rubber soul

I have my review but I'm hoping to see others chime in first. I always thought the suggestor so to speak should chime in last, but hey, that's me.

Anyway, I'll post my review tomorrow so we can move on.

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Lisnaholic

Yep, I feel that's the polite, sensible order in which to do things too. Sorry that I've been v busy, but will try to put a short review up today or tomorrow.

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

Marie Monday

I should be able to review regularly again in two weeks

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Trollheart

Yeah that's pretty much how I feel too. Not much point in putting up your review and enthusing over it, then seeing everyone crap all over your album! So much better to defend it AFTER it's been crapped on!

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

music_collector

Nah, that's not so bad! If you truly love the album, it won't really matter what others think. You can't please everyone.

Lisnaholic

^ Haha! So true, Trollheart.

Sharon Jones: 100 Days, 100 Nights

This album sounded a lot better than what I imagined when I first saw the cover.

The title track and opener is a good, soulful jazz-blues number, and if anyone overlooked the quality of Sharon Jones's voice on that one, her powerful voice is on full display on the next track.
Track 3, Tell Me, sounded more like what I'd expected just from looking at the album cover: a female singing sixties-style pop, but then the album returns to a jazzy style with Be Easy Baby. Next track has some really sweet stuff going on in the horn section, then the tempo slows down a bit with Let Them Knock , and to be honest, so does my interest at this point.

100 Days is a very polished performance with expert musicians and a great singer, but it doesn't hold my attention for long. I'm just not that interested in hearing an old-style jazz-club singer reciting songs about her man troubles. To me, the lyrics are kind of generic love-song stuff: "Something's changed in your eyes" "Doncha hear me calling" and I'm sure at some point SJ admonishes, "You'd better pack your bags".

I got two surprises from this album: TH's ten out of ten, and the album's recording date of 2007: from the cover (again) and the lyrics, I thought it might be some undiscovered gem from the '60s, but coming as it does from 40 years later, I'm inclined to deduct points for its unadventurousness.

So, a well-crafted album in a style I don't much care for: a bit of a rating dilemma, so I'll go for a hesitant 6/10

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"Am I enjoying this moment? I know of it and perhaps that is enough." - Sybille Bedford, 1953

music_collector

I too was surprised to see 2007 as the release year. It sounds like a much older recording.

Carpe Mortem

100 Days, 100 Nights
I've always loved this song, whenever I heard it in a movie or a compilation... and kept forgetting to look into it. So, nice treat. Sexy little number. Favorited on Spotify.
9/10

Nobody's Baby
This one was pretty forgettable. Disappointing after track one.
1/10

Tell Me
Very forgettable, hardly heard it
.5/10

Be Easy
Piqued my interest again. Very smooth and bouncy, very comforting - like a Max Fleischer car ride down a winding dirt road on a Sunday afternoon.
6/10

When the Other Foot Drops, Uncle
Girl power. Tell 'em.
3.5/10

Let Them Knock
I like the vocals starting off sexy. This track oozed desire for obvious reasons.
4/10

Something's Changed
I felt like this tried to echo 100 Days 100 Nights but wasn't half as good.
2/10

Humble Me
Nice change of pace. Getting major 'Please Don't Let me be Misunderstood' vibes. Still not that impressive.
3/10

Keep on Looking
Different further still - but without being innovative whatsoever. It is only innovative from its peers on this album. At least it would be nice to drive to. Fun horns.
5/10

Answer Me
Got boring again. There's worse but what an anticlimactic closer.
3.5

An overall average of 3.8 ..... I'll round up to 5 and it sounds about right. Shame about the rest of these because the first track is so, so good. But I found myself completely devoid of inspiration or desire to write anything interesting about most of these because they weren't worth the effort.

5/10

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rubber soul

SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS
100 DAYS AND 1OO NIGHTS


Okay, so you may be wondering why I chose this retro R&B album. Well, as you may know I’m into sixties garage rock as well as retro garage so, naturally I was curious if there was any retro R&B out there, and that’s how I stumbled onto this gem.

Sharon Jones has an interesting history as her career didn’t even start until she was forty. When it did take off and even though she didn’t receive a lot in terms of airplay, it didn’t stop her from nabbing a Grammy nomination for Give the People What They Want in 2014. By then, she had been tragically diagnosed with bile duct cancer, a condition which would end her life two years later.

As far as this 2007 release goes, all I can say is wow. It starts off with the title track which alone is enough to recommend this album. But then it gets into an early seventies funk mood with Nobody’s Baby and then goes into a bit of a Motown/Stax feel on Tell Me. Indeed, this album is very influenced by Stax in particular with also some nods to the house bands at Atlantic that backed up classic singers such as Aretha Franklin.

Other tracks that I especially like are When the Other Foot Drops, Uncle (think a female Otis Redding here), and Something’s Changed, but really, there isn’t a weak song on this entire album. Like Trollheart, I love the vocals, but I’m also very impressed with the use of the guitars, particularly on Other Foot Drops.

So, while I won’t give this a ten (I only save that for the absolute classics; Stevie Wonder’s Innervisions for example). It is an easy nine.

And if you like this album, give I Learned the Hard Way a shot too. They’re quite consistent as a band.


Rating: 9/10 (the word has spoken )

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alec_

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