YOU LOVE IT: sharon jones & the dap kings

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this TOTALLY got lost admist the madness of 2005's shit-hot jan/feb schedule. i loved her last album but this is approximately 156% better, proper dave godin soul with a warm, analog feel. she's got a smoking voice, her songs have more hooks than a tacklebox and the dap-kings absolutely COOK. i know this is near blasphemous but i think i like this even more than the staton/swann releases, so where's the ilx love?

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

also, i am so psyched to see her live next month. i hear she's ridiculous.

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:30 (8 years ago) Permalink

SO fucking good and so meaty-sounding. I need to talk to the guy who engineered this record. It is definitely a contender with the Staton reissue, or pretty much any soul record below canonical status. The "This Land Is Your Land" cover is a mind-boggling we-own-the-world-when-we-fuck soul reclamation of the tune.

I'm prepping a 4-way soul review for my blog (this, the new Solomon Burke, new Al Green, and the Baby Huey reissue), and she comes out way on top.

― southern lights (southern lights), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:43 (8 years ago) Permalink

haha did anyone see al green on the daily show last night? he humped a couch!!

jon stewart: "you're so the GOOD kind of minister."

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:44 (8 years ago) Permalink

i wish i had enough money to buy everyone on ilx a copy of this!

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:49 (8 years ago) Permalink

whats yr blog southern? also, how is the new solomon burke?

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:54 (8 years ago) Permalink

i listened to this at virgin. it's pretty fucking great. i love the track where the guy and the girl are chatting over the intro to one of the songs. i was really afraid this was gonna be boring James Brown funk, but it's straight up southern burners

is this a different Baby Huey reissue, or is it finally released on cd?

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:57 (8 years ago) Permalink

nope, it's The One

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:04 (8 years ago) Permalink

Probably the soul/funk album of the year

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:11 (8 years ago) Permalink

dig the conan performance!

http://www.daptonerecords.com/pages/home.html

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:18 (8 years ago) Permalink

for once I'd love to see a funk/hip-hop/R&B/whatever internet message board where there's one token indie noise band and not the other way around

― Mr. Harvey Weinstein (mr harvey weinstein), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:19 (8 years ago) Permalink

boring James Brown funk

That phrase is audacious in its complete wrongness. Congrats.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:20 (8 years ago) Permalink

mark, the blog is here. Sharon Jones etc. won't get up there until this weekend.

The Solomon Burke doesn't compare well to the last one. It has moments, such as the version of "It Makes No Difference", but Don Was tends to ruin records for me as a producer, and some of the song interpretations just don't work (a too-popcorn-y version of Dylan's "What Good Am I", for example). Ray Parker Jr. burns on guitar, though. I think the difference besides the production is the last disc had lots of new tunes written for him; this is a strange mixture.

JaXOn - I don't know too much about Baby Huey, but this is The Living Legend, which I understand to be his only album. Reiussed in disc last December. For me, the first track dwarfs the rest.

― southern lights (southern lights), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:32 (8 years ago) Permalink

dude seriously, if i have to hear another dusty 45 Funky 16 Corners/Funk Spectrum funk compilation again, i'll kill myself. you totally read me wrong, i love james brown, but i don't want to hear a gazillion bands imitate that sound, especially in 2005

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:34 (8 years ago) Permalink

xpost obviously

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:34 (8 years ago) Permalink

i've had that Baby Huey album for years, i just wasn't sure if it's something new.

i think talking about Solomon Burke is really appropriate on this thread because i think that's the sound she's pulling on this album.

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:36 (8 years ago) Permalink

You folks should be checking out soulandbluesreport.com It's a New Orleans tipsheet that includes a top 25 of current Southern soul on labels like Ecko and Malaco that gets played on some mostly Southern radio stations.

― Steve-k (Steve K), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

for once I'd love to see a funk/hip-hop/R&B/whatever internet message board where there's one token indie noise band and not the other way around

http://soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=crates

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

jaxon, what's your take on huey?

