All the daptone stuff is on vinyl and uniformly good. You can explore this off their website and iTunes. Sharon Jones was on a tear in 2007, their first artist to cross over, because her backup band heavily toured the UK around Amy Winehouse. 2010's The Daptone Gold LP, 24 best tracks by their roster, is amazing as an introduction.
I love the early 1970s era of James Brown. Can highly recommend Hell, the double album, and others, the Black Caesar and The Payback OSTs. Bootsy Collins work just anchors that sound.
During this time, OV Wright out of Stax was very much under the radar, a contemporary friend of Al Green and Booker T.
I love his stuff.
I love D'Angelo's Voodoo album of 2000 and the recent work of Eli Paperboy Reed (sings in a style of James Brown) and Raphael Saadiq, who had the best old Skool R & B album last year. Also love the Jill Scott and Angie Stone work of the last decade.
