Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings- Dap Dippin (2002)

I have to thank my wife for introducing me to this group; I'm usually reluctant when it comes to listening to her suggestions, why?  I don't know, but she was right about the quality of  Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings. 

Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings are part of a revivalist movement, to bring back the R&B/Soul/Funk sounds of the 60's and 70's, and they do a great job.  Since first being introduced to this project, I have heard other albums and seen them on PBS and I have enjoyed all of it.  With all the traditional vocals styles and instrumentation of the original Funk/Soul movement of the 60's/70's, this project has hit the nail on the head within their revivalist movement.  Fat walking bass lines that are accompanied with different saxophones, great guitar work, drumming and vocals it's easy to see how Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings could go back in time and be a mainstay in their genre.  Each track has an energy that produces the listener to tap in a rhythm or sing along to the social/Funk style lyrics.  With 11 tracks that come in around the 45 minute mark, this is an album that goes by really fast once you start listening to it. 

If you like funky beat driven upbeat music, you will really like this.  I would recommend this to any listener/music fan that enjoys this style of music and even if you are more into the sounds of the original Funk/Soul/R&B era, you will still like this; they are a throwback to when music was music and not overly produced to speak to the mainstream musical audience.

Official score- 3.5/5

Jean Pierre Massiera- Psychoses Discoid 1976-1981 (2008)

So I found this due to the name and the cover, I thought both seemed pretty interesting.  (As a side note, I get a lot of bad music basing choices off of names/cover art; I'll go further and say that is the same with foreign films.  My wife tells me that I am not allowed to pick a foreign film, when we are both supposed to watch it, because I always choose the seemingly worst one possible.)  With a french name and a series of date from the late 70's to '81, how bad could it be?

With my idea of the possibility of coolness based on superficial qualities, I was partial amused by this album.  First and foremost, this is a collection of Disco songs, that Jean Pierre Massiera either played in, produced or edited.  Each song is by a different artist and all, I mean all, are disco tracks!  I will follow that last sentence up with the fact that 1/3 of the songs are pretty cool, and most of the songs have really bad ass bass lines; that's where it ends.  If you ask any friends that have known me for any length of time, then they'll tell you this is not the kind of album that I would like; so.... I'll be honest and say that it isn't all that bad.  The songs can be catchy, some of the songs have lyrics in different languages and seriously, the bass on most of the tracks are awesome.  Disco is disco, there isn't really too much to explain about it; all these songs are very similar and the album as a whole is pretty much like listening to a compilation of like-minded bands.

You'll like this if you like Disco, or if you are into catchy dance type music; like P. Murph.  I probably won't listen to this again after I did for this review, but it might stay in the music collection for archival purposes.  (and the fact that I really don't like getting rid of any kind of music, even if I hate it.)

Official score- 2.75/5