Sharon Jones And The Dap-Kings - Give The People What They Want (Album Review)
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Written by Huw Baines
On Retreat, the opening track from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings’ ‘Give The People What They Want’, Jones sings: “Play with me and you play with fire.” A song that trades in steely barbs between lovers, it has assumed a new role for Jones following her recent battle against cancer.
‘Give The People What They Want’ was initially set for release last summer but was knocked from Jones’ to do list following her diagnosis. Music, in a wider sense, soon joined it on the sidelines.
“Music is my joy, is my happiness, and that's what everyone doesn't seem to understand,” Jones recently told NPR. “They're like, 'What? You didn't listen to music?'
"No! I didn't feel happy with my music. I couldn't keep it on my mind, because that's a whole other Sharon. Music is my joy, and since I've been sick, I can't concentrate on the music. I'm just basically concentrating on trying to get well.”
Jones completed her final chemotherapy session a matter of weeks ago and is now preparing to follow up this release with a wide-ranging tour, which will take the Dap-Kings across the States, into Canada and over to Europe.
This new batch of songs will provide its fair share of highlights in a live setting. ‘Give The People What They Want’ isn’t as sweeping as the superb ‘100 Days, 100 Nights’, but it pulses with energy, driven on by Jones’ mesmerising delivery and a band that’s rarely sounded better.
They tear up the revival tag that’s often attached to their work in the opening moments; this is a group of musicians that could have gone toe-to-toe with the greats of Motown. Jones possesses the inimitable swagger of someone who lives for this music, her vocals laced with feeling and dripping with attitude.
From the bounce of Stranger To My Happiness to the easy, brass-driven soul of Get Up And Get Out and the ‘50s pop harmonies that adorn Making Up And Breaking Up, there’s also a deftness of touch throughout, with Jones and her band able to turn their hands to different aspects of the soul spectrum in style.
There are a couple of duds along the way - notably the momentum-sucking We Get Along - but in just over half an hour, ‘Give The People What They Want’ succeeds in doing just that.
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