You can find out what the fine critic, Richard Williams, thinks about Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings
here.
Here are some of his thoughts:
"Ive been listening to Give the People What They Want, the new album from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Theres so much to like about it. As usual, Sharon proves herself to be an outstanding soul singer, worthy of consideration alongside the likes of Betty Wright, Jean Knight and Ann Peebles. The musicians are terrific: they and their producers demonstrate a perfect understanding of the relevant styles and textures of the late 1960s and early 70s. The singer and her band are so good at what they do that you never even stop to think that youre listening to a recreation.
"Only in one area can it be said that they fail to do themselves justice, and unfortunately its an important one: the songwriting. Once again all their material comes from inside the collective, mostly from the pens of bassist Bosco Mann, drummer Homer Steinweiss and saxophonist Cochemea Gastelum. Idiomatically speaking, its all fine. The funky swing of We Get Along, by Steinweiss and guitarist Joseph Crispiano, the walking bass line and great horn chart of Steinweisss Now I See, punctuated by tympani, and the sweet uptown soul of Manns Making Up and Breaking Up are extremely pleasant to the ear, but none of them contains the sort of hook, were these songs released as A-sides, that would make you put the needle back to the beginning over and over again until the whole thing had burned itself into your brain.
"For me, the closest they got to that was in 2007 with Tell Me, a track written by guitarist Neil Sugarman for their third album, 100 Days 100 Nights. Now that had everything: not just a groove that grabs you and wont let go, the smeary horns, the great lead vocal and the essential Northern Soul ingredient of vibes like broken milk-bottles, but a chorus that sticks to the ribs. I wish they had a few more of those."
I'm a newcomer to Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings and will have to investigate some more.
Jack