fact, the striking thing about the album is that contrary to their deep soul rep, Jones & the Dap Kings spend just as much time riding smooth easy grooves as they do pouring out some sweat: despite its tough title, “I Learned the Hard Way” breezes with the cool assurance of Curtis Mayfield’s Windy City and the instrumental “The Reason” shimmers like the sound of Philadelphia circa 1969. A large part of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings charm is that they mix up these regional styles, blending them into a ‘60s soul fantasia, but they also favor recordings that sound like the ’60s: there’s air and grit within the grooves of I Learned the Hard Way that gives it an authentic kick. Of course, all this would be surface charm if the group didn’t deliver songs, and they do -- songs that swagger and stir the soul, fitting within tradition without being beholden to it, songs that prove that Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings are the real deal.
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - I Learned The Hard Way (flac 252mb)
01 The Game Gets Old 3:55
02 I Learned The Hard Way 3:47
03 Better Things 3:40
04 Give It Back 3:22
05 Money 3:22
06 The Reason 2:20
07 Window Shopping 4:35
08 She Ain't A Child No More 2:35
09 I'll Still Be True 3:48
10 Without A Heart 2:45
11 If You Call 3:00
12 Mama Don't Like My Man 2:31
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - I Learned The Hard Way (ogg 93mb)
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Today's Artists are an American funk and soul band signed to Daptone Records. They are part of a revivalist movement recreating mid-1960s to mid-1970s style funk and soul music. In December 2014, the band was nominated for a Grammy, in the category Best R&B Album of the Year for Give the People What They Want. Yeah... N Joy
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
By the sound of them, you would have thought Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings started making funk-threaded soul music together in the 1960s. Few devotedly retro acts were as convincing. Few singers as skilled as Sharon Jones at stuffing notes with ache and meaning would be willing to invest in a sound so fully occupied by the likes of Bettye LaVette and Tina Turner in the Ike years, too. But what Jones brought to the funkified table had legs of its own -- eight of them, to be exact -- and they belonged to Binky Griptite, Bugaloo Velez, Homer Steinweiss, and Dave Guy -- her Dap-Kings.
Jones, like James Brown, was born in Augusta, Georgia; there she sang in her church choir, and from fellow parishioners picked up the kind of back-patting she needed to convince her to go mainstream. As a teenager, she moved with her family to Brooklyn, where she immersed herself in 1970s disco and funk with an eye toward cutting a record of her own. Instead, studios came calling and with them steady work -- by her twenties, Jones was turning in backup vocals for gospel, soul, disco, and blues artists, most of it uncredited. In the '80s, however, Jones' sound was deemed unfashionable, and instead of pushing ahead with her soul diva's dream she went back to church singing. She also took a job as a corrections officer at New York's Rikers Island.
It wouldn't be until 1996 that Desco Records would rediscover Jones' sweat-basted, lived-in talent. With that label's house band, the Soul Providers, Jones released several singles in the late '90s; their warmth and genuineness propelled the act across the Atlantic, and Jones picked up a moniker -- the queen of funk -- that stuck. Jones released her first full-length with the Dap-Kings, Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, after signing with Daptone Records in 2002. Years of touring behind it, as well as cutting singles with other artists (including Greyboy) ensued. In 2005, Jones re-teamed with the Dap-Kings for the winking groovefest that is Naturally, following it up two years later with 100 Days, 100 Nights. Jones also had a bit part in The Great Debaters as the singer Lila. A new studio effort, I Learned the Hard Way, appeared in 2010.
