![]() ![]() ![]() He's singing from deep within lingering emotions, yet somehow avoids sounding nostalgic - he gives each phrase, each new iteration of the "going through changes" testimony, a bracing resonance. Bradley sings about unexpected twists in the road as though re-experiencing them as hyper-real and possibly haunting memories. ![]() The title track, a cover of the Black Sabbath tune Daptone offered as a Record Store Day trinket a few years ago, aligns well with Bradley's hard-knock narrative, and it's stunning. The lyrics are a touch more upbeat - there are songs celebrating the redeeming power of love alongside ones that chronicle devastation. The rhythms inch closer to modernity, and the material suggests Bradley and his songwriting partners in the Menahan Street Band recognize there's a limit to how many visits he can make to the well of autobiographical woe. It was a pitch-perfect period piece, and it raised questions about how restrictive these revivalist endeavors can ever be: If you're a great singer, and make no mistake Bradley is that, at what point are you limited by genre, the fastidious re-creation of a quaint classic style?īradley's third album, Changes, continues in the general path of his previous work, with some key alterations. It celebrated soul-revue generica in all its forms - at times, it was redeemed only by Bradley's instant-on vocal drama and the buttoned-up arrangements of the Daptone crew. The 67-year-old singer's last album, 2013's Victim of Love, was a tad too reverent in its deployment of mid-'60s Stax/Volt tropes. This turns out to be a significant challenge. Songs We Love Songs We Love: Charles Bradley, 'Things We Do For Love' ![]()
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