Charles Bradley – Golden Rule
Charles Bradley – I Believe In Your Love
The Menahan Street Band – I Believe In Your Love (Instrumental)
{Updated Update: Looks like Charles Bradley has moved on over to the Echoplex Sunday night!!! Update: Well, might be only one chance to see Charles Bradley since Sunset Junction appears to have been canceled…LA Peeps, you have two chances to catch Charles Bradley…for FREE one of the Getty’s “Saturdays Off The 405” this Saturday August 27th and at the Sunset Junction festival Sunday August 28th!!!}
I’d meant to write a review of this record when it was released early early in 2011. With the recent release of the instrumental version of the LP, along with multiple performances upcoming in the LA Area from Charles Bradley, it seemed like a good time to finally give this album it’s due. As much as Aloe Blacc’s 2010 album Good Things was a very recessionary soul album, No Time For Dreaming is also a product of these specific times even though the sound is from 1960s. Though Bradley mines some of the same subjects, hard times, heartbreak & loss (particularly the death of his brother in “Heartaches & Pain”), there’s a righteousness in these songs that leans more towards optimism than depression. Whether it’s his pleading, “Got to make it right, all that I’ve done wrong” on “The Telephone Song” or on the title track, as he preaches “No time For dreaming, Go to get on up and do my thing.” Times maybe hard, but in line with James Brown’s most inspiring late 60s/70s material, Bradley wants us to get involved and get OURSELVES together. Even when things turn darker, such as on “The World” Bradley’s role is more of as a truth-teller, diagnosing the ills of the world not simply to gripe about them, but to bring to our attention the problems we experience and to get us focused on doing what we can to solve them (kinda like a musical sociologist!)
“Golden Rule” is perhaps the best example of this socially conscious direction in Bradley’s music. “They still keep building more prison to take our kids away, why can’t we show more love to make this a better day.” Going back to the golden rule may seem simplistic to some, but as a teacher I know first hand that the times I’ve really affected change in my students has been through some very small kindness that often leads to more significant changes down the road.
Bradley also shows himself to be a really competent romantic on the aforementioned “Telephone Song,” “I Believe In Your Love,” (which is perhaps my favorite track on this LP) “In You, I Found A Love” and “Lovin’ You Baby.” That last track, the longest on the album and also the slowest paced is particularly noteworthy for the tenderness Bradley employs early on, before building to pure passion as the song moves towards its climax propelled on by what seems like greater force applied to the rhythm along with rising horns.
Speaking of which, as much as Bradley’s vocals and lyrics deserve attention on this record, much should and has been said about the music provided by the Menahan Street Band. Of the myriad Daptone related projects I think the music produced under this title is the most satisfying. Take note again of how the music interplays with Bradley’s vocals on “Golden Rule,” the care taken into the production, like that perfectly mic’ed tambourine that gives it this slightly hollow echo-ey feel that lingers in the ear.
In terms of the music, “I Believe In Your Love” also is a standout track instrumentally. Menahan works a Hodges Brothers Hi-Records inspired sound, from the drums and the main guitar, adds washes of organ in the right channel, horns primarily in the left, little bells during the verses, and all the elements come together and just explode with sound during Bradley’s chorus. In the vocal version the interplay is damn powerful, in the instrumental version, the intricacies of the rhythm are a marvel to behold, as is the entire album.
