Amos Lee: Last Days At The Lodge : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Though he's often labeled as a singer-songwriter, Amos Lee is a talented singer, period. On his third album, the Philadelphia native lends his stellar Al Green impression to "Won't Let Me Go," and lays a cool, Curtis Mayfield-style falsetto over the wah-wah guitar of "Jails and Bombs." Too bad he spends less effort singing sweet soul music than writing bland, acoustic-based folk songs with hopelessly banal lyrics. Even his soulful voice can't rescue a line like, "With your wheels on the gravel, I felt my heartstrings unravel." Lee's hero Al Green may share his love of truisms, but Green never focuses too hard on the words — he knows the poetry of soul is all in the delivery. Lee, on the other hand, actually lowers his vocal standards on the ballads "Ease Back" and "Better Days" to call attention to the lyrics. Maybe he's trying to sound grittier, like his former tourmate Bob Dylan. But with back-to-back cringe-inducers like "Time Has Killed the Pain," "Found A Reason to Carry On," and "Caught In An Endless Maze," he's not even the next Donovan.