Charles Bradley’s “Lonely as You Are” Marks The First Of His Final Recordings

I have to take a breath and pause before writing about Charles Bradley.  He’s like a story that you want to tell, but know that, once you begin, you might not know where or when to stop.  There’s a lot that can pour out, gushing like a flood of emotions.  It’s not unlike the way that the late “Screaming Eagle Of Soul” delivered in front of a crowd; uninhibited and laying it all on the stage for each and every performance.  He’s left us now, so the overwhelming emotion is to want to explain to the world who he was and what he meant. It’s difficult to encapsulate, so I guess the easiest way to put it is that Charles Bradley represented everything good in the world. This especially refers to the things that, even the least cynical among us, have been forced to question whether or not they’ve been eradicated from this plane of existence long ago. There are few things that inspire such positiveness and optimism, not only in regards to what is out there in the world at large, but in what might be within ourselves. The energy that radiated off of the man had the ability to rejuvenate even the most withered soul.  His performances didn’t so much perform revivals of the holy ghost, but offer a powerful reminder that you weren’t already dead.  And now that Charles, himself, has passed on from the corporeal realm, it is these memories and his work, along with the endless people that he touched, that continue to project that spirit out into the universe.  The icing on the cake is the revelation of additional, previously unreleased material spilling out for us to enjoy now and into the future.

I only had — or, rather, took — the chance to truly meet and hug Charles once, but I was fortunate enough to photograph his live performances a good half-dozen times over as many years (2012-2017).  This included shows in 3 different states and 5 different festivals/events.  Over that time period, I watched his name slowly grow more prominent in the lineups, his font getting larger on the flyers.  But, never once did he do a show where he gave any less than 100%, or didn’t perform as if it might be his very last.  He never forgot where he came from, and appreciated every single person that was there to watch him do his thing.  Not only did he always tell us that he loved us, but he screamed it with every fiber of his being.

The last show that I saw of his was at the Pickathon festival in 2017 and it tragically turned out to be was one of his last, as well.  The struggles of Bradley‘s life were no secret, from leaving home at 14 years old and experiencing horrific poverty to witnessing the aftermath of the shooting death of his brother.  Not only was it all in his music, but documented in the film Soul Of America, which also chronicled him releasing his very first album and gaining critical acclaim at the age of 62.  People have struggles, but what separated this man was his perseverance and optimism, his positive angle on everything, and his desire to spread that idea that good things were around us and would prevail in due time.  Among his struggles was the relationship with his mother who, more often than not, seemed to fall short; objectively, becoming the catalyst for much of the hardships that Charles would face throughout his life.  He responded by loving her unconditionally.  Toward the end of his life, he began performing a timeless re-imagining of Black Sabbath‘s “Changes,” which he would dedicate to the woman who abandoned him during his first 8 years of his life and had, more recently, left her own body altogether.  He’d stated that he never heard the tune before putting his own spin on it, but the moment he read the lyrics, he connected to it.  He would be very clear about his intention to sing it as a tribute to his mother.  He performed it during that Pickathon set.  Sitting on a stool, tears flowed from his eyes as he sang; the same intensity of feeling that I imagine he imbued within the song each every single time he belted it out for a new crowd.  Charles would pass away from stomach cancer the following month on September 23, 2017.

Last September, we received news of a brand new Charles Bradley album being released a year after his death.  It featured his riveting rendition of “Changes,” as well as other remarkable covers like “Stay Away” [NIrvana] and Neil Young‘s “Heart Of Gold,” along with all new material.  Titled Black Velvet after the moniker that he performed under during his time as a James Brown impersonator, prior to his success with original material — also the instrumental title track by Menahan Street Band, which Charles never had a chance to lay vocals over — the posthumous release was, more or less, comprised from material that was recorded in each of the recording sessions for Bradley‘s 3 studio albums.  This never felt like a simple cash grab, but rather something lovingly assembled by friends and family, with his collaborator and friend, Thomas Brenneck (Menahan Street Band, The Dap-Kings, The Budos Band, etc.) at the helm.  Brenneck was the one who worked one-on-one with Charles to help him find his voice, after he had, essentially, been placed in limbo by Daptone Records.  It was Thomas that would release Black Velvet on his own Daptone subsidiary label, Dunham Sound Studios, just as he had all of the previous titles in Charles‘s catalog.  The songs that needed finishing, such as horns added, or even music placed under a solitary vocal track were assembled as such.  Brenneck was the one to do this. Nobody knew his sound better than the man who helped develop it with and for him.

