Another long day at the office had
me home late and tired. At least the music on the walk was good. Second soul
album in a row!
Disc 629 is….I Learned the Hard Way
Artist: Sharon
Jones and the Dap-Kings
Year of Release: 2010
What’s up with the Cover? A working class
back alley with Sharon Jones looking like a true badass, Dap-King posse behind
her. Sharon has a “don’t even think about messing with me, boy!” look on her
face. As ever, band leader Bosco Mann sits farthest back, content to hold down
the fire escape and let the glory fall to the front-woman. If she gave me that
look, I’d be doing the same.
In
addition to Sharon’s badassery, I love the old sixties/seventies vibe this
album cover has – all it is missing is a strange bunch of advertising of the
songs that you’ll find inside.
How I Came To Know It: My friend Nick and I were
browsing around at a local music store (as we are wont to do) and he saw this
album featured with a little write up. Neither of us had ever heard of her, but
Nick was the braver of the two of us, and bought it.
Later he
brought it over to my place and played a few tracks as we drank a couple of
beers. It was awesome on all counts.
How It Stacks Up: I have four Sharon Jones albums, and they are all
good. However, “I Learned the Hard Way” is the best - #1, baby!
Rating: 4 stars
The first song on this record is “The Game Gets Old” and that is the
danger of any genre musician; keeping a style fresh and updated and still true
to the original forms. “I Learned The Hard Way” is a masterpiece in how to do
that right.
It all starts with a band as tight
as any in music right now. When you’ve got nine people in your band you better
be tight, because it’ll be quickly obvious if you aren’t. The Dap-Kings are
perfectly in sync on this record, giving the perfect foundation for Sharon
Jones big voice to fill the songs like a soloist at a church revival. When
Jones sings you feel like you’ve come to pray at her altar of romance and
heartache.
When you have a talent like Jones
you could get away with questionable production decisions, but luckily band
leader and bassist Bosco Mann doesn’t make any. He understands how to have the
horns and backup singers each play counterpoint to the other two. On songs like
the album’s title track, the three of them bounce back and forth off of one
another in just the right proportion.
Unlike some modern bands where a
lot of instruments result in a hot mess, Mann understands that you need to
feature instruments in stages, creating levels of sound and keeping each sound fresh
to the ear even in a song that doesn’t have a particularly complicated melody
underneath it all. Damn I love your mustachioed genius, Bosco Mann!
There are a lot of standouts on
this album, but I particularly love “Money”
a song about that crazy paper that is so important for everything else. Sharon
Jones’ sings to her money like it is a jilted lover:
“I work like a dog, year after year
Like a ghost when I need you, you always disappear.
Money, where are you hiding?
Money, why won’t you stay awhile?”
There is a cheeky fun feel to this
side, but at its core it is a reminder that you can stare down an unfaithful
lover, but you can’t stare down your own empty pockets. They’ll be kicking you
out on the street a lot faster than an angry lover, my friends.
“The Reason” is an energetic mid-tempo instrumental that shows this
band is great even when Sharon Jones is taking a water break. Before you get too used to her absence she is
back with the sweet n’ nasty “Window
Shopping,” a song that reminds all of us men that it is OK to take a look
now and then, but be subtle out there! On my last review I mentioned the menace
of Bill Withers singing “Who Is He (And
What Is He To You)?” “Window Shopping”
doesn’t have the same nasty edge, but it is just as final with its message: fly
right or fly solo.
It was just two months ago I
finally saw Sharon Jones live (for a review of that go see my review here LINK)
and it had me hoping I’d get to roll another album of hers soon. I lucked out
getting “I Learned the Hard Way” which reminds me about why I fell so hard for
her from the very first. This may not be part of soul’s first wave, but it is
every bit the equal of the old masters.
Best tracks: The Game Gets
Old, I Learned the Hard Way, Better Things, Money, Window Shopping, If You Call
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