Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - Naturally
When something goes missing in the world of music, I'm one of those people who notice. I remember back to that simpler time when we didn't have MTV, when people actually played instruments, singers sang instead of using processors and effects, and your live show had better bring down the house or nobody would show. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings have filled this niche in music beautifully, delivering an album filled with the unmistakeable supreme groove-driven funk usually reserved for Augusta, Georgia's other famous export (besides Sharon Jones, that is) -- the hardest working man in show business, Mr. James Brown. So let's call Sharon Jones "The Hardest Working Woman in Show Business".
Listen here, people, the woman earned that name through years of struggle and hard work as a backup singer for people like The Four Tops, Peaches and Herb, The Drifters, and Maceo Parker all through the 1960's, '70's and '80's. In the mid-1990's, she hooked up with the people at Desco Records and then Daptone Records (where she currently resides), and she's been breaking down the doors with her own sweet soul music ever since. SJ & TDK turn out music that is so incredibly true to the era, you might make the same mistake Gilles Peterson did and think you had stumbled across the holy grail of forgotten soul records of the 1970's.
Like Brown, she is heavily socially conscious, unafraid to sing about needing your love to be true and in the same breath making you remember to think about your brothers and sisters dying in Iraq. Along with the Dap Kings, an all-star band comprised of some of the greatest soul players who ever graced a note (some as members of classic bands like The Soul Providers and The Mighty Imperials), Sharon Jones will give it to you like you ain't never had it before. Their latest album was just released to wide critical acclaim. The CD, entitled Naturally, an appropo explanation for the way they carve out the groove. This band knows how to build it up and break it down in ways your mind can only imagine if you've ever had the chance to catch Brother James or Sister Tina live. No, not Tina with the big spiky hair and the skin-tight leather jobbies, I mean the sweet Anna Mae Bullock back before Ike did her dirty -- "back in the day", as they say.
Even more amazing than their albums is their live show. Lots of bands can bump it out on tape, but they can't carry their sound into live shows. I'm here to tell you: SJ & TDK is so bad assed live, it is guaranteed to rip you to shreds and glue you back together, shake the shimmy from your jimmy and put the word "fun" back into the word "funky".
I tend to talk too much sometimes, so I'm gonna just stop now and let the music do the talking for me. These two tracks are excerpts from her Fort Worth, TX show in May of 2004. Track number two is a booming performance of "Things Have Got To Get Better" by Marva Whitney, from which they go straight into James Brown's "There Was A Time". Can you dig it? Be sure and click here to get their tour dates to see where you can catch them live, as they are finishing a U.S. tour before heading to France, Belgium, and Germany to bring the house down there. This ought to give you a good look into what you can expect when you come to the show. Be patient on the download, now -- the second clip is ten minutes of blazing hot soul and funk, and well worth the wait, baby. Big ups to Eric "The Hook-Up" Hermeyer for laying this on me.
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Intro/Got A Thing
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings - Things Have Got To Get Better/There Was a Time