― southern lights (southern lights), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

Chitlin Circuit Double-entendre -filled Soul 2004 (and onward) Theodis Easley's "Stand Up In It" is a song of the year

― Steve Kiviat (Steve K), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:45 (8 years ago) Permalink

i like it a lot, but i think it took me a while to really appreciate it. i still don't think it's the long lost masterpiece everyone makes it out to be. it's a little inconsistent, but it's pretty damn good. my fave is definitely "A Change is Gonna Come". man, that part when he just howls! omg. super duper emotional. and then he starts talking about his life. wonderful. "Hard Times" is super duper funky. neck snapping funky. and i really like "Mighty Mighty", especially w/the little kid in the background.

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:50 (8 years ago) Permalink

also, kinda ironic that he coverd "California Dreamin"?

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:51 (8 years ago) Permalink

haha. i just found the baby huey receipt inside it. i bought it exactly 5yrs and 5days ago at dustygroove.

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 18 March 2005 03:53 (8 years ago) Permalink

jaxon beat me with that soulstrut link.

cheer up harvey!

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 18 March 2005 04:43 (8 years ago) Permalink

for once I'd love to see a funk/hip-hop/R&B/whatever internet message board where there's one token indie noise band and not the other way around

-- Mr. Harvey Weinstein (h...), March 18th, 2005.

?????????????!!!

― Tantrum (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 18 March 2005 15:47 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'm sorry, I know I'm supposed to like her (and Douglas Wolk just wrote a really nice review which will run in the Voice before her Southpaw show here next month), but I am the only person mean enough to believe that her "What If We All Just Stopped Paying Taxes" or whatever it's called (B-side of her "This Land Is Your Land" cover, which doesn't really blow me away either - Nazareth covered Woody WAY better) was the downright dumbest protest song of 2004? I mean, Jesus Christ, get one newspaper lady, OK?? (I've wanted to like other stuff from the Dap-Kings retro-soul camp-- I'm actually a big fan of early '70s soul music, kind of grew up on it in a lot of ways -- but its reverence really bugs me, sort of how alt-country does,maybe. Though at least with a better beat, which definitely counts for something. Still, Sharon strikes me as a competent singer, nothing more. People just seem to respect the *style* she's singing in, the idea of it. Maybe I'm missing something, but damned if I know what.)

― xhuxk, Friday, 18 March 2005 17:00 (8 years ago) Permalink

looooved it at first, then quickly realized i didn't feel the need to play it anymore. what's missing, i think, are SONGS. she's got style and sass and a crack band. if the songs ever come, she could be great.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:04 (8 years ago) Permalink

i've never heard that b-side, but i seriously doubt it's dumber than le tigre's "new kicks".

what specifically bothers you about the reverence, chuck?

(xpost cuz yer totally drunk)

― mark p (Mark P), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:10 (8 years ago) Permalink

It just hits me as a museum-frozen version of soul music, that's all. Like it's *about* soul music, without actually pulling it off. Or maybe like, had it actually come out in the early '70s, it would have sounded generic as to be completely ignorable. I know that's vague; don't have the album in front of me. But maybe, as fcc suggests above, all that's missing is a great song. Maybe if she did one, I'd like it a lot; I dunno.

― xhuxk, Friday, 18 March 2005 17:26 (8 years ago) Permalink

To get off target a bit, I find it interesting that there's thread about Sharon Jones, but not one about say, Denise Lasalle, a longtime soul singer who put out a new cd late last year. I admit, before anyone tells me to start such a thread, that I haven't gotten the Lasalle cd or the Sharon Jones one for that matter (yet). Perhaps you (or I) might find Lasalle's Ecko/Malaco style double-entendre-filled r'n'b cheesier or more cliched than Sharon Jones style retro-soul (or maybe not), but Ecko and Malaco don't seem interested in marketing their current releases to alt-weeklies and ILM posters.

I'm pretty sure I did read that a member of Brooklyn afrobeat band Antibalas is also a member of the Dap-Kings. Antibalas play indie-rock clubs and get more attention from some indie-rockers than actual African-based groups.

― steve-k, Friday, 18 March 2005 17:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

"How Long Do I Have to Wait for You?" is my favorite song of '05 so far, and as many amazing things as I've heard this year, that's saying something. The whole album's excellent.

