STYLE: R&B RATING OUR PRODUCT CODE: 146917-21453 LABEL: Daptone DUN1001 FORMAT: CD Album ITEMS: 1
Reviewed by Lins Honeyman
As anyone who has read Cross Rhythms editor Tony Cumming's fascinating feature on US funk/soul singer Charles Bradley will know, the release of this 2011 debut album was certainly not the release of a young hopeful. Aged 63 at the time of the release of 'No Time For Dreaming' and having most certainly paid his dues, Florida-born Bradley was originally inspired to sing after attending a James Brown concert in 1962 and even performed as part of a Brown tribute band years later. Not surprisingly then, this album which caught the ear of the critics, contains a healthy dose of the so-called Godfather of Soul in Bradley's delivery along hints of Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye and, together with the fabulously retro-sounding Menahan Street Band giving it their all, this is an impassioned collection of funk-laden performances. Truly, it makes you wonder why someone didn't discover Bradley decades earlier. Although there is no evidence of the singer's Christian faith in the material on offer here with the likes of "I Believe In Your Love" and "In You (I've Found A Love)" relating to a love interest as opposed to God, the likes of "This World (Is Going Up In Flames)" and "Why Is It So Hard?" betray a social and morally conscious side to the man's work. Cover versions of Neil Young's "Heart Of Gold" and the Nirvana song "Stay Away" round off an impressive debut from an excellent retro soul artist.
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