CD Odyssey Disc 1203: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

I’m in the middle of a nice long weekend of my own making. Yesterday I had no plans and was able to just chill out and listen to music outside of the Odyssey’s rules. I gave a listen to a couple of modern folk albums, one of which I liked and one of which I didn’t, and then I changed things up with some Warren Zevon (1989’s “Transverse City”).

But now we must return to our official journey…and Ms. Sharon Jones.

Disc 1203 is… Naturally

Artist: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Year of Release: 2005

What’s up with the Cover? Ms. Sharon Jones, chillin’ in an easy chair. That lamp looks nice, but if I were her I’d get out of that room before the whole thing gets overtaken by line animation. Turning a woman with the bigger-than-life personality of Sharon Jones into a line drawing would be a crime.

How I Came To Know It: Originally through my buddy Nick buying a different album (“I Learned The Hard Way”) that I loved. “Naturally” was me, now hooked thanks to Nick, digging through her discography.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four Sharon Jones albums and they are all awesome. However, this is the part where we rank that awesomeness and “Naturally” can only manage the bronze – third, if you’re numerically inclined. As this is the last Sharon Jones album in my collection, here’s a full recap:

1. I Learned the Hard Way: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 629)
2. 100 Days, 100 Nights: 4 stars (reviewed at Disc 803)
3. Naturally: 4 stars (reviewed right here)
4. Give the People What They Want: 3 stars (reviewed at Disc 608)

Ratings:  4 stars

“Naturally” is a throwback to the heyday of soul in the late sixties and early seventies, but like all other Dap-King albums, it never feels derivative. Much like Sharon in that old chair on cover, the music settles itself down beside its early inspirations so comfortably if you were to come into the room and see them all lined up on a couch you wouldn’t know who was modern and who was historical.

So why listen to Sharon Jones when you could just go to the original source material? A couple of songs into “Naturally” you’ll realize the foolishness of the question. You listen to Sharon Jones because she is every bit as good as the source material. There’s no reason to choose.

When you have a big soul band (the Dap-Kings have eight members in addition to Jones) you have to be tight. If someone comes in early or late, you’re going to notice. Fortunately, the Dap-Kings never let you down. I have a lot of music in a lot of styles and I can’t think of a band that plays more seamlessly together than these guys.

But in soul music, being tight doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t work the magic of the pocket. Again, the Dap-Kings do not disappoint. “Natural Born Lover” starts with just Jones and drummer Homer Steinweiss dropping the perfect rhythm for a couple of bars and then the whole band arrives en masse. Guitarist Binky Griptite drops a funky rhythm on guitar, Bosco Mann kills it on the bass and the horn section adds flourishes everywhere they belong and nowhere they don’t. The whole thing has that satisfying feel of a gymnast sticking a landing or an NFL wideout tapping his toes in on a sideline; it just feels right

“Natural Born Lover” is fun lyrically as well, as Jones extolls the virtues of her man in the sack. We learn he is an ‘NBL’ (natural born lover) who ‘TCB’s (takes care of business). It is impossible to sit still with this song playing. You gotta let your backbone slide and your head bob, even on a bus full of strangers (I regret nothing!). The song is sneaky-complex as well. On the surface, it is just a killer groove, while underneath a lot of clever flourishes of horn, drum and guitar added in artful splashes that never distract from the core of the song.

Against this backdrop of excellence Jones is free to belt it out, flowing around the pocket to give the songs that extra swing without wrecking the groove. It is a rare skill. It isn’t something you can teach, it’s something you either have or you don’t. Frank Sinatra has it. Dean Martin has it. Ozzy Osbourne has it. And Sharon Jones has it as well.

The record has a nice mix of slow romantic crooners like “You’re Gonna Get It” and up-tempo booty shakers like “Your Thing Is a Drag” giving the record as a whole a nice ebb and flow as well.

Fun feature that downloaders don't get to enjoy: the liner notes include the astrological sign for all the band members. I was not surprised to read that band leader and bassist Bosco Mann is a Leo.

The songs are all written by Mann with the exception of a rendition of the Woody Guthrie song “This Land Is Your Land” that is the best version I have ever heard. Chances are you have heard this song already – it is played over the opening credits of the George Clooney/Anna Kendrick movie “Up In the Air”. If you liked it do yourself a favour and get the rest of the album.

Best tracks: How Do I Let A Good Man Down?, Natural Born Lover, You’re Gonna Get It, How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?, This Land Is Your Land, Your Thing Is a Drag

CD Odyssey Disc 803: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Welcome back to the CD Odyssey. It doesn’t end until I run out of music, and since I keep buying music, I’m not sure when I’m going to catch up. I’m in no hurry to end the journey so it doesn’t matter.

