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I Learned The Hard Way Image
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 30 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 13 Ratings

  • Summary: The fourth album for the funk/soul group from New York was produced by Bosco Mann.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 30
  2. Negative: 0 out of 30
  1. Their fourth album isn’t substantially different from their first three: Jones’s delivery, alternately muscular and tender, and the band’s total empathy with the genre’s rules elevate each tune to lost-classic status.
  2. It suits them well that as musicians that have worked their entire career just to get noticed; for their newest album, I Learned the Hard Way, to be a beautiful representation of what real, honest and true soul music really is.
  3. I Learned the Hard Way (Daptone) is a master class in soul singing, songwriting and arranging.
  4. I Learned the Hard Way is the sound of a revival band revived, stepping out of the shadows of its idols while remaining true to the essence of its form.
  5. All this would be surface charm if the group didn’t deliver songs, and they do--songs that swagger and stir the soul, fitting within tradition without being beholden to it, songs that prove that Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings are the real deal.
  6. The Dap-Kings' most complete album closes with the stripped-down gospel thump of "Mama Don't Like My Man," a far cry from the rough funk of 2002 debut Dap Dippin' and a move that proves Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings have learned a thing or two since then. The hard way, naturally.
  7. Q Magazine
    60
    It's good, but then again no better than a genuine, crackly, long-forgotten B-side or buried album track that a specialist reissue label might have unearthed. And there, ultimately is the rub. [Jun 2010, p.127]

See all 30 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Lincoln
    Apr 6, 2010
    10
    Brilliant, old-school R&B that feels fresh. Jones & the Dap Kings manage to walk a fine line between the old and the new, and it's a Brilliant, old-school R&B that feels fresh. Jones & the Dap Kings manage to walk a fine line between the old and the new, and it's a beautifully wrought one. Expand
  2. uptonk.
    Apr 12, 2010
    10
    Perfect. Seasoned and knowing. Just an incredible disc from beginning to end. Sharon is simply the best.
  3. Nov 22, 2011
    10
    I love this album! I have it listen to it at least twice a month. It's soulful, jazzy, and funk. I very happy that I discovered the group.I love this album! I have it listen to it at least twice a month. It's soulful, jazzy, and funk. I very happy that I discovered the group. Sharon sings very well with The Dap Kings with their jazzy instruments in the background. Good Job!! Expand
  4. VincentD.
    Apr 7, 2010
    9
    Soulful, beautiful, even breathtaking - this album delivers on all fronts. A triumph in what it achieves in the genre.

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