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Sweet-soul-music fans, rejoice! Daptone, the label that has kept the authentic sounds of R&B alive from its base in Brooklyn since 2001, has released a stellar compilation of hits, rarities, and previously unreleased material from their talented family of artists.
Dominating the collection are tracks by label co-owner Gabriel Roth’s band Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, including their 2007 hit “Tell Me” and an excellent cover of the Gladys Knight song “Giving Up.” But Jones and company aren’t the only stars twinkling in this stratosphere. Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens take it to church on two fiercely forged numbers, and Binky Griptite breaks it down old-school in collaboration with both the Sugarman Three and the Mellomatics. But beware of Roth’s “favorite all-time Daptone cut,” the Lee Fields track “Could Have Been.” This love ballad’s lonesome wailing is so potent, it could reduce any listener closely acquainted with heartbreak to a quivering, weeping mass on her bedroom floor.