Disc 803 is….100 Days, 100 Nights

Artist: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings

Year of Release: 2007

What’s up with the Cover? Like the style of music itself, this cover is a throwback to the sixties and early seventies. Back in those days the LP would advertise the song tracks so you wouldn’t have to turn it over to see what you were getting.

In addition to some song advertisements, you also get the added treat of Sharon Jones herself, looking fine in a gold lamé dress.

How I Came To Know It: My friend Nick bought a Sharon Jones album (“I Learned the Hard Way” reviewed back at Disc 629) and I liked it so much I did the same. “100 Days, 100 Nights” was just me drilling backward through her collection after I realized how much I liked her stuff.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four albums by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. “100 Days, 100 Nights” is damn good, finishing a very close second to “I Learned the Hard Way.”

Ratings: 4 stars

“100 Days, 100 Nights” is a celebration of the roots of funk and soul as seen through the thoroughly modern genius of band leader Bosco Mann.

These songs could’ve been released in 1970 and been hits, and if you didn’t know any better you would assume they were. This would lead you to naturally wonder if the Dap-Kings sound derivative or dated. The answer is a resounding “hell, no!” These guys have captured funk at its best and most vital and like a bottle of whiskey found on some 18^th century wreck, its time away from civilization has just made it tastier.

A big part of that tastiness is front woman Sharon Jones, who has the vocal chops of a female James Brown and the same natural instinct for how to turn a phrase and ride the swing of a good beat. However, for all that, Jones only has the freedom to shine like she does because the Dap-Kings are so damned tight. The funk is an easy rhythm to ape at, but a hard one to master, and it is in those tiny moments that your ear can tell if it is authentic or not.

The Dap-Kings are authentic like 24-karat gold. Whether they are playing full out, or cutting down to three quarter time at Sharon’s playful demand, as they do on the title track that are always right in the pocket. That swing makes your head nod, and puts a swagger in your walk (for those who saw me walking home tonight, yes – that was swagger).

As much as I bask in the glow of bassist Bosco Mann, I must now do as James Brown recommended all those years ago, and give the drummer some. In this case, that would be Dap-King drummer Homer Steinweiss. You already know Steinweiss, although you didn’t know you did – he does the groovy drumming on Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good.” Do yourself a favour and go and listen to it again, but this time focus on the drummer. You’re welcome.

On “100 Days, 100 Nights” Steinweiss not only drums, he also writes the record’s best song, “Nobody’s Baby.” This is a song about female empowerment that Sharon Jones owns with evident glee. Starting with a derisive laugh, she proceeds to inform her former boyfriend man that she’s done with him. On an album full of funky songs, there is none funkier than “Nobody’s Baby.” If you’ve ever wanted to tell a good for nothing man that you know he’s no good, this song is for you.

The rest of the album is also good, and full of empowering music. There are songs about loving yourself (“Nobody’s Baby”), songs about loving your man (“Tell Me”) and songs about making sweet love to that man (“Let Them Knock”). If the blues tap the natural rhythms of human sadness, then soul music done right equally taps human joy.

While most of the songs are modern tracks every bit the equal of their sixties and seventies inspired forerunners, the album ends with a cover. “Answer Me,” a song written and performed by James Bignon and God’s Children in 1979. Yes, that was the band’s name. Anyway, I went on “The Youtube” to check out the original, and while it is OK, it doesn’t hold a candle to the Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings version. I’m not religious but when I heard this song, consider me taken to church, because it was that kind of awesome.

“100 Days, 100 Nights” is also that kind of awesome, and a true celebration of music in one of its finest and most enduring forms.

Best tracks:  100 Days 100 Nights, Nobody’s Baby, Be Easy, Answer Me

CD Odyssey Disc 629: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

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

CD Odyssey Disc 608: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

It has been a week since I wrote a review and for this, gentle readers, I apologize.

This is because I was going to see this next band in concert and I wanted to spend a full week immersing myself in their music so I could review both the new album and the show (both are below).

This also meant that Guns ‘N’ Roses, who were slated to be the next album I reviewed randomly, were bumped. I might’ve felt worse about it except for all the times Axl Rose has left fans hanging when he cancelled a show. It was high time someone cancelled on them.

So instead, I am going to give the people what they want – or at least what I want, and I’m people too. Guns ‘N’ Roses will be coming soon.

Disc 608 is…. Give The People What They Want

Artist: Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

Year of Release: 2013

What’s up with the Cover? Half Royal Seal of Soul, half hippy dream sequence. This cover has it all, from ornate lettering, to golden steps to flying pigs. At the centre of it all is Ms. Jones herself, looking like the strong self-assured woman she is.

How I Came To Know It:  This was just me buying the latest release from the band, as I have been a fan since 2010’s “I Learned the Hard Way.”  That album came my way after my friend Nick liked the look of it and took a flier on it, so while the new album is on me, getting into Sharon Jones in the first place I owe to Nick.

