If you’ve not heard Charles Bradley’s life story let’s
just say that his first 50 years or so (he’s 65-ish now) can best be summarised
as ‘pretty grim’ (homelessness, drudgery, heartbreak, murder...short of a
plague of locusts the dude went through it all). Happily things took a turn for
the better when he began performing as a James Brown tribute act known as Black
Velvet back in the 90s. This brought him to the attention of soul saviour and Daptone
Records co-founder Gabriel Roth eventually leading to an acclaimed debut album
No Time For Dreaming (2011) and the moving documentary Soul Of America (2012). On
the back of all this unsurprisingly tonight’s gig in the Hare and Hounds sold out
faster than Royal Mail shares...
No support this evening but Charles’ band, The
Extraordinaires, warmed things up nicely with a couple of instrumentals
including a sublimely funky take on The Lovin’ Spoonful’s Summer In The City. And
then, resplendent in a bright red embroidered jumpsuit, ladies and gentlemen, the
man himself, the Screaming Eagle of Soul, CB, Mr Charles Bradley mounts the stage
(not for the first time this evening, literally and metaphorically) and takes
off with Love Bug Blues.
There’s a crackle and rawness to the voice that you
just can’t fake. Shaped by a thousand and one lonely nights, endless dawn to
dusk shifts in dead end jobs and perhaps the primal pain that came out of his
brother’s murder just as life seemed to be getting good. As you’d expect there
are remnants of the Godfather of Soul in there, the odd ‘Huh’, that scream (part
JB/part CB) and (especially as the gig progresses) the sense of showmanship.
Like JB in his later years Charles makes for an unlikely sex symbol but each
groin thrust (and there are many) elicits whoops of delight from the ladies.
Strip away the jump suits, dance moves, finger lickin’ and groin thrusts though
and what ultimately comes through is that voice perhaps best heard this evening
on Crying In The Chapel. There’s a sorrow there that could make granite weep. If
this was the only track he’d ever recorded it would be enough to earn him a
place at the table of soul greats (right next to Otis, just across from Sam and
Dave).
He’d just got started though, The World (Is Going Up In Flames) saw the
Eagle soar again, the voice cracking like peeling paint on a porch door.
Powerful stuff. It’s not all sorrow and pain though, You Put The
Flame On It (off new album Victim Of Love) had a neat up beat doo wop feel courtesy of the Extraordinaires’
backing vocals leaving the crowd nicely pumped as the Eagle took off for a
quick costume change. He returns clad in black this time for part II with
Hurricane coming across as the eco cousin of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. Lovin’
You Baby saw the Eagle tear off his jacket and fall to the floor earning possibly
the biggest round of applause of the evening and a chorus of “We love you” from
the crowd earning a simple but heartfelt “I love you too” in return. If Lovin’
You Baby was the highlight of the night Confusion was the maddest, giving CB
the chance to break out his nuttiest dance moves (the robot, then into the
eagle wing pose and finally a bit of kung fu for good measure) and his
theramin. Gurning wildly he strokes...er...his stick (good grief, that came out
wrong) conjuring up some truly out of this world sounds. It’s all good fun though
and a little light relief even if it does veer close to that Ricky Gervais’
dance in the office at times. He ends the night by dedicating “My favourite
song” Let Love Stand a Chance, to us, his audience. Stick this on the stereo
when you get home and...let’s face it...you’ve scored. There’ll be some kids
conceived to this one over the years.
And then he was gone. Despite calls for an encore,
including one from a particularly enthusiastic Welsh lady who made it up onto
the stage, the Eagle had flown. Always leave ‘em wanting more eh?
At his best Bradley’s as good as the name of his backing
band suggests. Like fellow Daptone Records stable mate Sharon Jones he’s old
school, an increasingly rare link to the true soul greats. He grew up watching them
perform, not on old film clips but actually right there in front of him. Who
knows, on the strength of tonight’s performance if life had given him some
decent breaks back in the 60s he just might have joined them...
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