Lost Soul Anima Persa (1977)

Jackie Lomax, who began his career as the lead singer and bass player for Liverpool’s the Undertakers in the mid-'60s, has always had a soulful voice, a bit like his contemporary Steve Winwood (the two actually also look strikingly similar), but his considerable talent never translated as well as Winwood’s into international commercial success. But the quality was always there, as this interesting two-disc set clearly shows. The first disc collects singles and demos from the Lomax Alliance (the Undertakers essentially morphed into the Lost Souls and then into the Lomax Alliance) as well as some Lomax solo releases tracked in 1966 and 1967, including seldom-heard gems like “Peaches ‘N Cream,” “Try as You May,” “Don’t You Think It’s Time,” and “Sweeter Than Honey,” all of which combine blue-eyed soul with a kind of British Invasion template.

When the studio of ever-groundbreaking Krautrock pioneers Can was sold to Germany's Rock n' Pop Museum, the entire space was disassembled and moved, and in the process, reels and reels of poorly marked and seemingly forgotten tapes were found buried amid other detritus in the studio. These tapes held over 30 hours of unreleased music from Can spanning a nine-year period and including work from both vocalists Malcolm Mooney and Damo Suzuki. Edited down to just over three hours, The Lost Tapes still includes an extensive amount of unheard studio, live, and soundtrack work from the band, and at its heights is as revelatory and brilliant as the best material on their well-loved albums…