In 2013, Jones revealed that she had been diagnosed with cancer -- initially in the bile ducts, and later stage two pancreatic cancer -- but she continued to perform as often as her therapy schedule would permit, sometimes appearing on-stage with a bald head after chemotherapy caused her hair to fall out. In late 2013, Jones was well enough to complete work on the next Dap-Kings album, and Give the People What They Want appeared in 2014. Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple premiered a film about the vocalist, Miss Sharon Jones!, at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival; Jones was in attendance for the debut screening, and revealed that her cancer had returned but defiantly added, "I'm gonna keep fighting, we got a long way to go." Fittingly, the determined Jones and the Dap-Kings returned in October 2015 with a collection of Christmas and Hanukkah tunes titled It's a Holiday Soul Party. As the film Miss Sharon Jones! was poised to go into theatrical release, in August 2016 Daptone Records released an original soundtrack album. The Miss Sharon Jones! album featured a selection of Jones' most memorable performances along with a new track, the autobiographical "I'm Still Here." Sadly, however, she would lose her valiant battle with cancer, which took her life, at age 60, in November of that year. Shortly before her death, Jones completed vocals for a final album with the Dap-Kings. That album, Soul of a Woman, was released in November 2017, a year after her death. No specific announcement has been made regarding the band's future; however, The Dap-Kings have subsequently performed at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards in 2017.
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
It's hard to believe that Sharon Jones' debut LP is a product of the year 2002, for several reasons. Given the excellent singles she recorded for Desco beginning in the late '90s, it seems like she would have gotten the opportunity for a full-length sooner; plus, her brand of raw, heavy, hard-driving funk is such a throwback to the '70s, and she pulls it off so well, that you wonder how she could have escaped that decade without at least a few rare, classic 45s (in the vein of labelmate Lee Fields). It's not hard to believe she once made her living as a prison guard, based on the tough-as-nails, no-nonsense performances she belts out on Dap Dippin' With Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, the first full-length release on Desco's descendant, Dap-Tone. Backed by the Dap-Tone house band (a conglomeration of studio pros with connections reaching back to the Desco orbit), Jones delivers a storming set of tunes that would have sounded perfectly at home on the James Brown's Original Funky Divas compilation. The style and quality are pretty consistent all the way through, but it's hard not to single out the nearly unrecognizable cover of Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done for Me Lately," which is transformed into a churning blast of funk full of biting guitars (and nary a synth or drum machine in sight). Other highlights include the chunky leadoff track, "Got a Thing on My Mind," the would-be dance-craze "The Dap Dip," the slow-burning "Make It Good to Me," and the trials-and-tribulations tale "Ain't It Hard." Plus, label head Gabriel Roth throws in his usual "authentic" trappings -- the fake live introduction running down Jones' "hits," the intentionally dated copy on the back cover -- that make the whole package even more fun. All in all, a terrific debut.
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Dap-Dippin' With.. (flac 266mb)
01 (Introduction) 1:30
02 Got A Thing On My Mind 2:58
03 What Have You Done For Me Lately? 3:16
04 The Dap Dip 4:01
05 Give Me A Chance 3:10
06 Cut The Line 3:28
07 Got To Be The Way It Is 3:25
08 Make It Good To Me 4:25
09 Ain't It Hard 4:30
10 Pick It Up, Lay It In The Cut 4:07
11 Casella Walk 3:09
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Dap-Dippin' With.. (ogg 84mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Following up her excellent 2002 debut, Sharon Jones stays true to the formula she laid down on her early releases and Dap Dippin' by presenting another session of full-force funk that pays homage to the genre's glory years without coming off as contrived. The deep funk revival continues with Jones belting out commanding vocal performances that are uncompromisingly forceful yet full of rich, soulful emotion. It's a session worthy of being found in any beat-miner's record collection and any funk enthusiast's basket of obscurities and rarities. Her cover of "This Land Is Your Land" is equally as impressive, as she somehow takes the song from being an American folk standard and turns it into a full-on sonic explosion. Fans of her earlier work will no doubt find great joy in this follow-up, and those seeking Jones out for the first time certainly will not be disappointed in what they find.
