Description
It’s possible to tick off the influences on a Sharon Jones album; the Motown beats of Stranger to My Happiness, the Stax horns on You’ll Be Lonely and Now I See (perilously close to Try a Little Tenderness); a Joe Tex riff here, an Aretha wail there. No matter, the 50-something from Brooklyn is her own diva and sounds at once wounded, defiant and exuberant. Producer-bassist Bosco Mann runs a tight band with its own tricks (no Motown hit used a congalero), and which purrs along so joyously the influences fade to leave a core of unadulterated soul Long may Queen Sharon reign.
