His version of “Changes” was recorded for his third – and final – record, and it was while he was in the process of recording it that his mother died. Bradley took care of her through her later years, and she lived to see her son’s unlikely career in music take off with the release of his first album (when he was sixty-two!) in 2011. After years of homelessness and struggle and intermittent contact between the two, she crossed the country on a Greyhound bus to reconnect with him in the late 1990s. When Bradley was eight, his mother reappeared, and they lived together until he ran away at age 14. She abandoned him when he was an infant, leaving his grandmother to raise him. I won’t get into the details of Charles Bradley’s difficult, heartbreaking, and ultimately triumphant life – there is a documentary that can do that nicely for you – but the part of his life most relevant here is his relationship with his mother. Bradley injects into “Changes” the pain and love of a truly extraordinary life. The first line sounds like it’s lifted directly from a thesaurus: “I feel unhappy / I feel so sad.”Īfter the song’s release, Ozzy Osbourne had to appease fans by stating that Sabbath was “certainly not going to get any less heavy” or start bringing string sections on stage in their live shows.Īnd like any good cover song, Charles Bradley’s interpretation takes the best ingredients from the original and pulls them into their potential. Then there are the lyrics which aren’t exactly the peak of poetry. Which makes sense, because it was written…by the band’s guitarist, who was experimenting with a keyboard. With all respect to Black Sabbath (whom we featured way back in week 46) the piano part sounds childishly simple, as if it was written by a guitarist who was experimenting with a keyboard. Retrieved November 15, 2016.The original version of this song, in the context of Black Sabbath’s catalogue of guitar-driven riff-rock anthems, is a bit of an oddball. "Charles Bradley: Changes review – heartbreak with horns". "Album Review: Charles Bradley - Changes". ^ a b Horowitz, Steve (31 March 2016).^ a b "Charles Bradley 'Changes' review"."Album Review: Charles Bradley: Changes". "Charles Bradley Preps 'Changes' LP With Powerful Black Sabbath Cover". Menahan Street Band, Thomas Brenneck, Paul Schalda, Will Schalda Menahan Street Band, Charles Bradley, Thomas Brenneck, Leon Michels, Nick Movshon, Homer Steinweiss "Change For the World" (featuring The Gospel Queens) Victor Axelrod, Menahan Street Band, Thomas Brenneck, David Guy, Leon Michels "You Think I Don't Know (But I Know)" (featuring The Gospel Queens) Menahan Street Band, Charles Bradley, Thomas Brenneck Menahan Street Band, Thomas Brenneck, William Schalda Jr. Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne, Bill Ward The Budos Band, Charles Bradley, Thomas Brenneck, David Guy, Leon Michels, Nick Movshon, Homer Steinweiss Menahan Street Band, Charles Bradley, Thomas Brenneck, David Guy, Leon Michels, Nick Movshon, Homer Steinweiss Victor Axelrod, Menahan Street Band, Charles Bradley, Thomas Brenneck, David Guy, Leon Michels, Homer Steinweiss The album also received praise from a number of other musical publications, including American Songwriter, Record Collector and Paste. The Observer's Kitty Empire awarded the album 3 stars, likening Bradley to Al Green, while critic Steve Horowitz from PopMatters praised Bradley's vocal style, describing him as "the closest living equivalent to Brown" and concluding that "Bradley sings of his aches and pleasures with such conviction that he makes one believe this is possible". AllMusic awarded the album a positive review, stating that "the rough-hewn power of Bradley's voice is at its most powerful, and there's a fierce sense of longing and need in this music that's almost tactile in its realism". Pitchfork awarded the album a score of 7.1, with music critic Jay Balfour describing the album as Bradley's "most straightforward and best to date". The album was released to positive critical reception with an aggregate score of 80 on Metacritic based on 17 reviews. Critical reception Professional ratings Aggregate scores The title track on the album is a cover of the Black Sabbath song of the same name and was first released as a Record Store Day Black Friday single in 2013. Changes is the third album released by American funk/ soul singer Charles Bradley, released on Apon Daptone Records.
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