Do This: Lee Fields & the Expressions at Bottom Lounge

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 28, 2011 6:40PM

With his screams, grunts, high energy stage shows and tight backing band the Expressions, Lee Fields draws inevitable comparisons to James Brown. One thing differentiating the two is their musical output.

Brown, who lived up to his title as "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business" literally until the day he died, had a compulsion to go straight from the road to the studio at the peak of his musical powers. As a result, his songs are everywhere, but the quality of many of them are wildly inconsistent. Don't believe us? Listen to Disc Four of the "Star Time" box set for proof.

Fields, on the other hand, is yet another example of the soul singer who was nearly lost to the dust bins. In fact, that's where crate diggers often found his 1970s 45s for decades, which became highly prized among soul aficionados.

When Jeff Silverman and Leon Michels founded Truth & Soul Records more than a half-decade ago their mission was to create soul records in the mode of the Delfonics and the Stylistics - music that could both punch you in the face with force and lull you into a peaceful easy feeling. Fields was at the top of their list to build the foundation for both the label and its sound. With The Expressions, Fields has the perfect backing band capable of stopping a song on a dime, switching rhythmic gears, tapping deep wells of emotion for ballads and working a crowd into a cold sweat. That makes their Friday night concert at Bottom Lounge a fitting venue. The West side venue's music room is a sweatbox when a crowd gets moving. Fields live demands hip shaking and happy feet.

Lee Fields & the Expressions play and 18+ show 9 p.m. Friday at Bottom Lounge (1375 W. Lake St.). Also on the bill are Dance Floor Plans and the Windy City Soul Club DJs.