While the late-breaking career of Sharon Jones was the highest-profile example of the 2000s classic-soul revival giving a much-deserved chance to a longtime star-in-the-making, the (re-)emergence of labelmate Charles Bradley in that same scene isn’t far behind. And tempting as it is to single out his almost supernatural ability to completely repossess someone else’s song — try hearing Black Sabbath’s “Changes” or Nirvana’s “Stay Away” the same way after hearing his weathered but powerful voice howl through them — it’s predecessor albums like Victim of Love that really prove his worth as a master of classic soul. Menahan Street Band’s Staxlantic vibe gives Jupiter-level gravity to a singer who inhabits loneliness, frustration, and desire every bit as powerfully as other 40s-born soul legends who peaked 45 years before he did.

– Nate Patrin

Charles Bradley’s 2013 second album made in tandem with The Menahan Street Band is a modern soul recreation of 60s soul from the likes of the Stax and Volt labels. Characterised by rousing horns, scratchy guitars and a retro production, the music in Victim of Love exists merely to provide a home for Bradley’s raw vocal expression. The album centrepiece, ‘Victim of Love,’ is three and half minutes of musical heart-searching, Field’s intense, passionate vocals perfectly framed by the strummed acoustic guitar and backing vox. Victim of Love sounds like a happily rediscovered lost Atlantic soul album. 

– Harold Heath