Chuck: isn't it kind of blindingly obvious that "Taxes" was supposed to be dumb, or at least duh-inducing? It's a complete homage to the J.B.'s "I'm Paying Taxes, What Am I Buying?"

― Matos in Austin (M Matos), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:43 (8 years ago) Permalink

Nope, that wasn't obvious to me at all Michaelangelo (and I'm not really sure why it'd make the song any better, even if it *was* obvious!) Her song totally made me cringe.

― xhuxk, Friday, 18 March 2005 17:56 (8 years ago) Permalink

The J.B.'s thing should've been in parentheses; my point was more about the song's dumbness, or "dumbness." Then again, I've only heard them perform it live, and it did in fact kind of make me cringe, come to think of it. Maybe the record would even more (it's on some new comp I haven't played yet), but I remember liking it in spite of that.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Friday, 18 March 2005 17:59 (8 years ago) Permalink

I'm pretty sure I did read that a member of Brooklyn afrobeat band Antibalas is also a member of the Dap-Kings.

antibalas and the dap-kings (and the dap-tones label peeps) are most definitely all part of one big happy family.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:01 (8 years ago) Permalink

It just hits me as a museum-frozen version of soul music, that's all. Like it's *about* soul music

i think this is why i listened to it in the store, but didn't actually buy it

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 18 March 2005 18:04 (8 years ago) Permalink

>. Antibalas play indie-rock clubs and get more attention from some indie-rockers than actual African-based groups. <

actually, the two times i saw antibalas (which were, admittedly, at least two or three years ago), their audience struck me as way more "hippie" (= jam band) than "indie," per se. (supposedly, like ozomotli, they were highly connected with pre-election demonstrations last year; good for them, obviously.) antibalas and sharon jones have both recorded for dap tone, which takes its soul-revival shtick to the hilt: their website even lists 7-inch 45s on a page that looks like a jukebox, and they have some very lovely old-style album covers of their vinyl albums. all of which looks extremely inticing. i have yet to hear a single record on the label that i care about, though. And again, I'm sorry, but *Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones and the Dap-kings* is one of the most corny-assed titles I've heard in years. The whole thing hits me as some kind of exercise in kitsch, though maybe it shouldn't (and maybe it wouldn't, if the music was much better.)

― xhuxk, Friday, 18 March 2005 19:16 (8 years ago) Permalink

have you heard the Daktaris? another Fela "cover band". somehow they're connected to the whole daptones crew (they're on desco), but ten thousand times better than Antibalas.

― The JaXoN 5 (JasonD), Friday, 18 March 2005 19:29 (8 years ago) Permalink

*Dap Dippin' with Sharon Jones and the Dap-kings* is one of the most corny-assed titles I've heard in years. The whole thing hits me as some kind of exercise in kitsch

for some reason, the one thing that struck me immediately about the record and the label was how much dap-tone records reminded me of play-tone records, the label in "that thing you do." which was pretty fantastic kitsch if you ask me.

have you heard the Daktaris? another Fela "cover band". somehow they're connected to the whole daptones crew

same basic people, in fact.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 18 March 2005 19:33 (8 years ago) Permalink

actually, i think i might even get dap tone and desco mixed up! this is the vinyl record i tried REALLY REALLY REALLY hard to like a couple years ago, since its cover is fucking magnificent, but no dice:

http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,848032,00.html

― xhuxk, Friday, 18 March 2005 19:35 (8 years ago) Permalink

that is an awesome cover indeed.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 18 March 2005 19:37 (8 years ago) Permalink

(but also, it should be noted, it's a quite retro and reverent cover.)

