Ladies
Lee Fields & The Expressions
My World, 2009 (iTunes, CD, LP)
Truth & Soul Records with an assist from Stones Throw

This is my summer ’09 anthem. Well, at least my early summer anthem, well see how long it stays in rotation, but I’m guessing it will be for a while. I’m sure this song’s “Ladies, you look so good in the summertime” theme works for anywhere but it seems tailor-made for NYC where the shift to summer clothing is discussed annually and especially noticeable due to the…uh, population density.

I’ve posted several songs from Brooklyn soul/funk label Daptone Records but this is the first that I’ve posted from their Brooklyn soul/funk rival (?) Truth & Soul. I would actually guess that they don’t consider themselves rivals, despite that they, as I understand it, both formed out the ashes of a label called Desco and have a lot of overlapping players. Lee Fields has actually released music on both labels although the first I heard of him was the “My World”/”Love Comes and Goes” 7″ which came out on Truth & Soul in 2007. Those two songs went easily and immediately into my mental top 10 list of new soul songs, so as you might guess, I’ve been waiting patiently for this album to come out for the last two years. The album isn’t perfect but does not disappoint, with “Ladies”, “My World Is Empty Without You” and “Last Ride” (as well as re-recorded versions of “My World” and “Love Comes and Goes”) being standouts. This album came out Tuesday. I encourage you to support independent labels like this that are going against the grain.

I have to give props to Monk One for giving me the Lee Fields 7″ and also mention that his weekly party, The Greenhouse (a Brooklyn institution since 2001) is ending this week as Black Betty is closing it doors permanently. If you are in Brooklyn Friday night, that is going to be the place to be, if you can fit in the building.

Songs are available for two weeks.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Music Appreciation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.