Modern American pop culture wishes it lived 40 years ago. Mad Men, hipster record collections, and the preponderance of vintage stores all hearken back to a time when beehives and sequins were fashion norms and the Shaft theme was the fantasy intro music of choice. In this environment of nostalgia, soul is making a mainstream comeback thanks to bands like Daptone Records’ Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, whose hit 2007 single “100 Days, 100 Nights” blew morose indie band offerings out of the proverbial water, proving that sax and trumpet solos can be rocked by non-Kenny G-related acts. It is with this soul resurgence in mind that Daptone Records has released Daptone Gold, a compilation album packed with enough groove to coax a James Brown howl from even the most bespectacled and skinny-jeaned of indie fans.
Daptone gives the album an additional dose of authenticity with a 50-second intro from Binky Griptite. This may seem like an inconsequential detail that takes up valuable disc space, but you have to remember: Daptone isn’t intending you to load Gold onto your iPod shuffle to mindlessly distract you on your trip to the grocery store. The album plays more like a live recording of the most star-studded soul set imaginable; track placement is everything, and there are no singles. That said, Daptone hasn’t ignored Sharon Jones’ mainstream success; the modern Queen of Soul offers no fewer than seven titles on the 23-track album, bookending the collection with “I’m Not Gonna Cry,” which single-handedly brings the sex back into bari-sax solos, and “Stranded In Your Love,” a gorgeous duet with Lee Fields that could more than hold its own in love-song-duet battle with Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.
If you come for Sharon Jones, you’ll stay for The Budos Band’s toe-tapping, vocal-less jams like “Up From the South” and “Ghost Walk,” and Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens’ classic frontman/backup-girls combo in “What Have We Done.” As hard as it is to restrain yourself from skipping around to your Gold favorites, try to listen to the album all the way through, in one sitting, for the most invigorating evening of soul you’ll find outside the Apollo. You’ll be rewarded with at least three new favorite bands and an unmistakable urge to track down a good pair of dancing shoes.
1. Introduction – Binky Griptite
2. I’m Not Gonna Cry – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
3. Up From the South – The Budos Band
4. What Have You Done – Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens
5. How Long Do I Have To Wait For You? – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
6. Could Have Been – Lee Fields
7. Che Che Cole (Makossa) – Antibalas featuring Mayla Vega
8. Budos Rising – The Budos Band
9. Got A Thing On My Mind – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
10. The World Is Going Up In Flames – Charles Bradley & Menahan Street Band
11. Make It Good To Me – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
12. Stand Up – Lee Fields and Sugarman & Co
13. What Is This – Naomi Shelton & the Gospel Queens
14. A Lover Like Me – Binky Griptite with The Sugarman Three
15. Make The Road By Walking – Menahan Street Band
16. Tell Me – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
17. Down To It – Sugarman & Co
18. Nervous Like Me – The Dap-Kings
19. Giving Up – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
20. Ghost Walk – The Budos Band
21. I Need You To Hold My Hand – The Gospel Queens featuring Cynthia Langston
22. The Stroll Pt. 2 – Binky Griptite & the Mellomatics
23. Stranded In Your Love – Sharon Jones & Lee Fields