WHAT COMES NATURALLY posted by O.W.

Soul Sides Podcast #5 - Sharon Jones Special
Selections from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: Naturally (Daptones, 2005).

Bonus track: DJ Greyboy with Quantic feat. Sharon Jones: Got To Be Love (Paul Nice Remix)
From 12" (Ubiquity, 2004). Original version on Soul Mosaic (Ubiquity, 2004)

I'm such a fan of this new album by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. I sing more thorough praises on the Podcast but the gist of it is this: this band makes incredible soul and funk music and this is, by far, not only the best thing I've heard from Daptone Records, but probably one of the best "retro-soul" albums I've heard from any group or artist. Her high-powered funk blasts are great but the ballads and mid-tempo groovers are even better.

As a bonus, I'm including the sold out, 12"-only Paul Nice remix of "Got To Be Love," a song by Greyboy and Quantic, featuring Jones. Nice does a great job with the remix here - super-snappy, soulful and funky to the bone.

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ELSEWHERE

Diddy Wah brings the rock n' funk on a new audioblog.

EARLY ARETHA posted by O.W.

Soul Sides Podcast #4: January 3, 2005
Assorted Aretha Franklin songs from Jazz to Soul and Queen In Waiting.

Aretha Franklin: One Step Ahead
From 7" (Columbia, 1964)

Aretha Franklin's early career - on Columbia Records - is highlighted in the first Soul Sides Podcast for 2005. The voice quality is a little worse than normal (sorry, technical limitations and all) but lots of good songs here, including a full version of the elusive "One Step Ahead."

If people don't mind dropping some feedback in the comments section: let me know if the Podcast site feed function is working properly. Thanks - O.W.

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By the way, Home of the Groove has one of the best songs ever up right now: "A Lover and a Friend" by Eddie Bo and Inez Cheatham.