Review: The recent passing of impassioned soul singer Charles Bradley, who found success late in life, adds extra poignancy to this superb full-length. It was recorded last year with Staten Island four-piece the Bullets and contains some of Bradley's finest work. He was a brilliant vocalist whose heavyweight delivery was compared favourably with James Brown. At times on Now That I'm Gone - a prescient title, which was decided upon months before his death - he out-does the Godfather of Soul, while the Bullets are every bit as heavy, funky and fresh as the J.B's. The result is a brilliant album full of floor-filling funk gems that naturally benefits greatly from Bosco Mann's famously fuzzy, '60s-sounding production.
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