{"product_id":"the-lost-album-6","title":"The Lost Album","description":"\u003cp\u003eA breezy sunset masterpiece. \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLewis Taylor's legendary magnum opus: The Lost Album. \"Now you're talking. That's\nmy favourite LT album. Unlike all of the others, there isn't anything about it that\nembarrasses me.\" Straight from the genius's mouth. What can we say about this?\nWell, it's the most requested record ever at Be With Towers. The Lost Album was the\nintended follow-up to his first album but Island rejected it for fear of \"confusing\" the\nmarketplace and its conception of Lewis as a soul artist. Their loss. It's a breezy\nsunset masterpiece.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe genesis of this incredible record needs unpicking a bit. Lewis stopped promoting\nthe first album after a year and went home to record a completely different record\nthat was the most un-R\u0026amp;B album you could probably ever hear: \"I pushed in such an\nextreme direction the other way with what eventually became The Lost Album. It was\na knee-jerk reaction to a perceived ‘trapped in R\u0026amp;B’ feeling I was going through at\nthe time. Some people around me were in favour of it and others weren’t. In the end I\nthink I lost confidence in it and did Lewis II instead.\" We did at least get Lewis II,\nwhich is a remarkable album, and he kept Island happy...for a bit. Not long after,\nLewis was dropped. And what was to become The Lost Album could've\nbeen...er...lost. Forever.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThankfully, however, Lewis and longtime partner Sabina Smyth revisited those\nscrapped demo tracks in 2003. They decided to re-arrange, re-record and then self-release them. So it was that the brand new version of \u003ci\u003eThe Lost Album\u003c\/i\u003e finally\ndropped in late 2004. It's sheer perfection, and we don't say that lightly. The Lost\nAlbum was a fully 50\/50 collaboration between Lewis and Smyth. As well as\nproduction, Sabina did a lot more writing on it, from the melody to \"Listen Here\" to\nthe chord sequence for \"Let's Hope Nobody Finds Us.\" Thankfully, Sabina is credited\nthis time around.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo, it's not straight up \"soul music\" in the vein of his previous work. Yet, in its\nperfectly formed suite of one dozen songs, \u003ci\u003eThe Lost Album\u003c\/i\u003e is dripping in soul. It's so\nwarm, so effervescent and so alive with possibilities. It features deep, fresh imprints\non well-loved, accessible sounds. It's a proper 70s style double album. Just one\nlisten and the musical influences on \u003ci\u003eThe Lost Album\u003c\/i\u003e are fairly self-explanatory, as\nLewis recently told us, but it's always nice to hear that, in case we were in any doubt,\nhe was definitely channeling Love, Yes, Brian Wilson, CSN, Laura Nyro and, of\ncourse, Todd Rundgren. The influences don't end there: \"I’m particularly fond of my\nbass playing on that album, there’s a lot of Chris Squire going on which is cool.\"\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDeep orchestral opener \"Lost\" is a sublime, harp-laced, string drenched gem, a\ncinematic, melancholic Axelrod-esque mini-epic that simply beguiles. Written by\nSmyth, it evokes Donny Hathaway's celestial \"I Love The Lord, He Heard My Cry\"\nfrom Extensions Of A Man. The only problem is the brief 90 seconds running time. It\nsegues into the classic Brian Wilson-meets-power-pop-rock splendour of \"Listen\nHere\" which, with its outstanding extended harp-licked beatless intro, sounds like the\nyounger cousin to Boston's \"More Than A Feeling\". We then drift into the ringing\nguitars of classic 70s rock anthem \"Hide Your Heart Away\". It's Lewis's personal\nfavourite, \"especially the multi-tracked guitar solo – I was listening to Boston at the\ntime, which was fun.\" A-ha!\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA new version of the heart-stopping, shoulda-been-a-massive-pop-hit \"Send Me An\nAngel\" opens Side B before the arrival of, in Lewis's completely correct words, \"the\nclear standout, \"Leader of the Band\"; the perfect distillation of everything that album\nwas trying to achieve.\" Soaring, piano-led Rundgren-esque power pop that makes\nthe hairs on the back of your next stand on end. Truly, otherworldly. This is pure pop\nfor now (and then) people. The simple jangly brilliance meets experimental prog-rock\nof \"Yeah\" sounds like simultaneously like prime CSNY and late 90s Radiohead (if\nthey'd had a slightly more accessible bent and could write better tunes).\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOh, you wish The Beach Boys had continued writing amazing songs beyond\nHolland? Well, allow us to point you in the direction of the downlifting stunner\n\"Please Help Me If You Can\" and the warm textures and brilliant atmospherics of\ngoosebump-inducer \"Let’s Hope Nobody Finds Us\". Words can't really describe the\nsheer beauty of these songs. So we'll stop trying. Just listen. Listen, listen, listen.\nClosing out this remarkable side of music, the accidentally Balearic \"New Morning\"\nshould be blasting out at every sunrise set in Ibiza, this summer and forevermore.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe final side opens with the vaguely Beatlesey \"Say I Love You\". It's just classic,\nsoaring pop-rock songwriting and should strictly be canonical. It's that good. The\nsassy, Stonesy swagger of \"See My Way\" injects enough rock'n'roll attitude to\ncompensate for the rest of record's peace-loving, AOR sun-dappled vibe whilst\nalbum closer, \"One More Mystery\", emerging out of the rubble of the previous track,\ncomes on initially like a Baroque-Pop George Harrison before piling crunching drums\nand screeching guitar solos atop the dreamy harmonies til close.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen asked what it means to have these records available on vinyl for the first time,\nLewis is in no doubt: \"It’s great and it’s really nice to be able to offer fans a different\nlistening experience. There’s a whole other dimension with vinyl that taps into that\nwhole nostalgia thing, well for me anyway. Something about the physical aspect of\npulling it out of the sleeve and putting it on, it does tend to make you feel like you’re\nmore engaged.\"\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLewis was adamant that he wanted all new artwork for \u003ci\u003eThe Lost Album\u003c\/i\u003e vinyl sleeve\nand his brief was just the sort of classic tropical-beach-at-sunset you’d want to see\non the front of a record that sounds like this. On the finished sleeve, the beach at\nsunset is just where we start out, before heading up through the painterly clouds and\nheading out into the stars. And yes, the lettering is a definite subtle nod to all those\nin-between-period Beach Boys bootlegs we all love. Simon Francis's sensitive\nmastering combines with Cicely Balston's precise cut for Alchemy at AIR Studios so\nthe album sounds appropriately outstanding. The immaculate Record Industry\ndouble LP pressing will ensure this previously lost masterpiece stays forever found.\n\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRIYL : Love, Brian Wilson, CSN, Laura Nyro and, of course, Todd Rundgren. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Be With Records","offers":[{"title":"LP","offer_id":50483041993035,"sku":"2021826","price":33.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0867\/1120\/6219\/files\/BEWITH141LP_3eedb207_thumbnail_4096.jpg?v=1727560286","url":"https:\/\/shop.roughtrade.com\/products\/the-lost-album-6","provider":"Rough Trade","version":"1.0","type":"link"}