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 18 March 2005 19:38 (8 years ago) Permalink

-- Tantrum (tantrumtheca...) (webmail), March 18th, 2005 7:47 AM. (Tantrum The Cat) (link)

NYC 5/22: FREE outdoor show: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, White Magic, Aa, Measles Mumps Rubella, Blood On The Wall

― Mr. Harvey Weinstein (mr harvey weinstein), Friday, 18 March 2005 20:05 (8 years ago) Permalink

I agree with all of the love for this album, especially Southern's comments on "This Land Is Your Land." This is definitely one of the best albums I've heard this year. Same goes for the Al Green, which for me, totally blows away the last one. It seems he and Mitchell improved on the production and as a result, made a much better album.
As for the Solomon Burke, a lot of reviews seem hung up on the fact that he's singing a lot of covers here instead of new songs (as on the last album), but I don't think it takes away from it. In fact, I think Burke's versions of these songs are better than the originals (especially his version of the Rolling Stones' "I Got the Blues"). I'll agree that the production is a problem, especially on the opening track, but I don't think it makes for a bad album. I've listened to this one quite a bit and totally recommend it.

― Jonathan (Jonathan), Friday, 18 March 2005 20:51 (8 years ago) Permalink

Have you not seen the 786, 349 other threads devoted to soul, funk, and R&B here? There's no lack of love for The Good Groove 'round these parts, and to suggest that Sharon Jones and Co. are a token funk fave is nothing short of ludicrous.

-- Tantrum (tantrumtheca...) (webmail), March 18th, 2005 7:47 AM. (Tantrum The Cat) (link)
NYC 5/22: FREE outdoor show: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, White Magic, Aa, Measles Mumps Rubella, Blood On The Wall

-- Mr. Harvey Weinstein (h...), March 18th, 2005.

I'll be in the bathroom, washing the egg off my face.

― Tantrum (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 18 March 2005 20:58 (8 years ago) Permalink

I agree with what Fact Checking Cuz has written in this thread. Like what I've heard from Sharon Jones, but something is missing, which is what I've been thinking about a lot since the passing of Lyn Collins.

― Sara Sherr, Saturday, 19 March 2005 03:33 (8 years ago) Permalink

Douglas Wolk's article from a few years ago should help those of you confused by the whole Brooklyn-retro-funk thing map it out: http://www.bostonphoenix.com/archive/music/99/06/10/SMALLMOUTH.html

I wrote something on Sharon Jones recently (a piece that owes DW's a hefty debt): http://www.citypages.com/databank/26/1263/article12972.asp

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Saturday, 19 March 2005 08:48 (8 years ago) Permalink

2 weeks pass...

Anyone going to this gig at Southpaw tonite?

― Keith C (kcraw916), Friday, 8 April 2005 18:10 (8 years ago) Permalink

I should note, in fairness, that I actually did wind up liking the "How Long Do I Have to Wait For You"? 45. Good song, good record.

Here is Douglas Wolk's review of the album:

http://www.villagevoice.com/music/0513,wolk,62487,22.html

― xhuxk, Friday, 8 April 2005 18:34 (8 years ago) Permalink

im gonna go tomorrow

― b b, Friday, 8 April 2005 18:56 (8 years ago) Permalink

As a fan of the late Lyn Collins and Vickie Anderson, I kinda liked "Dap-Dipping," but I haven't played it since I got it. Does seem pretty retro-for-its-own-sake to me; I liked Douglas's review, but it didn't convince me that I need to go get the second album. She's played here in Nashville a couple of times, and I hear they were great...

Didn't really like the latest Solomon Burke--I'm a fan of his Atlantic stuff and even of his soundtrack for "Cool Breeze" on which he does a version of the William Tell Overture...but he doesn't sing well, that Band tune he does is not such a great song ("stampeding cattle, they rattle the walls" sounds like a line from a bad parody Pavement tune), and while I'm a fan of Ray Parker Jr., why have Ray Parker play guitar, as good as he is, when you have Reggie Young? So I'm a purist. I think Howard Tate's last album was better than Burke's or even Al Green's last two, actually, as an updating of that sound.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Saturday, 9 April 2005 02:39 (8 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

wow, this record blew me away on first listen. I can certainly see why people would cry "classicism", but come on, it's like saying quantum physics rips off Einstein. (and Matos is otm in his article when he points out it's deemed perfectly fine for indie bands to ape their influences).

― Dominique (dleone), Saturday, 3 September 2005 12:52 (7 years ago) Permalink

The below songs are also worth checking out, Sharon Jones fans...

