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R&B singer Charles Bradley?s second album, Victim of Love, is being released on April 2.
R&B singer Charles Bradley said he?ll never forget the ride as long as he lives on the planet.
Bradley, 64, has begun creating a buzz only in recent years, with his 2011 classic-soul debut, No Time For Dreaming, and its more upbeat followup, Victim of Love, out Tuesday. But years of life-changing experiences are what make for great soul albums.
And unforgettable stories. Like the one about the ride.
It happened while Bradley, tired of working as a chef in a hospital for the mentally ill in New York, was hitchhiking west, hoping to make it in the music business. He was walking the highway in Seattle, Wash., exhausted from 24 sleepless hours of thumbing rides.
A motorist stopped. ?It was one of those old Volkswagens, like a ?64, something like that,? the singer said during a recent telephone interview. ?The driver kept lookin? at me, lookin? at me, and I?m trying to keep awake. He said: ?I think you?re wondering who I am, right?? and I said: ?Am I supposed to know who you are?? He said: ?The reason I picked you is because I want to tell my side of the story to you.? And I said: ?What are you talkin? about?? He said: ?I know you wonder why I killed my wife and went into my job ... this gun shootin? on the job.? ?
Bradley found himself in the role of frightened, captive audience. He listened helplessly to the driver?s long story about how his wife had been having an affair with the boss and how he ? the driver ? had snapped. He calmly asked Bradley?s opinion. Bradley told him it would have been better to simply leave his wife.
Unable to fight sleep and reassured by the driver that he would not be harmed, Bradley dozed. The driver later woke him as he approached an exit. ?He said: ?Stay on the main highway and you?ll get a ride. I wish you all the luck,? ? Bradley remembered.
?You know, I really don?t think they ever caught him.?
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Bradley calls his late-blooming success (how many singers release their first album at 62?) bittersweet. After decades of odd jobs, travelling and dead ends, he was finally given an opportunity to record his horn-driven, soaked-shirt homages to golden-era soul music ? even as he neared pensionable age. His benefactors are thanked in Through the Storm, the reflective, life-affirming closer on Victim of Love.
Yet as grateful as he admits to being, a disillusionment with both America and the many setbacks on his own journey still speak loud and clear in his songs. The anguished The World (Is Going Up in Flames) and the autobiographical Why Is It So Hard, which is as emotionally torn up as any Percy Sledge song, are the cries of a man at a low ebb.
Heartaches and Pain specifically addresses the shooting death of his brother Joseph, who, Bradley said, brought him 85 per cent of the way to where is now.
When other family members were telling him to give up and sell his equipment, Bradley hit an emotional low point, he said. ?But Joseph said: ?No. That music is in your heart, so keep going,? ? Bradley said. Joseph offered a room and non-stop encouragement. ?He gave me a helping hand when I had nowhere to go,? Bradley said.
Is it a relief to confront these painful subjects through music? ?Yeah. But it?s a relief with a hurt in it,? he said.
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Then there was the time in 1976 when Bradley was driving down south in a Ford van, somewhere around Alabama. It was about 3 or 4 a.m., as he recalled. A tractor-trailer got in front of him and slowed down, blocking off all his attempts to get around. Two other truckers flanked him and another got behind, boxing him in and eventually slowing to 10 m.p.h. or so. Their own radio communication came through on his radio, he said. ?Slow the?(racial slur)?down and stop him. We can grab him out of the car,? he heard.
Somehow, he managed to cut across the grass median and get into the traffic going in the other direction, ending up in a service station where the attendant, holding a rope and pulling it repeatedly, glared at him. Another hasty exit.
?I don?t know what?s kept me alive through all the trials and tribulations I?ve been through,? he said.
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Bradley said he was forever changed by seeing James Brown at the Apollo Theatre in 1962 (Brown recorded Live at the Apollo, one of the greatest live albums in history, that year at the famed venue). Bradley was 14, accompanied by his sister.
?It was magnetic to me. I said: ?Wow! I want to be like that!? I went home, grabbed me a broom or a mop, tied a piece of string to it, threw it, pulled it back and started doing James Brown dances,? he said.
Bradley became a James Brown impersonator ? and to this day, the raspy, raw delivery of the Godfather of Soul is an unmistakable influence on his singing.
Bradley was still imitating Brown when he ended up doing some handyman work for Gabriel Roth, founder of the New York soul label Daptone, home of hot revivalists Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. Bradley told Roth about his dreams and soon found himself opening for Jones.
Faced with the opportunity, Bradley jumped on it. But he knew where he wanted to go.
?Gabe gave me some lyrics to do a song on the Sharon Jones show,? Bradley said. ?One thing about my spirit: if my spirit don?t like it, it?s not going to accept it. I tried to accept these lyrics, but I couldn?t get it. They were negative lyrics that didn?t fit me. So I got on stage. They were playing this music, and the music sounded kind of funky. I let my spirit run free and let the words come out the way I see it.?
Victim of Love is the latest state of the union address from the indomitable Bradley. The new disc is filled with brassy, upbeat reminders of what R&B used to mean before it became pop music dominated by divas and producers. Infectious testifying, sexy ballads and even psychedelic soul, ? la Norman Whitfield-era Temptations, point back to the ?60s and ?70s but sound oddly timeless.
Bradley described the album as ?coming out of the dark into the light.?
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And let?s not forget the biker who walked into a bar, where Bradley, hitchhiking again, had stopped for refreshment. Before he could figure out what was happening, Bradley had had his chair knocked out from under him and had hit his head on the floor.
Moving over to the bar, he was followed by the biker. The bar owner warned Bradley to be careful, because the biker was in a bad mood and looking for someone to pick on. The owner, sympathetic to Bradley?s plight, placed his gun on the bar and urged the biker to back off.
?Let me talk to this guy and find out why this guy is this way,? Bradley said to the owner. ?Man, what is wrong with you?,? he said to the biker. ?I never did you any harm. Don?t take it out on me. Get to know me.?
Against all odds, a conversation followed, instead of a beating. ?He kept saying the harsh words, but he saw the bar man was watching, so he calmed down. I got in that guy?s mind,? Bradley said. ?Everybody used to pick on him and he wanted to get into a big group so he could feel superior. When I got into his head, man, he calmed down."
In the end, the biker offered Bradley a lift to the next town. When Bradley declined, his new friend offered to buy him a drink. ?I said: ?Nah ... I have to wait here. You go ahead,? ? Bradley remembered.
Then there was a rare pause in our interview. ?I could tell you a lot of stories,? he said.
Victim of Love will be available April 2. Charles Bradley and his Extraordinaires perform May 13 at 8 p.m. at the Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre. Tickets cost $27. Go to evenko.ca or phone 514-790-2525.
bperusse@montrealgazette.com
Twitter.com/bernieperusse
? Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette
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