Charles Bradley's got No Time For Dreaming

By Jeff Groat
[coordinating editor] 

4/5 records

Although signed to Daptone Records, whose reputation is for signing acts who stick to a revivalist style of 60s motown and R&B, it’s not clear if Charles Bradley’s No Time for Dreaming is just plain soul, or if it should have a “neo-“  attached to it. Dreaming is the debut album from an artist 63-years-old, so it’s not clear if he’s reviving something so much as keeping it alive.

The album nicely straddles this ambiguity, sounding like something rooted in the best soul traditions all while staying fresh. His raw, throaty vocals lend a passion to the music that seems to be missing from other, newer, soul music. The single “The World (Is Going Up in Flames)” is a general cry about troubled times. It has a funky bassline, blaring horns and wailing vocals reminiscent of Bradley’s childhood idol, James Brown.

But this isn’t just a record stuck in a completely “neo” mindset, which in many ways can be limiting. On Dreaming are a couple of instrumentals, one of which, “Since Our Last Goodbye”, is playful, summery, and drenched in percussive acoustic guitar rhythms and is punctuated with horns.

A highlight is “The Telephone Song,” in which Bradley’s trying to make up with a lover. The riffing horns and funky guitars balance out the singer’s wailing, “give me your love,” and “come on baby, gotta make it right.” Simple lyrics, but Bradley seems to know how to let the band playing behind him let the music evoke the emotion. Oh yeah, he can sing too.