Originally released in 1970, Jon Lucien's debut I Am Now veers unpredictably between the great, the overblown and the frankly baffling. Of the album's 11 songs only ‘Find Yourself a Lover’ is self-penned. The studio-imposed track list shoehorns together an uneasy mix of standards, pop songs and show tunes. On the one hand, the late, Tortola-born singer, songwriter, guitarist, and arranger sounds incredible on Jobim's ‘Dindi’, caressing the lyrics as only he can and making the song entirely his own. And the simplicity of the piano/vocal ‘The Shadow Of Your Smile’ ensures that it goes straight to the heart. But stacked against that is the portentous harpsichord and celestial choir featured in ‘A Time For Us’ (the love theme from the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet), the cloying arrangement of Stevie Wonder's ‘My Cherie Amour’ and the ridiculously cluttered ‘When I Look Into Your Eyes’ in which Lucien's vocal is all but swamped. And the less said about ‘The Sound of Music’ the better.

Kicking off with the wordless folkiness of ‘Kuenda’, Lucien's follow-up album, Rashida, is a much stronger, more cohesive, and more personal a statement. Entirely self-penned (half a dozen of its 11 tracks are co-written with Dave Grusin), Lucien remarked that the album was the most natural he ever made “because I was allowed to be myself”. Featuring a superb arrangement, ‘Would You Believe In Me’ is both uplifting and infuriating, with the track starting its fade out after two and a quarter minutes just as Lucien is getting into his stride. His superbly controlled baritone is heard to devastating effect on ‘Lady Love’, while the Grammy-nominated title track – with its watery Fender Rhodes intro, deluxe arrangement and serpentine structure – features one of the singer's greatest moments in the recording studio. Drawing from a deep stylistic well, Lucien never quite achieved the recognition he so clearly deserved – these reissues are more than welcome.