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| Sputnikmusic |
 At his best, Amos Lee perfects a blend of an irreproducible voice, full of robust soul, effortless sensuality and a tinge of folk. Think: Tracy Chapman meets Marvin Gaye with a little Sam Beam (of Iron and Wine) thrown in. Unfortunately, on his new album Mission Bell, Amos Lee is often not at his best, and on most of the songs here he focuses on only one or two of the traits that make up his triforce of greatness, making for a rather predictable snooze. This is particularly upsetting, since Calexico had a hand in producing the album, and Amos was clearly trying for a bigger audience by recruiting the likes of Willie Nelson and Lucinda Williams, but even with all the hands in the game, Amos dropped the ball with Bell. Mission Bell (loosely) follows the story of a man seeking absolution and redemption and in the first song, “El Camino” he leaves the one he loves trying to find himself, in order to come back a better person. Lee uses this journey and purpose as a starting point for most of the songs on Mission Bell, but there’s not a truly identifiable story arc in the album and some of the songs seem to be tossed in because the sound rather than the story matched the rest, so definitely don’t consider this a concept album by any means. This album elucidates Lee’s difficulty creating albums that are cohesive, solid works rather than parts pieced together into a makeshift whole. In thinking about his body of work, one usually thinks of his best songs, rather than any standout album, because he really doesn’t have any, and Mission Bell is no different....full text |
| Slantmagazine |
| Over the course of his first three albums, Amos Lee has developed a reputation as a powerful soul vocalist who happened to adopt the sensibilities and style of a '70s-era pop singer-songwriter. That style hasn't always allowed him to capitalize on his extraordinary voice, and his latest, Mission Bell, suffers from the same dedication to mellow, Starbucks-ready music. Working with Calexico's Joey Burns as his producer, Lee ventures into a more Americana-leaning sound on Mission Bell, and it's only a slight departure from his dogged Mellow Show shtick. Lee is a solid enough songwriter, and the ambling, country-folk arrangements that Burns brings to the songs here suit Lee's laidback approach well. The gentle acoustic strum of "El Camino" brings an appropriate wistfulness to the song, as Lee sings of heading down the titular border road to do some soul-searching. Lead single "Windows Are Rolled Down" covers similar territory, and, though it never fully builds to a rousing climax, its uptempo structure gives Lee an opportunity to cut loose a little with a throaty, rich vocal turn. "Cup of Sorrow" is perhaps the strongest cut on the record, offsetting its effortless country-blues shuffle with unconventional imagery and Lee's soulful performance....full text |
| Popmatters |
| Mission Bell is the fourth collection from Amos Lee, a singer-songwriter from Philadelphia who can boast a charming voice and an easy-n-mellow style. When he debuted in 2005 on Blue Note Records with an eponymous disc featuring, essentially, Norah Jones’s band, listeners may have expected music with jazzy lilt as well as a coffeehouse-ready acoustic sound. But Lee’s strengths are, in fact, way more mainstream than those of Jones. Though his last collection (produced by Don Was) featured a few tracks with some genuine soul snap, Lee is mostly a contemporary King of Mellow. If I may not quote Woody Allen: I don’t respond well to mellow. If I get too mellow, I ripen and then rot. Amos Lee is very, very mellow on Mission Bell. Not that the songs here, produced by Joey Burns of the band Calexico, are not beautiful to hear. They hum with lovely acoustic textures—the guitars and organ of Calexico, in fact—that simmer beneath Lee’s graceful vocal sound. It’s a class job all the way—real grown-up music, music your mother could love, every hair in place. Which is the dilemma. The opener (and closer), “El Camino”, is a gentle folk-pop song about facing the California-Mexico border, heading home, with the most delicate acoustic guitar picking and piano minimalism you can imagine. A smidgen of horns color the bridge for a subtle south-of-the-border effect. Drums cut out for the first half of the last verse, because Burns knows what he’s doing. And Lee is compelling as a singer. It’s lovely, but it’s formula-lovely. And this is underscored by the fact that the tune’s closing reprise features a guest named Willie Nelson, who kicks Lee’s butt all the way down the borderline. The arrangement is cut back to just acoustic guitar and harmonica, with the guitar now playing actual blue notes. This second version fixes what seems so mellow and mushy about the opener—and about too much of the rest of Mission Bell. The problem with “mellow” is not that it’s quiet, but that it’s soothing, tapioca, bland and obvious....full text |
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