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Naturally (flac 272mb)
01 How Do I Let A Good Man Down? 3:03
02 Natural Born Lover 3:05
03 Stranded In Your Love 5:47
04 My Man Is A Mean Man 3:16
05 You're Gonna Get It 5:00
06 How Long Do I Have To Wait For You? 4:04
07 This Land Is Your Land 4:31
08 Your Thing Is A Drag 3:33
09 Fish In The Dish 3:18
10 All Over Again 4:44
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Naturally (ogg 102mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Sharon Jones, the big-voiced lead singer of the Dap-Kings -- a band that recently began making its name known outside those enthusiasts of the Daptone label and the reaches of the soul community thanks to appearances with Amy Winehouse and work for Mark Ronson, including a version of Dylan's "Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)" -- is no music-world neophyte. 100 Days, 100 Nights is just her third full-length with the Dap-Kings, but Jones has been singing on and off since the 1970s, without much of a break until she began working with her current label. Meaning, she's certainly paid her dues, and she has enough life experience behind her voice to make the words she sings sound that much truer. Because soul music -- and this isn't neo-soul, or contemporary R&B, but straight-up Stax and Motown brassy soul -- is so much more than the actual lyrics themselves; it's about the inflection and emotion that the vocalist is able to exude, and Jones proves herself to be master of that, moving from coy to romantic to defiant easily and believably. The album is much smoother, even gentler, than her previous releases, and though the Dap-Kings still power their way through the ten songs with bright horn licks, inspired drumming, and staccato guitar lines, there's a deeper, bluesier edge to the record, heard in "Let Them Knock" or the slower "Humble Me." "Don't let me forget who I am," Jones croons in the latter, her voice rising to a sweet falsetto at the end of the phrase. It's a very clean record, not over-produced but well produced, with a lot of great pop moments tucked in between the brassier, funkier bits. The title track relies on a sultry organ and a minor vamp to make its point, while "Something's Changed" uses strings and punctuated sax and bass as the singer drops a bit of her lungs out, bringing a kind of immediacy to her words, as if the actuality of the situation around her hasn't quite set in enough for her to wail about it, as if she's just realizing it and listeners are right there to hear about it. But that's the magic and power of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings: their ability to convey passion and pain, regret and celebration, found in the arrangements and the tail ends of notes, in the rhythms and phrasing, and it is exactly that which makes 100 Days, 100 Nights such an excellent release.
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights (flac 224mb)
01 100 Days, 100 Nights 3:45
02 Nobody's Baby 2:27
03 Tell Me 2:46
04 Be Easy 3:03
05 When The Other Foot Drops, Uncle 3:15
06 Let Them Knock 4:29
07 Something's Changed 2:56
08 Humble Me 4:05
09 Keep On Looking 2:49
10 Answer Me 4:08
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights (ogg 82mb)
xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Since so few acts in the new millennium attempt the old-school soul that’s the specialty of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, it may be easy to assume that they’re heralded simply because of their rarity: although they certainly sound like plenty of acts from back then, they’re praised because nobody else sounds like them now, something that’s all well and good but doesn’t quite suggest how good the group really is. I Learned the Hard Way, their fourth album, goes a long way in illustrating that they’re very, very good, holding their own with all the ‘60s Southern and Northern soul they hold so dear. In fact, the striking thing about the album is that contrary to their deep soul rep, Jones & the Dap Kings spend just as much time riding smooth easy grooves as they do pouring out some sweat: despite its tough title, “I Learned the Hard Way” breezes with the cool assurance of Curtis Mayfield’s Windy City and the instrumental “The Reason” shimmers like the sound of Philadelphia circa 1969. A large part of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings charm is that they mix up these regional styles, blending them into a ‘60s soul fantasia, but they also favor recordings that sound like the ’60s: there’s air and grit within the grooves of I Learned the Hard Way that gives it an authentic kick. Of course, all this would be surface charm if the group didn’t deliver songs, and they do -- songs that swagger and stir the soul, fitting within tradition without being beholden to it, songs that prove that Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings are the real deal.
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - I Learned The Hard Way (flac 252mb)
01 The Game Gets Old 3:55
02 I Learned The Hard Way 3:47
03 Better Things 3:40
04 Give It Back 3:22
05 Money 3:22
06 The Reason 2:20
07 Window Shopping 4:35
08 She Ain't A Child No More 2:35
09 I'll Still Be True 3:48
10 Without A Heart 2:45
11 If You Call 3:00
12 Mama Don't Like My Man 2:31
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - I Learned The Hard Way (ogg 93mb)
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1 comment:
Excellent post for a great artist, gone way too early. Thank you, Mr. Rho!
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