Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - Just Dropped In (2020) [Official Digital Download 24/88]

The first time I saw Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, nearly 20 years ago at the legendary Frank’s Cocktail Lounge in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, I turned to my companion and said, “I get it — they’re a classic R&B cover band that plays originals.” While not completely inaccurate, my hot take was seriously short-sighted. In the years that followed, until Jones’ death from cancer in 2016, she and the band became one of the most formidable ensembles in the game, establishing a thriving studio and label, backing Amy Winehouse on her classic “Back to Black” album, opening for Prince on his 2011 arena tour, and most importantly releasing a series of albums that found them working vintage R&B into new yet familiar shapes.

Still, that initial impression has come full circle with this posthumous covers compilation — cleverly if longwindedly titled “Just Dropped in to See What Condition My Rendition Was In” — which collects a wildly diverse baker’s dozen of songs, around half of them previously unreleased, recorded at various stages and for varying reasons all across their career. The bill of fare ranges from Prince’s “Take Me With U” to Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” from Janet Jackson’s “What Have You Done for Me Lately” and Shuggie Otis’ “Inspiration Information” to ‘60s classics like Fontella Bass’ “Rescue Me” and the song that inspired this album’s title (“Just Dropped In to See What Condition My Condition Was In,” originally performed by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition and given a second life by “The Big Lebowski”).

TRACKLIST

1. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours
2. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - Little by Little
3. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)
4. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - Here I Am Baby
5. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - What Have You Done for Me Lately?
6. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - Take Me With U
7. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - This Land Is Your Land
8. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - Inspiration Information
9. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - Giving Up
10. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - Rescue Me
11. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - In the Bush
12. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - It Hurts to Be Alone
13. Sharon Jones & The Dap-kings - Trespasser



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