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04/21/11 Subterranean • Chicago, IL
Read More04/22/11 Bluebird • Bloomington, IN 04/23/11 Blind Pig • Ann Arbor, MI 05/03/11 Casbah • San Diego, CA 05/04/11 Echo • Los Angeles, CA 05/06/11 The New Parish • Oakland, CA 05/07/11 Brick & Morter • San Francisco, CA
Binky Griptite - Intro/Take It As It Come (Charles Bradley)
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It is remarkable that the man in his sixties has only just released his first album, No Time for Dreaming. Before this, Charles Bradley got his musical fix singing covers of James Brown hits under his alternate stage persona “Black Velvet”. Thomas Brenneck, The Budos Band guitarist and Dunham Records founder, insightfully advised Bradley to transpose his heartache into his own soulful music.
Bradley harbors so much soul that it’s taken up every square inch of his body and bursts out of his lungs. His howling “oohs” and shrieking “ahhs” are present throughout every one of his songs. Compared to his exuberant stage presence, his album is like a diet version of Charles Bradley, where he remains slightly more calm and contained. Performing live, his strong, raspy voice resonates as it erupts from the stage to fill every hollow body in the audience.
Backing him were many musicians from The Budos Band headliners, with a total of 9 back-up singers and instrumentalists behind Bradley. His James Brown voice, Chuck Berry dance moves and Elvis Presley attire altogether create a memorable production.
In songs like “Why Is It So Hard” and “The World (Is Going Up In Flames)”, he is screaming what many are feeling. Charles Bradley is the blues singer that America needs, giving that old-time Motown/ Stax sound some modern-day matter.
Between songs at his First Avenue performance on April 18th, the singer shook the hands of his fans in front row, and told everyone “When you show me love, all I want to do is give you love.” One of the guitarists on stage was Thomas Brenneck, the man who had given Bradley the well-deserved opportunity to create his music. He made sure to give credit to Brenneck, declaring “Tommy found me” to his spectators.
It’s a wonder what myriad of hits Bradley could have contrived had he been discovered forty years ago. Better late than never.
Bradley harbors so much soul that it’s taken up every square inch of his body and bursts out of his lungs. His howling “oohs” and shrieking “ahhs” are present throughout every one of his songs. Compared to his exuberant stage presence, his album is like a diet version of Charles Bradley, where he remains slightly more calm and contained. Performing live, his strong, raspy voice resonates as it erupts from the stage to fill every hollow body in the audience.
Backing him were many musicians from The Budos Band headliners, with a total of 9 back-up singers and instrumentalists behind Bradley. His James Brown voice, Chuck Berry dance moves and Elvis Presley attire altogether create a memorable production.
In songs like “Why Is It So Hard” and “The World (Is Going Up In Flames)”, he is screaming what many are feeling. Charles Bradley is the blues singer that America needs, giving that old-time Motown/ Stax sound some modern-day matter.
Between songs at his First Avenue performance on April 18th, the singer shook the hands of his fans in front row, and told everyone “When you show me love, all I want to do is give you love.” One of the guitarists on stage was Thomas Brenneck, the man who had given Bradley the well-deserved opportunity to create his music. He made sure to give credit to Brenneck, declaring “Tommy found me” to his spectators.
It’s a wonder what myriad of hits Bradley could have contrived had he been discovered forty years ago. Better late than never.
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