Album: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Soul Time! (Daptone)

Soul Time! is a near-perfect expression of retro-soul style that grips from its opening bars.

It's as if all the components of classic soul – Memphis, Chicago, Detroit and Muscle Shoals – have been distilled into one album: there is even a ghetto-Christmas anthem ("Ain't No Chimneys In The Projects") and an astrological reference – "I don't care much about his sign/ But a man's got to be gen-u-ine!" sings Sharon in the opening "Genuine", a James Brown-style two-parter. "Settling In" has the structure of classic Memphis soul, while "New Shoes" brings the Motown tambourine groove up to date and "What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes?" has the most contagious funk itch since Sly Stone lost his mojo.

DOWNLOAD THIS: Genuine Pts 1 & 2; Longer And Stronger; What If We All Stopped Paying Taxes?; Settling In; New Shoes