Daptone

Thanks to Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings’ recent success, it seems that everyone is now down with the Daptone label. Featuring a few unreleased cuts, the rest of Daptone Gold’s 23 tracks are obscurities from the label’s limited edition 7" singles and popular cuts from its albums. As such Daptone Gold a treasure trove of vintage soul, Afro-beat, gospel, groove and funk that is a fine overview of what the label has been doing over the last 9 years. Nuggets include Jones’s unreleased version of Gladys Knight and the Pips “Giving Up” and Lee Fields’ soul wrenching “Could Have Been.” The only real improvement might have been to release all previously unreleased material. But then they’d have to change the title wouldn’t they?