Charles Bradley - Colbert

No hate intended of course and Charles Bradley on Colbert tonight was a James Brown impersonation gone bad. What promoter got he and the all white band on this show. I guess peoples memory of James Brown have gone south and we need another poor imitation to try and entertain us.

 

Seems like Jon Batiste & Stay Human + whomever their invited musician happens to be have been better than Colbert's actual invited act for a few of the last episodes...

 

Sturgill Simpson was on Monday night so we at least got one good night out of 3. The man is amazing.

 

WOW, what a rocking band!

On another front also countryish, I liked the twangy guitars and whistling in this song by Kacey Musgraves on James Corden. Not a big fan of the singing style but at least she is easy on the eyes.

 

I just checked out the Charles Bradley performance on Colbert and thought it was awesome. Granted, I am a Charles Bradley fan - so I like his music, and liked his performance. He is defenitly a throw back to old soul singers, but the James Brown comparison isnt the best. I can understand most of what Charles Bradley is singing about, and even though I love JB - I never understood a word outside oh "Uh", "Hit Me", and "Sex Machine" and reading the lyrics it makes even less sense.

 

Different strokes I suppose. I certainly agree, you need subtitles with James Brown, hahaha

 

There will never be another James Brown.

Charles Bradley though...he didn't come off as a gimmick when I first listened to his music. When "No Time for Dreaming" came out, I heard it from beginning through the end (it was streaming on huffingtonpost I think, when it was released) with skepticism to be frank; I thought that those cool kids from NY that like to play funk and soul were just trying to push a male version of Sharon Jones.

A few songs in, I could feel that "hurt" that you really can't fake. His singing style isn't about hitting all sorts of notes, showing off that he has range. Instead, you hear a weathered soul that apparently has gone through a lot of shit in life.

I'm not trying to sell Charles Bradley to anyone, just wanted to say that when I first heard of him I was growing tired of the "Neosoul" movement and just when it was starting to come off as gimmicky - BAM! Charles Bradley. I was already blown away by Sharon Jones and didn't think yet another, TRUE, Soul Revival was possible.

Since discovering Charles Bradley, I've seen him live a couple of times - and once as one of the opening acts for Stevie Wonder at the Hollywood Bowl! That was a spectacular evening for live music that I won't forget soon!