Top 25 Southern Soul Chart
http://www.soulandbluesreport.com/Top25Chart.html

The Nation's Official Southern Soul Chart

August 12, 2005

1
1
Baby I've Changed
Floyd Taylor
Malaco

3
2
If You Wanna Get It
Big Cynthia / Mr David
Tony Mercedes

2
3
Ten Toes Up J Diamond Washington
2 Brothers

7
4
Stroke It Easy Tazz Mardi Gras

4
5
Cheating & Lying T. K. Soul Soulful

5
6
Can't Nobody Do me Lenny Wms
Universal

6
7
Southern Soul Elec. Slide Team Airplay Allstars
Team Airplay

8
8
Better When You Steal It
Mr. David
Tony Mercedes

10
9
Somebody's Gonna Lose J Floyd / Wm Bell Wilbe

12
10
Stage In The Sky O. B. Buchana Ecko

13
11
Ease On Down Lee Shot Wms
Ecko

9
12
I'll Be Good To You Donnie Ray Ecko

11
13
Grown Folks Muzic Problem Solvas
Over 35 Sounds

17
14
The Blacker The Berry Chairmen OTB Surfside

18
15
Dance Like You're Naked Lee Fields BDA

14
16
Why Me Reggie P Allison

16
17
Scared Of Getting Caught Luther Lackey Good Time
19
18
I Came To Party
Sergio Davis Lyric

20
19
If Ever You Get Lonely
Willie Clayton Endzone

21
20
Sit Down On It Willis Pugh Hep Me
15
21
I Can't Stop Drinking O. B. Buchana Ecko
22
22
Cheatin John Marvin Sease
Malaco

23
23
I'm Missing You Babe
LeBrado Ifgam
-
24
Let Me Put The Head In It Theodis Ealey Ifgam
24
25
Its You
Troy Johnson SA

The Top 25 is calculated on a percentage formula based on stats from our reporting panel Of Radio Stations, Clubs/Record Pools & Retail Stores /Distributors

― steve k, Saturday, 3 September 2005 15:03 (7 years ago) Permalink

Ecko is a Memphis label, not sure where the others are from

― steve k, Saturday, 3 September 2005 15:06 (7 years ago) Permalink

4 months pass...

"How Long Do I Have to Wait For You" is one amazing song. Is the rest of the album this good?

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 23:29 (7 years ago) Permalink

i think that's the best song, but the rest is still pretty great.

― rajeev (rajeev), Thursday, 12 January 2006 00:17 (7 years ago) Permalink

8 months pass...

I just heard that song on the radio and thought it was some kind of lost soul classic I'd missed (that's the point though, right?)!

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Monday, 18 September 2006 23:29 (6 years ago) Permalink

I danced with her on stage at the Knitting Factory.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Monday, 18 September 2006 23:33 (6 years ago) Permalink

10 months pass...

New album 100 Days and 100 Nights due out in October. The new stuff up on their myspace is spectacular, particularly "Tell Me". Really excited for this.

http://www.myspace.com/sharonjonesandthedapkings

― The Brainwasher, Thursday, 26 July 2007 18:33 (5 years ago) Permalink

I hope this means they tour again. Best live show I've ever seen.

― The Reverend, Thursday, 26 July 2007 23:13 (5 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

She is blowing up. Every hipster maggot I know is throwing her name around. But damn if she's not the real deal?

― wanko ergo sum, Sunday, 4 November 2007 00:35 (5 years ago) Permalink

my roommate gave her weed!

― wanko ergo sum, Sunday, 4 November 2007 00:37 (5 years ago) Permalink

Album's in my top five for the year, and if anything I like the Binky Griptite bonus disc even more. Alas, I have neither danced with her nor given her weed.

― Joseph McCombs, Sunday, 4 November 2007 18:07 (5 years ago) Permalink

3 months pass...

The Beacon show last night was the best thing I've seen thus far this year. What a great time!

― forksclovetofu, Saturday, 16 February 2008 20:01 (5 years ago) Permalink

new orleans show was like the white people can't dance revue. they sounded great but ffs stop hauling people on stage to make asses of themselves. nb i'm sure you were great forks.

― adam, Saturday, 16 February 2008 21:59 (5 years ago) Permalink

no, i'm pretty sure I was lame. Fun tho'!

