![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thetwofingers.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/sharon-jones-soul-of-a-woman-300x300.jpg\")
Formed in 2001, the American funk and soul label, Daptone\u00a0 Records is, in terms of both recording methods and quality of output, the nearest we now have to classic Stax or Motown. So, when in the space of little over a year, the label lost not only their two biggest stars\u00a0but two giants of the soul scene, full-stop, it could be considered something of a disaster.<\/p>\n
Firstly, in November 2016, Sharon Jones succumbed to the cancer she had fought so bravely for several years, and then, in September this year, we also lost The Screaming Eagle of Soul,\u00a0 Charles Bradley, also to cancer. Although both artists were relatively late starters in their professional careers,\u00a0they\u00a0both released records that, when measured against some of the finest soul albums of the past 60 years, comfortably hold their own. Cruelly, at the time of their premature\u00a0deaths, both singers were at the peak of their powers with, undoubtedly, some of their best work still to come.<\/p>\n
Including their 2015 Christmas album “It’s\u00a0A Holiday Soul Party”,\u00a0 “Soul Of A Woman” is Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings seventh studio album since they first entered\u00a0the studio to record their, and Daptone Records, d\u00e9but record “Dap Dippin With Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings” back in 2002. Since then, although proudly flying the retro-soul tag in a generation full of manufactured, bland and generic singers often touted as “the next ———” (fill in blanks depending on record company desperation), Miss Jones proved, with each new release,\u00a0that she was the real deal – and then some. On their last studio album proper – 2014’s “Give The People What They Want”\u00a0<\/a>–\u00a0 armed with their best set of songs yet, they sounded more cohesive and fully formed than ever, despite Sharon’s illness, and subsequent treatment, delaying its release.<\/p>\n