Charles Bradley – No Time For Dreaming

Visible in this photo of Bradley, as well as this one. One was used for vocals on No Time For Dreaming, as mentioned by producer Thomas Brenneck in this January 26, 2021 Instagram post.

It was nothing short of magic recording what would become Charles Bradley’s debut album No Time For Dreaming in a bedroom on 250 Menahan street many years ago. It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years since it’s release. I had set up a humble recording situation consisting of a 1/2” 8 track tape machine and an sm58. For years in between tours with Sharon, Budos, El Michels, Lee, Amy, etc I would record as much music as possible at the crib. At some point I invited Charles over and played him what would become Menahan Street Bands debut Make The Road By Walking. He loved the music which meant the world to me and instantly asked if he could sing on it.

True story: The first time he came to that apartment i played him the instrumental of The World Going Up In Flames. He immediately asked for a mic and started singing. Within the hour we recorded the vocals to it. After that he would come back once or twice a month to share stories of his life which we would turn into songs. The next song we wrote was “Heartaches & Pain”.

Used on No Time For Dreaming, as mentioned by producer Thomas Brenneck in this October 11, 2016 Electronic Musician article.

“When I first started making records, all I had was a Shure 565—an older version of the SM57. I made two records using only that microphone: Charles Bradley’s first record, No Time for Dreaming, and Menahan Street Band’s first record, Make the Road by Walking. I had literally bought these microphones really cheap on tour, and went home and made those records on an 8-track in my apartment. And then I mixed them at Daptone [Studios]. People like Mark Ronson would ask me, ‘Man, how did you get those drum sounds?’ I was like, ‘Well... [Laughs] one mic and a half-inch 8-track.’ With the limited gear that we had, we couldn’t do anything fancy. So it was really about capturing a great performance.”