“Wouldn’t that be a beautiful thing if it rained love everywhere and everybody got wet?” Lee Fields asks. On It Rains Love, the seventh album by Lee Fields & The Expressions (and the second released on BK's Big Crown Records), Fields attempts to answer that question through a masterclass of soul cuts. Fields teams up with frequent collaborator and producer heavy-weight Leon Michels (the main-man behind El Michels Affair) to mix traditional soul characteristics with a hip-hop filter, creating a sound that is as much an homage to Fields' four decade-long career as it is to the new school. To that end, some of Fields' records have been chopped / re-purposed for songs by A$AP Rocky, J. Cole, and Travis Scott. From the opening title track you know you're in for something special, both lyrically and sonically. These cuts sound like they could belong to any of the last four decades, yet they never feel like a cheap "throwback" tune. Tunes to check out include the aforementioned "It Rains Love," "Blessed with the Best," "You're What's Needed in My Life," "Wake Up" (what a killer drum break!), "Love Prisoner," and "God Is Real." Impeccable through and through, this album has something for everyone: killer production for those sample heads and catchy, positivity-influenced lyricism for tugging at the heart-strings and politically charged calls to action. Fields' primary goal for the album was to inject "the theme of love into everything", and he does so while keeping everything fresh and new. 10 tracks in all pressed on red vinyl, released by Big Crown. Recommended

• red vinyl pressing
• music label: Big Crown 2019

reviewed by Richard Cashmere 4/2019