It wasn’t so long ago that Charles Bradley was a struggling James Brown impersonator, but after Daptone Records—Brooklyn’s answer to Motown—discovered him, the 64-year-old soul singer’s career finally achieved liftoff. On Victim of Love, the follow-up to his dazzling 2011 debut No Time for Dreaming, the R&B crooner sounds undeniably confident, trading his heartache for love and channeling Al Green more than the Godfather of Soul. Backed by the Menahan Street Band’s excellent horn section, the LP shifts effortlessly from straightforward R&B and brassy shuffles to ballads and psychedelic soul and back again. The lone exception is “Hurricane,” a funk workout. As he sings on “Through the Storm,” the album’s closing number, “When the world gives you love/it frees your soul.” For Bradley, it’s been a long time coming.
April 12, 2013 — Rams Head in Annapolis, MD
April 13, 2013 — The Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville, VA
April 14, 2013 — Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC
April 17, 2013 — The Orange Peel in Asheville, NC
April 18, 2013 — The Pour House in Charleston, SC
April 19, 2013 — Georgia Theatre in Athens, GA
April 20, 2013 — TBA in Waverly, AL
April 24, 2013 — Jack Rabbits in Jacksonville, FL
April 25, 2013 — Vinyl Music Hall in Pensacola, FL
Charles Bradley | Victim of Love, $13.99, daptonerecords.com
By Dylan Stableford
This review appears in the Apr/May 2013 issue of BUST Magazine with cover girl Grimes. Subscribe now.
