Sentimental Fool
is a reunion. Back in the '90s, soul powerhouse
Lee Fields
worked extensively with
Gabriel Roth
(aka
Bosco Mann
) and recorded for the songwriter/producer and bandleader's
Desco
and
Daptone
labels. A lengthier period supported by
Leon Michels
Jeff Silverman
-- with numerous releases on that duo's
Truth & Soul
, and then a stint on
Michels
'
Big Crown
-- followed for
Fields
thereafter. The singer meets again here with
Roth
, who writes and produces everything for his return to
. As a consequence,
is a little bluesier and closer to a purist R&B sound, its rhythms strictly old-school -- unlike the
sessions, neither played nor produced with a hip-hop sensibility emphasizing the low end.
outfits the album with piano and organ, horns, and all-male background vocals, and delegates the bass, his main instrument, to the workmanlike
Benny Trokan
.
sings everything with the expected high level of conviction, covering nearly the gamut of blue-collar soul subjects with devotion and heartache at the fore. His performances elevate the material when it's merely functional. A few of the ballads in the
Stax
Hi
veins -- opener "Forever," the title song, and especially "Ordinary Lives," lamenting the end of an evidently meaningful dalliance -- stand out most. "Two Jobs," a punchy belter about a taxing relationship, highlights the smaller batch of uptempo numbers. ~ Andy Kellman