Of course Brooklyn funk factory Daptone Records isn't going present its label compilations in a neat, tidy, chronological way. Daptone's entire aesthetic is based on willfully aping the inconsistencies of the pre-disco R&B labels as well as the earth-shaking artists they brought forth, and in so doing a collection like Daptone 7 Inch Singles Collection, Vol. 2 does its wink-work by throwing its wares together more or less willy-nilly. It's as if they're saying — and because Daptone exudes its collector mentality front and center, they are saying — that you should've gotten the actual vinyl the first time if you wanted to hear the story as it evolved, rather than as part of a highlights reel.

But highlights reels often get parties going, and the 13 tracks here testify that this is the label's real raison d'être, whatever its retro trappings. Down-to-the-ground cuts like Charles Bradley & the Bullets'atom-splitting blues-funk “This Love Ain't Big Enough for the Two of Us” and Lee Fields'churchy ballad “Could Have Been” still sound precisely like they were recorded three or four decades before they were, but they work in ways their perfect reproductive quality hasn't got much to do with. Not that these artists… read more »