Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - Give The People What They Want

Few albums have carried the emotional weight of this one without ever letting it show. Recorded at Daptone's House of Soul in Bushwick, Brooklyn and produced by Bosco Mann (Gabriel Roth) on 8-track tape, Give The People What They Want was slated for an August 2013 release when Sharon Jones was diagnosed with stage II pancreatic cancer and the whole project was forced to wait. Her final chemotherapy session was on New Year's Eve. The album came out January 14, 2014. She went back on the road in February.

The ten songs were written before the diagnosis, but the album's themes of strength, defiance, and stubborn joy hit differently in that context. Jones dismisses a faithless lover on the opening "Retreat!," cuts down fair-weather friends on "Now I See," and takes aim at the idle rich on "People Don't Get What They Deserve," the Dapettes weaving in call-and-response vocals behind her with the precision of a Stax house ensemble. "Making Up and Breaking Up" carries a Ronettes-tinged looseness, while the closing ballad "Slow Down, Love" lets Jones stretch out in a way that quiets the room. Throughout, Bosco Mann's springy horn arrangements and the Dap-Kings' thunderous rhythm section provide exactly the backbone this music demands.

The album earned a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Album, and arrived with no major label support and no radio hits behind it, the same way every Daptone release always has. Sharon Jones passed away in November 2016. Give The People What They Want stands as one of her finest hours and a record that sounds as vital and alive today as it did the year it came out.