Robert Bradley & Blackwater Surprise – Still Lovin’ You
Over the course of three albums, Robert Bradley has established himself as a unique rock ‘n’ soul voice, with material running the gamut from hard-driving funk to collaborations with Kid Rock. Yet Bradley — a longtime busker who hooked up with Detroit rockers Second Self in 1994 to form Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise — always sounded best when he settled into a sweet soul pocket. For Still Lovin’ You, he features a whole new group of musicians (though he keeps the same backing-band name) and focuses almost exclusively on such material, resulting in his most cohesive album to date.
Though the grooves are solid soul, the production and instrumentation, heavy on electric and acoustic guitars, show Bradley hasn’t left rock behind altogether. “Pretender” rolls along on a “Like A Rolling Stone”-style chord progression and organ riff, while “Virginia” sounds like an outtake from The Band. “Anna” is a heartbreaking love letter to a lost daughter that, in the wrong hands, could have become a thundering power ballad. The band holds back, though, letting Bradley’s piano and gravelly voice carry the tune.
Though Bradley is still more of a stylist than a singer, his vocals have never been better. Cuts such as the gentle “All I Wanna Do” and “Don’t Take The Love Away” find him exploring the nuances of inflection and phrasing more than he has in the past. And when he does go for more dramatic effect, as on the gospel-tinged shouter “When You Love Something”, he carves out a place for himself as one of the best practitioners of old-school soul.