At the risk of oversimplifying the situation, there’s no one right now who makes music like Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise.
Robert Bradley, a 50-something former Detroit street musician, and his band, a heavy metal group before meeting Bradley as he busked on the street, play a soulful stew, combining the best elements of rock, funk, R&B and gospel.
The group has twice previously brought us the love: its first, self-titled album, released in 1996, was a success, thanks in part to MTV’s affection for the great single “Once Upon A Time;” the group’s second, 2000’s Time To Discover, was an even better collection of its unique mix of the sanctified and the funky. The newest release, New Ground, continues the band’s journey.
There’s nothing earth-shatteringly new or astounding in this record, at least for those familiar with the Blackwater Surprise’s first two albums. What is apparent here, though, is a solid, consistent collection of songs, mostly mid-tempo and all rich in beauty and power.
Bradley’s voice, which has always proved one of the band’s best assets, crackles and moans with affirmation of life’s long, weary road. “Profile,” an angry and gritty condemnation of racial profiling, finds Bradley screaming and pleading over hard-rock guitars and drum loops. But Bradley is even more effective when his vocals are subtler and more nuanced.
“Young Girls,” another politically-minded song, the lyrical content of which hearkens back to the best work of Curtis Mayfield or Marvin Gaye, is a shockingly powerful tune, as Bradley cries out about, “Young girls who think they’re mothers” and, “Young boys in the street trying to be lovers” over a spare, dirge-like mix of guitar and organ.
Bradley, whose roots in gospel are evident, implores that we “Remember what the Bible says,” but it is not a scolding or threatening message; it’s apparent that, as he has so often, Bradley just wants to help.
The vast majority of the album’s songs, though, fall into a medium-paced R&B groove. It’s a testament to the group’s songwriting ability that this rhythmic repetition never descends into monotony.
“Feel The Fire” and “See Her,” both of which benefit from an insistent group of female background singers, are miles deep in their layers of sound, with Bradley’s voice, now warm and almost soothing, rising above the mix. “Train,” the album’s opener, drives forward with a deliberate, straight beat from drummer Jeff Fowlkes who, like R&B drummers from Al Jackson, Jr. to Clyde Stubblefield, is the secret weapon of nearly every song.
“Exist For Love” sounds like a great Otis Redding song that Otis Redding never recorded, finding Bradley in full gospel mode and repeating the line, “I am livin’ for love” with increasing intensity. “Exist For Love” segues seamlessly into “Nightlife,” on which Bradley warns against the temptations of the nighttime world.
Over and over again, Bradley seems most concerned with preventing personal destruction, whether it’s the seductions of the “Nightlife” or the slow decline of “Willie Lee,” related by Bradley over a weepy steel guitar.
Then there’s “Born In America,” which Bradley wrote Sept. 11. I am somewhat apprehensive when approaching what seems like the endless string of patriotic anthems that have arisen since the World Trade Center attacks, even when it’s an artist as good as this one.
Luckily, “Born In America” is easily the best of the bunch, a tasteful and beautifully sung tribute to a complex, flawed and somehow beautiful nation. I’ll take this over Lee Greenwood crap any day.
The album’s only misstep is “Ride My Wave,” a strange stab at trip-hopping trance that only partially succeeds; on an album this good, that is easily the weakest of the bunch.
Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise plays music that, in a perfect world not bound by ridiculous genre regimentation, would dominate the pop charts. Luckily, despite the relative obscurity with which Bradley and his band have been making their deep, soulful music, they continue to forge ahead.
Although the group will likely never be as well-known as it should be, those who are lucky enough to be welcomed into its world are exposed to music which is not easy to explain, but is informed by the strongest parts of the R&B, gospel and rock traditions. It’s a good place to be, and the world is definitely better for it.
