Lost Soul-Singles And Demos 1966-1967 + bonus LP 1974 [CD]

In 2003 I actually spent a few months remastering these tracks from John Cannon's personal tapes. My remastering job was released as "Sour Milk Sea" for download only, and it included all of the album demos, which this package does not. But, the trade off is, that while not all of the demos appear on this CD the ones that do are in better sound quality than the ones I had access to and did my best with. All of the recordings sound a bit think, but that has alot to do with John Simon's production, he really didn't give the band a bottom heavy or fuller sound that they should have had, "Try as You May" is a good example. They really did pick the best songs though from the demos. "Don't You Think It's Time" is a brilliant Motown-ish pop song that should have been a hit and shows what a great feeling Jackie had for soul music. And the two tracks that make up the first single, "Try as You May" and "See the People" are fantastically engaging pop songs that will stay in you head, "See The People" will also suprise some with it's more agressive playing, interesting tempo shifts and an almost psychadelic guitar solo. "You Better Get Going Now" is another great soul pop song, that displays the bands potential, and was actually covered and released as a hit single in Australia by the band Zoot, who would feature a young Rick Springfield, and the Zoot's cover is a carbon copy of the original even down to the plectrum scrape piano opening. Now, while Jackie Lomax is the star here as songwriting goes, John Cannon proves himself to be a very talented writer, and one who should have had the opportunity to mature, with the truly wonderful "Enter Into My World". It does seem that the CD is skewed a little in jackie's favor, no suprise, as most of John Cannon's contributions were left off, of which "Sun Drops and "You Can't Hide Your Love" are great songs that you should check out. But having said that Tom Caccetta, the bass player, provides a near perfect psychadelic masterpiece with his composition "The Golden Lion", a truly errie and lyricaly impressive piece that reminds one of Donovan or The Yardbirds during their most experimental phase, i.e. "Glimpses", "Happening Ten Years Time Ago", "Turn To Earth", it is truly remarkable. The non Lomax Alliance tracks are also really good. Jackie's solo single, both covers, rare for him, Jake Holmes's "Genuine Imitation Life", which Jackie turns into a heartbreaking soul ballad, and the Bee Gee's "One Minute Woman", which Jackie was forced to record by Robert Stigwood but actually provided Jackie with one of his best vocal performances of his carrer!. The last non Lomax Alliance track is the song "Honey Machine", which Jackie recorded with Wayne Beckerton over at Deram records, where Jackie wrote the song "Only a Fool" for Clyde McPhatter. Be warned, the track is at the wrong speed, and is too slow, and it's immediately apparent. I remastered this song too and corrected the speed, the proper version is only available on the "Sour Milk Sea" download album. Bottom line, this is a great CD with great pop songs that any fan of Jackie's will enjoy, but I suggest you download the "Sour Milk Sea" as well to get the whole picture. P.S. The Badger "White Lady" album is also great.