Album Review: Whatever It Takes, The James Hunter Six

For soul heads, Daptone records has become a mark of quality, as you’ll know if you’ve heard records from the late Charles Bradley and Sharon Jones. James Hunter is the first Brit to sign to the roster, and on this, his second album for the label, he feels “bound to live up to the production quality. If someone gives you a Rolls Royce you don't run it on paraffin” That’s the same production quality, care of Bosco Mann (aka Gabriel Roth), that Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson borrowed for Back To Black, which you may have already heard.

Hunter has been hard at it since Van Morrison gave him a leg up in the nineties, despite lean patches that had him busking a living. 2013’s Minute By Minute was good, but this is better. As soon as you hear the horns kick off opener, ‘I Don’t Wanna Be Without You’, you’re feeling good. It’s the kind of blues and soul mash-up that’s been available since Sam Cooke and Ray Charles were kids, and the cover, proudly declaring the mono-ness of the delights within, is the kind of design that was popular back when Pete Best had a regular gig in The Cavern.

It’s not just about Hunter’s honeyed voice either; on instrumental ‘Blisters’ he calls up the ghosts of the Kings, B.B. and Freddie, for a sweet guitar work out from the age before long hair, and there’s even a distinct West Indies feel to the title track, a hint of that early ska sound, before religion and spliff slowed it down.

All that, and it gets the job done in under half an hour. Purchase with confidence.

Rating: 8/10