Lee Fields & the Expressions - It Rains Love review

The Guardian 80

(Big Crown)

One of the great gifts of soul music is the persuasiveness of its succour. Bursting with love and sweeping horn arrangements, the seventh ensemble album from Lee Fields and the Expressions is like being broadsided by the unexpected aroma of wildflowers on some blasted heath: hard to believe, but real nonetheless.

New York scene man Fields is celebrating 50 years of releasing music – an artist who has survived his good friends Sharon Jones (once his backing singer) and Charles Bradley (Fields gave the fledgling Bradley an early tour support slot). The Expressions, meanwhile, often double as the Daptone house band, a reservoir of vintage class for the likes of Amy Winehouse.