No Time for Dreaming

Critical reception

No Time for Dreaming received generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 79, based on 14 reviews. Hal Horowitz of AllMusic said, "Retro-soul aficionados who claim they don't make 'em like they used to will obviously be thrilled with this, but even contemporary R&B fans can't help but be moved by the emotion and passion evident in every note of this riveting set." Benjamin Boles of Now said, "While it took a little while for the magic to finally get laid down to tape, the results are worth the wait." Mike Madden of PopMatters said, "You don't need to know his back story to fall in love with Bradley--the music speaks for itself. This album has been a looooong time coming, but it's more than worth the wait."

Max Blau of Paste said, "No Time for Dreaming not only prevails as a defining culmination of Bradley's lifelong musicianship to date, but also furthers the argument that Daptone Records can do no wrong." Josh Modell of Spin said, "No Time for Dreaming wails in a world of "Heartaches and Pain" (see the memorable closing track), but Bradley's despair is never less than stirring." Phil Johnson of The Independent said, "Bradley, a 62-year-old ex-plumber and James Brown impersonator, has a raspy, infinitely pained voice but there doesn't appear to be any real interaction between him and the band." J. Arthur Bloom of Tiny Mix Tapes said, "The Menahan Street Band realizes the vision of No Time for Dreaming, with Brenneck at the helm. More Memphis than Detroit, they're always present but never pretentious."

Mojo placed the album at number 40 on its list of "Top 50 albums of 2011".