Album Review: Charles Bradley - Victim Of Love

If you long for music that sounds as if it's dragged from lost '60s soul compilations, recent years have been awfully kind to you as countless artists – many on the Daptone label – have realised the era may be over but the sound can live on. The raw vocals of former James Brown impersonator Charles Bradley and adept touch of Daptone soulsters the Menahan Street Band were a beautiful marriage on 2011's No Time For Dreaming and they work together just as sweetly on this latest offering from the 65-year-old powerhouse soul singer.

Strictly Reserved For You is an aching opener and sets up the rest of the LP; Bradley pours absolutely everything into the performances on the 11 tracks here; his voice is brilliant and the power of it is astonishing, but when picking out shortfalls on Victim Of Love it's the lack of light and shade that Bradley injects that is most glaring. The Stones-aping acoustic title track could benefit from Bradley maybe taking his performance down a notch or two; but for the most part the proclaimed Screaming Eagle Of Soul's impassioned, primal vocal stirs emotion in the perfect way.

The heavy groove of Love Bug Blues, the sweaty '70s psych-funk of Confusion, the chamber-soul of instrumental Dusty Blue and the classic, loving patter of Through The Storm and Let Love Stand A Chance prove the Menahan Street Band remain at the top of their game, despite plenty of imitators becoming involved in recent years. It's a great time to be a lover of soul music and Victim Of Love is just further proof of that.