Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings - I Learned the Hard Way

This, the fourth album from Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, is surely their best and most consistent effort so far. The style is the same as the previous three a retro blend of Stax, Volt and Atlantic label soul, but I've got no problem with that.
It is a steady paced affair with Jones consistently hitting the highs and belting out the lows with ease and in a style that seems a little more controlled than before. The Dap Kings themselves are as tight an outfit as ever whether it is with the big dynamic brass bursts on songs like "If You Call" or gently accentuating the sorrow of emotive opener “The Game Gets Old”. The guitar work here should also not go unnoticed in its simple but very effective way with light licks here or a funkier strut there, as on "Better Things to Do". Probably the best song is "Money". It starts as a slow almost blusey affair then builds with Jones again wringing out the emotion of what we've all most likely faced recently in light of a recession money problems! Running it a close second has to be the hip-shaking tale of growing up fast "She Ain't a Child No More".

"I Learned The Hard Way" may not be ground breaking or even hinting at a new direction for Jones & her Kings but this is a classic sound and no matter how you dress it great music is great music!