― forksclovetofu, Saturday, 16 February 2008 22:02 (5 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Not bad but way overhyped. This is soul for people who have never gone to see uh, old-school or current southern soul, with songs that aren't written by folks in blues brothers shades trying to imitate the past. Denise Lasalle and Miss Jody and other Southern soul/chitlin circuit artists have so much more vibrancy and better hooks. It's also annoying that she's like the token performer on that Dark Was the Night compilation that NPR blogger Carrie 'I only listen to bearded dudes since my band broke up plus Sharon Jones' Brownstein raved about.

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 12 May 2009 04:37 (4 years ago) Permalink

I know this is a douchey question, but have you seen her live? The records aren't much cop, but onstage she's a whole nother story.

― i would have sbs with all this white girls (The Reverend), Tuesday, 12 May 2009 08:22 (4 years ago) Permalink

Just saw her live for the 1st time the other night. Yea, she's energetic but there's something fake about the whole thing to me, plus as I think Douglas Wolk stated on some thread somewhere, the material just is not as catchy as it should be. Sorry to sound all uh, curmudgeonly, but as someone who's seen a fair amount of old-school soul live that's just how I feel.

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 12 May 2009 14:05 (4 years ago) Permalink

there's something fake about the whole thing to me, plus as I think Douglas Wolk stated on some thread somewhere, the material just is not as catchy as it should be

Second both of these points. And I also think her singing is maybe C-level, from the perspective of the kind of music she's imitating. (But no, I have not seen her live myself. Maybe I should someday.)

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 12 May 2009 14:09 (4 years ago) Permalink

Also possible that, with better material, I'd like her more; hard to tell.

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 12 May 2009 14:10 (4 years ago) Permalink

Thought her single a couple years ago "How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?" was not bad. But "What If We Stopped Paying Taxes?" (what, a tea party anthem already?) and her version of "This Land Is Your Land" just seemed ridiculous to me. As lady-soul-tokens-curated-by-indie-nerd-rock-labels go, I actually think the new Betty Padgett album (on Nomo-associated Uni/Luv N' Haight) beats any Sharon Jones album I've heard. But even one that one doesn't hold a candle than any number of random '60s or '70s soul-gal LPs you could pick up for a buck or two at your local thrift store (not to mention, judging from curmudgeon's recommendations and the songs I hear on Southern Soul shows on the radio, any number of current records by soul women still performing to 40/50something soul fans in the South -- which is to say, possibly bigger crowds than go see Ms. Jones).

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 12 May 2009 14:23 (4 years ago) Permalink

But even one that one doesn't hold a candle than any number of random '60s or '70s soul-gal LPs you could pick up for a buck or two at your local thrift store

oh to have such a thrift store available.

― mark e, Tuesday, 12 May 2009 14:34 (4 years ago) Permalink

Actually, I just noticed that I'd posted a similar rant, making some of the same points, upthread four years ago; oh well. Should say though that I'm maybe being a little unfair in calling Sharon a token for her record label, since she's long been associated with indie-nerd labels curating several such soul revivers. But I do get the idea she's a token for much of her audience (unless, say, Beth Ditto, counts. Or, I dunno, Lisa Kekaula of the Bell-Rays, if any indie rock fans still even care about her.)

― xhuxk, Tuesday, 12 May 2009 14:43 (4 years ago) Permalink

I feel like Sharon Jones shows the danger of reverence—it's necessarily distancing, a sublimation of the individual to this Platonic soul ideal that ignores the idiosyncrasies of soul performance. It's being bounded so much by their love of the genre that they (her, Dap Kings, and their fans) are afraid to push at the edges of it. And it's conservative in a way that the great themes of soul music—teenage love, heartbreak, dancing, fucking, civil unrest—never were. She sacrifices being in the moment for being of the genre, a trade-off that I don't think is worthy.

― THESE ARE MY FEELINGS! FEEL MY FEELINGS! (I eat cannibals), Tuesday, 12 May 2009 18:35 (4 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Oooh.

Does Sharon Jones need to care that her audience is full of white hipsters?