How It Stacks Up:  I have four Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings albums. I am still missing their compilation album “Soul Time” as well as their debut, “Dap-Dippin’ With Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.” Of the four I have, I must reluctantly rank “Give The People What They Want” fourth. So it goes.

Rating:  3 stars

Being a successful revivalist act means walking that narrow line between being true to the original art form, and creative enough in your own right to be fresh and new in your approach. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings have mastered walking this line, bringing sixties and seventies soul music back with a vengeance.

This is my fourth Sharon Jones album, and I have yet to be disappointed. “Give the People…” is more of what makes this band great. The swinging rhythm is a mix of James Brown’s visceral funk and the more subdued and accessible Motown Records sound. The songs, however, are Dap-Kings originals. While they could easily be transplanted back forty years and still be hits, they also sound fresh today. This just underscores that a good song is a good song, regardless of what might be the fashion of the times.

In the case of “Give the People…” Sharon Jones is a bit more Supremes and a bit less James Brown than usual. The tracks have more early sixties background harmonies and is overall less funky than the bands’ earlier records. If you like that more polished side of soul, this is the album for you.

My preferences fall more toward the James Brown side of the equation and so as a result I prefer the earlier records I’ve heard. I do think this is merely a preference thing, though, and you just need to know what kind of soul and funk you like to know if this is the album for you.

The songs themselves are beautifully written and performed. The horn section is crisp and carries the energy of the songs, and Bosco Mann’s bass and Binky Griptite’s guitar shoulder the swinging soul groove that makes this style of music so singularly interesting. Also, it is hard to imagine two guys with cooler names.

On that note, I would be remiss not to generously tip my hat to Bosco Mann in particular for his vision in founding this band and bringing it all together. Mann writes half the songs on the record including “Stranger to My Happiness” which I consider the standout.

Sharon Jones was diagnosed with cancer in June 2013 but you’d never know it to hear this record, where her voice is still a power house. For all of Bosco Mann’s genius, you need a great lead singer for these songs, and Sharon Jones is definitely that.

While I missed the funkier qualities of the earlier albums, “Give the People…” is still a quality entry into the band’s discography, and a welcome addition to my music collection.

Best tracks:   Stranger to My Happiness, You’ll Be Lonely, Now I See, Long Time Wrong Time

The Concert – April 4, 2014 at the Alix Goolden Hall

I might have missed this concert if it weren’t for my friend Patrick who tipped me off that Sharon Jones was coming to town. Sheila and I attended with Patrick and his wife Yvonne and a fine time was had by all.

The Alix Goolden hall is an old church and the acoustics are amazing, and I love seeing shows there. The one downside is the general seating system they employ, which means you have to line up an hour before the show to get a good spot. This time we were only 30 minutes early and I was nervous about getting into our usual favourite spot, but fortunately it all worked out. I’d tell you where that is, but it is a state secret.

British R&B singer and guitarist James Hunter opened the show. Hunter plays in a very old school style that reminded me of Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly. His guitar has a very sharp, percussive style and fills the room with a nice tone. He was hampered a bit by the sound, which was overamplified and causing distortion. I liked him, but he didn’t blow me away.

Then the Dap-Kings arrived and they did blow me away. Guitarist Binky Griptite plays the role of band leader, exhorting the audience to get into it in a way that never feels desperate or forced.

The band was exceptionally tight and every song had a groove that had you moving in your seat, or getting you out of it. Within five minutes of the show starting, everyone on the floor was up and dancing.

Sharon Jones is a force of nature on stage. Dancing around with genuine enthusiasm and a personality that was so big it threatened to blow the stained glass windows out of the old Alix Goolden Hall. At one point she danced herself right out of her shoes, but when she recovered herself she put them back on; Ms. Jones is a lady, after all.

At one point she had an extended run showing off sixties and seventies dances. I can’t remember them all, but I’m pretty sure I saw the chicken and maybe the swim. Whatever they were, the energy of all the fly moves was infectious. The whole experience felt like a traveling revival show, but without all the gloomy prophecy.

Jones also invited a young hipster up on stage early on and serenaded him with a spirited and sassy version of “You’ll Be Lonely.” The hipster had some moves of his own and was a fine addition to the show.

In fact, later on the band bravely invited people on stage wholesale and managed to play admirably while surrounded by 30 or 40 Victorians shaking their groove things. I was not among them (the last time I tried to dance with the young kids I wrecked the ligaments in my thumb).

As for the set list, the band played most of the songs off their new album as well as the better known songs off their earlier records. Most songs were extended well beyond the three to four minute studio versions, and yet never felt forced. The solos that each of the band members were afforded were similarly fun but not over-played.

By the end of the show the famously staid Victoria audience were all on their feet, clapping along (but only where appropriate – take note of that, American Idol studio audience!)

This concert affirmed that soul was never dead, and even if it had been, Sharon Jones could have brought it back to life by sheer force of will.