The World (Is Going Up In Flames)

Description

There's a rawness to this record that cuts to the bone. As Daptone's subsidiary, Dunham Records proudly gives birth to its second 45 rpm. Charles Bradley laid his soul bare on this record. "The World (Is Going Up In Flames)" (2007) features the Gospel Queens on vocals over a Menahan Street Band arrangement as intense and dizzying as a glacier-carved valley. As soon as Charles lets out his first heartbreaking wail, it's clear this won't be a record of empty gestures. The B-side, "Heartaches and Pain," is Charles' chilling personal account of the murder of his older brother Joseph outside the housing project where they lived. Despite the gravity of this story and the cries of a man crushed by grief, Charles manages to use his music to confront us with the shared pain of the human experience and bring us hope and comfort in the knowledge that we are not alone.