One of the key successful elements of Fox Television's House is the creators' ability to pick a variety of old and new day musicians to furnish the soundtrack of the rather complex Hugh Laurie-lead medical drama. This style led me to hear for the first time the rather angelic, if not overtly depressed vocals of Amos Lee through his song "Colors," which was featured in one of the show's earlier seasons. When I heard that Amos was releasing another album, I was doing it on the impression that his songs would pretty much all be in that style.
Boy was I wrong.
Last Days In The Lodge definitely goes to show that some musicians can escape vocally and lyrically from the songs that put them on the map. The album, almost, sounds like a lost collection of Bob Dylan songs that were never recorded. I'm not kidding.
Maybe he made a change during his second album that I wasn't aware of and this is the style that he carried over from a previous effort. If this is the case, then apologies all around to Amos Lee fans for mistaking his style for Dylan's. Nevertheless the album is good on its own merits despite the rather Dylanesque lyrics and vocals.
As I cruise through the album's 11 songs (written by Lee himself) I take note of the good tracks for those observing this album for a listen. "Listen" is a nice little message song about being aware of what's going on in your world. The ever so simple "Baby I Want You" is a nice romantic yarn that could have easily been a song on a Paul McCartney album. "What's Been Going On" should be the former song's sequel, with the focus even being a breakup, but it differs slightly as the lyrics are not so sappy and more edgy like "Colors" was.
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