Sharon Jones + Southern soul + analog = good times

Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings are popping up all over the place in advance of a new album hitting stores next week. That's a good thing.

Jones generated critical acclaim a few years ago with the release of "100 Days, 100 Nights," a throwback to mid-60s Memphis soul. The Dap-Kings earned some fame on its own, backing Amy Winehouse on her hit "Back to Black" album.

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings give old-school soul a new twistJones and the DK's will release a new album "I Learned the Hard Way" next week. NPR is streaming the entire album for free until then. After one listen, I can't say "Hard Way" knocked my socks off like "100 Days" but it's still top-notch soul worth follow-up listens.

And I'll be listening more closely after reading Jim Fusilli's band profile in The Wall Street Journal today that reveals the new album was recorded using analog equipment at a homegrown studio (as opposed to the digital formats that represent 99% of all music released today). Such techniques, favored by people like Jack White of the White Stripes, provide a warmer sound than the harsh, compressed digital recordings so common in modern music. It's a perfect match with Southern soul, a genre known for punchy, passionate arrangements.

Jones was so into the analog thing that she herself wired the electrical sockets in building the studio. Can you imagine any star other than Jack White tackling dirty work like that?

If you're a glutton for more, head over to NPR/all songs, which is streaming a recent Jones/DK gig at SXSW. I say the more the merrier.

Great, great record store

Great, great record store

Good record stores seem to be making a comeback, but one that’s never gone away is the Jazz Record Mart in Chicago.

I’ve visited JRM several times, including Sunday, not so much for the jazz stuff but a deep selection of R&B, soul, blues and gospel music and books. I’ve written previously about my love of Southern soul and Jazz Record Mart is a great place to hunt down hard-to-find CDs or LPs if you’re a fan of soul, R&B, blues or early 20^th century roots music.

"The Hi Records Story" features artists like Al Green, O.V. Wright and Ann PeeblesI still haven’t run across an out-of-print collection of great 1960s' songs recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala., but did find "The Hi Records Story," a collection documenting a terrific label that operated in the shadow of Stax in the thriving Memphis scene in the 1960s and early ‘70s. I’ve previously discovered terrific gospel, R&B, rockabilly and blues discs.

Jazzmart is an eclectic place, with treasures buried all over the place. They still proudly proclaim to be the "world's largest jazz and blues record store." It’s organized in a disorganized way, and you’ll find yourself finding stuff to buy all the way up to the checkout counter. I just hope the store -- an anachronism in these digital times -- survives until the next time I return.

Lotus lives on

March 2010 issue of MotorsportThe March issue of Motorsport magazine arrived in the mail today, and, whoa, it contains a 21-page special package on Lotus that includes an in-depth look at the famed Lotus 79 that inspired me to become a rapid open-wheel fan.

The elegant black-and-gold John Player Special remains a thing of beauty 30 years after it earned a spot in racing annals as one of the first cars to truly exploit ground effects and complex aerodynamics.

Formula 1 fans know that a Malaysian company is reviving the Lotus name this F-1 and IndyCar this season, so there's a resurgence in the brand that once was one of the most famous in racing before hitting hard times in the late 1980s and vaporizing in the mid-1990s. Even the separate but related Lotus automaker -- once a threat to Ferrari and Lamborghini among road-car fiends -- is a shadow of its former self.

Mario Andretti drove the Lotus 79 to his only Formula 1 world title, in 1978.

Even though there's no connection to the original team founded by Colin Chapman, I'll be rooting for Lotus this season, and hoping they'll do justice to a name made famous by Jim Clark, Stirling Moss, Graham Hill, Emerson Fittipaldi, Mario Andretti and Ayrton Senna, among many others.