100 Days, 100 Nights

100 Days, 100 Nights
Studio album by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Released October 2, 2007
Recorded 2006
Genre Funk, Soul
Label Daptone
DAP-012
Producer Bosco Mann
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings chronology

Naturally
(2005)		 100 Days, 100 Nights
(2007)		 I Learned the Hard Way
(2010)

100 Days, 100 Nights is the third studio album by American funk band Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. Recorded in 2006, it was released on Daptone Records October 2, 2007.

Production

100 Days, 100 Nights contains influences from sixties era funk and afrobeats. The album was recorded by Bosco Mann at the in house studios of Daptone Records, using a completely analogue system as well as releasing 45's on vinyl with the intent of creating an old school sound reminiscent of the original funk of the 1960s.[1] The first track, also titled "100 Days, 100 Nights" is written about love, making reference to this being the number of days needed for a man's heart to unfold.[2]

Release

The music video for "100 Days,100 Nights", directed by Adam Elias Buncher, was shot exclusively using authentic vintage cameras from the 1950s, and in a simple style likened to a performance on The Ed Sullivan Show.[3]

On the vinyl pressing of the album, Side One has the message "This is a hit!" written in the matrix, or the run-off groove. This is a reference to James Brown and what he had said during the recording sessions for "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" (as heard on the Star Time box set). Side Two of the album honors Brown with the message "For the Godfather".

The CD pressing of the album includes a promotional bonus disc of selected material from the Daptone Records catalog, presented as a radio program called "Binky Griptite's Ghettofunkpowerhour". This bonus disc runs an additional fifty eight minutes and introduces the fictitious WDAP radio station, featuring an additional 27 tracks of music and dialogue. This promotional disc was never released for individual sale, but was later available as a free download for MP3.[4]

The song Nobody's Baby was used in the pilot episode (titled Lori Gilbert) of the Canadian TV police drama series King.

Critical Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [5]
The A.V. Club B+ [6]
Los Angeles Times [7]
Okayplayer (89/100) [8]
Pitchfork Media (8.0/10) [9]
Robert Christgau [10]
Rolling Stone
PopMatters (7/10) [11]
Stylus Magazine A− [12]

100 Days, 100 Nights received generally positive reviews. On Metacritic, the album has a score of 79 out of 100.[13]

Joe Tangari of Pitchfork Media gave the album a score of 8.0 out of 10, writing "... They may not be doing anything especially new, but Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings are the very best at what they do, and they've made another excellent album."[9] In another positive review, Allmusic's Marisa Brown stated "... that's the magic and power of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: their ability to convey passion and pain, regret and celebration, found in the arrangements and the tail ends of notes, in the rhythms and phrasing, and it is exactly that which makes 100 Days, 100 Nights such and excellent release."[5]

Andrew Gilstrap of Popmatters, on the other hand, considered Naturally, Jones' previous album, to be superior to 100 Days, 100 Nights, writing "So 100 Days, 100 Nights is most definitely a Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings record, but it doesn't announce itself with the same brash authority as Naturally."[11] In an otherwise positive review, Noel Murray of The A.V. Club wrote "... 100 Days 100 Nights doesn't pop with sweaty passion like The Dap-Kings more memorable work, the record retains a ripped-from-the-past vibe that's astonishing in and of itself."[6]

Rhapsody ranked the album #9 on its Rock’s Best Albums of the Decade list.[14] Rhapsody's Justin Farrar wrote "Maybe there's something anachronistic about a band that plays funk music in the 21st century as if Parliament (let alone hip-hop) had never happened. It does sound like Sharon Jones could have cut her record in 1967, not 2007. But when the music's this good, those concerns fly out the window. Jones pours everything she's got into this album, and her gruff, passionate, brassy style grabs you by the collar and doesn't let go until the end. The Dap-Kings restrain themselves behind her, shuffling and jangling but leaving her plenty of space to maneuver on a clutch of good, if not great, songs."

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s)Producer(s) Length
1. "100 Days, 100 Nights"  Bosco MannBosco Mann 3:45
2. "Nobody's Baby"  Homer SteinweissBosco Mann 2:27
3. "Tell Me"  Neal Sugarman/Sharon JonesBosco Mann 2:46
4. "Be Easy"  MannMann 3:03
5. "When The Other Foot Drops, Uncle"  Mann/SteinweissMann 3:15
6. "Let Them Knock"  MannMann 4:29
7. "Something's Changed"  MannMann 2:56
8. "Humble Me"  MannMann 4:05
9. "Keep On Looking"  Tommy Brenneck/SteinweissMann 2:49
10. "Answer Me"  James BignonMann 4:08
11. "Settling In" (Bonus Track)    
12. "Collection Song" (Bonus Track)    

Chart Listings

Year Album Chart Peak
2007 100 Days, 100 Nights R&B albums 97
2007 100 Days, 100 Nights The Billboard 200 194
2007 100 Days, 100 Nights Top Heatseekers 3
2007 100 Days, 100 Nights Top Independent Albums 22

Personnel

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, moers festival 2007
The Dap-Kings
Technical credits
Additional musicians

References

  1. ↑ BEN SISARIO. She’s Not Anybody’s Backup Act - New York Times. Published: September 29, 2007. retrieved November 10, 2010.]
  2. ↑ Marc Silver.NPR.Sharon Jones' '100 Nights' of Heartache : NPR.Published: October 24, 2007. retrieved November 11, 2010.]
  3. ↑ "Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, "100 Days, 100 Nights"". MTV. 2007-12-13. Retrieved 2013-04-04.
  4. ↑ Shane Mack.Tiny Mix Tape Music Reviews.Radiohead's In Rainbows To Be Released on TBD Records/ATO Recordings | News Article | Tiny Mix Tapes.Published:Nov 12,2007.Retrieved November 11 2o1o.]
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 100 Days, 100 Nights Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Allmusic.com Marisa Brown
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Murray, Noel (2007-10-02). "Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings: 100 Days, 100 Nights | Music | Music Review". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
  7. ↑ "Claiming her retro-soul crown - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. 1999-12-31. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
  8. ↑ Archived June 10, 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Tangari, Joe. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights. Pitchfork Media. 1 November 2007. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Gilstrap, Andrew. "Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: 100 Days, 100 Nights < PopMatters". Popmatters.com. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
  12. ↑ "Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings - 100 Days, 100 Nights - Review". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved 2011-09-04.
  13. ↑ Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings. Metacritic. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  14. ↑ Justin Farrar "Rock’s Best Albums of the Decade" Published November 2, 2009 Retrieved 12 January 2010.

External links