― jaymc, Friday, 21 May 2010 15:46 (3 years ago) Permalink

I've been noting on the chitlin circuit soul thread for years that Sharon Jones is marketed exclusively to indie-rockers. And of course, while it's not quite retro-soul in the same vein, the kind of soulful stuff that Chuck Eddy and I have been writing about on the chitlin circuit soul thread gets ignored completely in this article(because it is not so marketed).

Chitlin Circuit Double-entendre -filled Soul 2004 (and onward) Theodis Ealey's "Stand Up In It" is a song of the year

― curmudgeon, Friday, 21 May 2010 16:42 (3 years ago) Permalink

i dunno is this any different than, say, jazz guys in the late 50s playing to mainly white audiences? Also, dang, long article based on Brooklyn Vegan comments.

― tylerw, Friday, 21 May 2010 16:46 (3 years ago) Permalink

or jazz dudes going to france and scandanavia and etc to find audiences that would pay good money to see them.

i just hate articles like this, it's like any musician is lucky to find people that love what they do and are willing to pay to see them...

― i saw a necromancer at the buffalo wild wings in west st. paul (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 21 May 2010 16:50 (3 years ago) Permalink

xp Different in that she's only really actively sought a career within the past ten years, I guess? Maybe someone like Betty LaVerne would make a better comparison with your jazzers.

― The Reverend, Friday, 21 May 2010 16:51 (3 years ago) Permalink

sharon jones should not be concerned that there are white people in her audience, no.

― Police Cool. (crüt), Friday, 21 May 2010 16:51 (3 years ago) Permalink

I just want to say that I replayed her few-years-old "How Long Do I Have To Wait For You?" 45 a few days ago, and was surprised to find that I still like it enough to keep it. But right, she's dime-a-dozen compared to most of the current music by beloved singers her audience has never heard of that I hear on Southern Soul radio shows all the time; there's a good chance that music's fans -- who seem to, mainly, be black people in their 40s or older -- would find her mediocre. In the indie/adult-alternative realm, she still strikes me as a novelty act. More power to her, I guess; it's cool that she found an audience.

(Haven't read that piece linked to yet, fwiw.)

― xhuxk, Friday, 21 May 2010 16:52 (3 years ago) Permalink

the beach music scene of SC (which also grew out of the 60s soul tradition) has been fueled by a largely white audience iirc

― Police Cool. (crüt), Friday, 21 May 2010 16:53 (3 years ago) Permalink

xp (And I've still yet to hear any other songs by her as good as that one. Though I admittedly haven't checked out everything she's done.)

― xhuxk, Friday, 21 May 2010 16:54 (3 years ago) Permalink

I read one page of that article before becoming too disgusted to finish.

Sharon Jones OTM, basically.

― Have a slice of wine! (HI DERE), Friday, 21 May 2010 17:05 (3 years ago) Permalink

Tangari agrees, but he thinks it's fair to ask if the Dap-Kings would be as popular if Jones were white.

"That's really hard to say, but I kind of don't think so," he says. "She'd just be coming from a different place, and it's also unlikely they'd have the same sound they do, which is part of what helps them."

questions like this are kinda bullshit IMO...like music "quality" is this scientific thing, you put a sharon jones MP3 in a petri dish and use and eye dropper to put some chemical on it and it turns blue if the music is "good"

i mean, sure, yeah race, class, clothes, personality, a whole shitload of things make a difference in how you see a performer

would bowie have been the same if he dropped the exact same ziggy stardust album but looked like rupert holmes?

― i saw a necromancer at the buffalo wild wings in west st. paul (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, 21 May 2010 17:11 (3 years ago) Permalink

Oh yeah -- Also heard her version of "This Land Is Your Land" again this week, by accident -- it was played over the opening credits of Up In The Air, which I finally rented through Netflix. Her song struck me as worse than the movie, which I didn't like all that much.

