No Time for Dreaming Dunham****

Daptone boss Gabriel Roth came across Charles Bradley singing James Brown covers in a bar in Brooklyn. The sixtysomething trooper had been in thrall to Brown and soul music since he saw the Godfather in action at Harlem's Apollo in the early 1960s, but it took Roth putting the ex-plumber and chef together with guitarist Thomas Brenneck and the Menahan Street Band to get a debut album out of him. No Time for Dreamingis a splendid affair, topped and tailed by Bradley's tough, ragged, gritty roar of a voice as the songs trace the contours of his hard-knock life. Bradley knows this subject matter inside out, which means he can coat the likes of The World Is Going Up in Flamesand Why Is It So Hard?with emotional power and gusto. The tough, sultry, funky grooves will send you right back to southern soul's heyday. The real deal.

See thecharlesbradley.com

Download tracks: The World Is Going Up in Flames, Why Is It So Hard?