Posthumous recordings are a tricky thing, but Black Velvet was about as reverent of a process as I’ve ever seen employed.  When I saw that Bradley had yet even more new recordings being release, however, I had mixed emotions.  Part of me was excited to see another addition to his legacy, but who approved this thing, and why wasn’t it being handled by Dunham Sound or Daptone, like everything else he’d ever produced?  Is Charles the new 2Pac?  Can anyone say for sure that this is something that he would have wanted?  Well, it turns out that this is a much more cut and dry situation than I would have imagined, wherein Charles made those wishes incredibly clear, before his death.  This also addresses the question of whether or not he’s like the new Don Killuminati, with a resounding “kinda.”  Not unlike Pac, he actually recorded this material with an urgency and full awareness that his time was limited.  He also did so with the express purpose of having something on deck for the world after he was gone.

This brand new cut, “Lonely As You Are,” is as direct and heartfelt of a message that he’s ever delivered.  One of the most remarkable aspects of Bradley‘s live shows was that it always felt as if he was trying to speak directly to you, rather than just belting out song lyrics.  With “Lonely As You Are,” the same is true.  He made this song as a message for all of his fans and, during one particular segment, he even ventures slightly of course to speak directly to his mother, asking one request.  “One day when god says well done, please be at the gate waiting for me.”  At the very end of the song, he concludes with, “I love you. And this is Charles Bradley. I hope this one day gets out to the world.”

Bradley’s former co-manager and executive producer of the track, Morton Lorge, offers the following insight…

“Charles knew “Lonely as You Are” could comfort people and help them find a way to deal with their own loneliness.  He was always looking for ways to make people feel better, even when he was confronting his own pain and suffering.  He asked that “Lonely” be played at his funeral; he wanted to share it with the world.”

“Lonely As You Are” was a recording that came about by chance when “NYC recording artist, songwriter and producer” James Levy showed the chorus and music to Bradley, while working on other projects.  The story goes that Charles connected with it immediately and wrote the verses on the spot.  After being weakened by months of chemotherapy, it’s to be expected that his mortality would be at the forefront of his mind, and it’s a subject that is definitely represented in the final product.  According to the press release, the late soul singer sat in the booth of Levy‘s home studio in Queens with his eyes closed, listening to the track on loop until it all poured out.  From there, multi-instrumentalist, Paul Defiglia, was recruited to co-produce, as well as to supply the bass, piano, and organ to the tune. Defiglia then brought in his former Avett Brothers bandmates, Seth Avett and Mike Marsh to handle acoustic guitar and drums, respectively.  The session would also yield a second song titled, “Lucifer,” with the same lineup.  Arriving courtesy of Innit Recordings, these songs are said to be the very last of Charles Bradley‘s studio work.

Charles‘s cancer was something that forced him into the hospital and to cancel an overwhelming amount of tour dates over his last year or so.  Truth be told, that we even had a chance to catch him at Pickathon at all is almost a miracle in itself.  The fact that he continued to play whenever his health allowed, and still made the effort to record, only confirms that sharing his gift with the world wasn’t so much a job, as it was his fuel.  He may have gone out appreciative and accepting of what he believed was part of some larger master plan — he was an incredibly religious man — but he he didn’t go out quietly.  With this new material, the eagle continues to scream well after his death.  It’s a beautiful sound.

Make sure to check out “Lonely As You Are” below.  “Lucifer” to drop on May 31st.  T