Amos Lee

Amos Lee is still Blue Note's best bet to join labelmate Norah Jones as a mainstream crossover success story, even if the soulful singer's road to breakout stardom has been longer than some expected; his self-titled debut seemed to be on the verge of the big time, but never quite got the necessary buzz.

Supply and Demand isn't necessarily a step forward or backward. Its best songs aren't as emotionally engaging as the debut's, and he still gets a little too sanitary and somnolent for his own good, as on the wallpaper-ish "Night Train." But he also demonstrates increasing range and consistency, and there's plenty of effortless cool throughout. Again, the arrangements are kept subtle and allow Lee's vulnerable, soulful vocals to shine.

Supply and Demand is easy on the ears and will be perfectly at home on Triple A radio and coffeehouse speakers, but Lee isn't without his rough edges -- although it's easy to have doubts after opening track "Shout Out Loud," in which Lee politely and quietly sings about how he wants to rise up and shout. His social commentary is better expressed on the more up-tempo "Freedom," in which he shows some rock-ready vocal chops and delivers his most pointed set of lyrics ("Freedom is seldom found / By beating someone to the ground").

The highlight is the elegant "Careless," in which Lee's vocal melody is supported by a mellow R&B choir and a restrained backbone of piano and percussion. He doesn't always go for the big sing-along chorus, but when he decides to go for it -- as on "Careless," or "Seen It All Before" on the debut -- they're hard to resist, even for the worst shower and karaoke singers. - Adam McKibbin, The Red Alert

On the title track to his sophomore effort, Supply and Demand, singer/songwriter Amos Lee sings, "Baby I need a plan to help me understand, that life ain't only supply and demand." If the supply and demand Lee is referring to is money, success, and power -- and it clearly is -- then the stuff he truly values here is the currency of freedom, love, and sympathy for your fellow man. It's just such yin-yang subject matter that has driven folksingers to set struggle to melody ever since Depression-era scufflers like Woody Guthrie pointed out how America was technically "made for you and me" and not just those in the nice suits. For the most part, Lee is on about the same stuff here, although his vantage point is the more stylish, if no less lonely, tour bus and not a dust bowler's flatbed truck. Nonetheless, Lee is a heartfelt songwriter with an R&B crooner's sense of romance and drama and a real knack for turning his own ennui into anthems for the average guy. He tackles wars of various stripes on "Freedom" and like John Mayer's "Waiting on the World to Change," the song finds Lee deftly threading the political needle with lines like "Don't want to blame the rich for what they got or point a finger at the poor for what they have not" and "Freedom is seldom found by beatin' someone to the ground." It's a catchy stump speech of a tune and, three songs in, lifts the album up from just pleasant into something truly welcome and unexpected. Similarly engaging is the sanguine, slow ballad "Careless," which mixes the Band's "The Night We Drove Old Dixie Down" and Crosby, Stills & Nash's "Helpless" into a gut-wrenching and artful self-indictment of infidelity. However, it's the low-key and darkly sweet "Night Train" that should remain as not just the album's best cut, but Lee's signature song. Hypnotically simple, the song hangs on the chorus with Lee's candid omission, "I've been workin' on a night train/Drinkin' coffee, takin' cocaine/I'm out here on my night train/Tryin' to get her safely home." It's a hushed, rhythmically propulsive song filled with dramatic tension that is beautifully colored by shimmers of organ and lush guitars. On an album all about what's been bought and sold, both personally and collectively, it shows how in tune Lee is with this land of ours and how good he is at selling his soul in the best possible way. ~ Matt Collar, All Music Guide