― xhuxk, Friday, 21 May 2010 17:19 (3 years ago) Permalink

There are African-Americans still interested in soul though--but for the most part they're not interested in Sharon Jones because she's not marketed to them (and / or they may not like her throwback approach). When I saw Southern soul circuit regulars Lattimore and Marvin Sease and others on a big bill a year and a half ago at the Showplace Arena in Maryland outside Washington DC the nearly 3,000 people crowd consisted almost entirely of age 40 and up African-Americans. White guy me counted 5 other white people there. When I saw Sharon Jones at the 930 Club, the 1,000 person crowd was nearly all 20-something white folks. The Southern soul music labels are not reaching out to those Sharon Jones fans and those fans (including the likes of David Byrne, and Carrie Brownstein) are not seeking out Ecko and Malaco and other Southern soul label releases.

― curmudgeon, Friday, 21 May 2010 18:26 (3 years ago) Permalink

failure of marketing imo

― dud rock (crüt), Friday, 21 May 2010 18:30 (3 years ago) Permalink

sharon jones has a story angle -- the rikers island cop turned soul diva thing -- that npr-types love. that definitely accounts for some of their higher profile, right? but i'm curious -- you put sharon in front of a crowd like you describe in Maryland ... and they wouldn't go over well? they sort of strike me as a band that would go over well *anywhere*.

― tylerw, Friday, 21 May 2010 18:31 (3 years ago) Permalink

these kind of discussions always strike me as a way of avoiding having to handle the more difficult task of evaluating an artists work honestly & critically ...

― its like why GROCERY BAG and not saddam? (deej), Sunday, 23 May 2010 17:08 (3 years ago) Permalink

It would be very sad if this kind of thing fuels a backlash against her. But it's not unlikely.

― Shin Oliva Suzuki, Friday, 28 May 2010 13:57 (2 years ago) Permalink

7 months pass...

I hope this means they tour again. Best live show I've ever seen.

― The Reverend, Thursday, July 26, 2007 7:13 PM Bookmark

So should I splurge for NYE tickets since we have nothing else to do other than a couple of parties where we won't know anyone?

― I can take a youtube that's seldom seen, flip it, now it's a meme (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 21:00 (2 years ago) Permalink

Fuck it, I did it.

Man, motherfuck a "processing fee" though. The tickets wound up about 20% more expensive than advertised. I'm writing to Obama about this.

― I can take a youtube that's seldom seen, flip it, now it's a meme (Hurting 2), Wednesday, 29 December 2010 21:06 (2 years ago) Permalink

worth every penny

― I can take a youtube that's seldom seen, flip it, now it's a meme (Hurting 2), Saturday, 1 January 2011 06:51 (2 years ago) Permalink

"daerest obama, this sharon jones show was worth every penny!!! you should check her out when she plays dc!!!!"

― not everything is a campfire (ian), Saturday, 1 January 2011 06:58 (2 years ago) Permalink

rock the fuck out hurting; she's a a great show
i'm friends with one of the sweet divines; how'd ya like their fauxtown stylings?

― predeep natsvitika (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 1 January 2011 16:00 (2 years ago) Permalink

Um, they weren't on the bill. I think you're thinking of the Marva Whitney show at the Bell House.

But Allen Toussaint was amazing.

― I can take a youtube that's seldom seen, flip it, now it's a meme (Hurting 2), Saturday, 1 January 2011 16:02 (2 years ago) Permalink

The Dap-Kings are such a great, great band. They did "Get Out My Life Woman" with him and it really sounded like his original recording.

― I can take a youtube that's seldom seen, flip it, now it's a meme (Hurting 2), Saturday, 1 January 2011 16:03 (2 years ago) Permalink

o fuck right, wrong show. tous is always an amazing time though; i think i've been at something like fourteen live perfs with him and he's always a mindboggler.

― predeep natsvitika (forksclovetofu), Saturday, 1 January 2011 16:06 (2 years ago) Permalink

1 year passes...

Just realized that my wedding photographer/shortlived former bassist in my band did the cover photo for I Learned the Hard Way. [ /brag ]

― bert yansh (Hurting 2), Thursday, 16 August 2012 23:47 (9 months ago) Permalink

Blick?

― "Batshit crazy," the foam clog tycoon said. (forksclovetofu), Friday, 17 August 2012 04:04 (9 months ago) Permalink

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YOU LOVE IT: sharon jones & the dap kings - "naturally"