My latest playlist is one of my most eclectic yet. It begins with one of the all-time pop classics (Ronettes) and ends with an aptly valedictory elegy for one of those we lost in February (Bill Fay).

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In a month when we lost some big names in music – Marianne Faithfull, Roberta Flack, Rick Buckler of The Jam – the death of Bill Fay may have passed without much attention.

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Whenever Van Morrison puts out a new tune there’s always the worry that time will have finally caught up with the auld fella. But this is lovely.

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Roberta Flack sang two or three of the greatest and most ubiquitous songs in what you might call the Easy Listening Soul genre. But there was much more to her than that. A fantastic afro, for one thing; and the middle name Cleopatra for another… and this tune.

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The most extraordinary thing about this tune is the age of the man who made it. Marshall Allen, the sprightly old fellow you can see capering about in the video, celebrated his 100th birthday almost a year ago.

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The Jam gig I’ll always remember – along with the last one at the Rainbow in 1981 – is the time my mate filled in for drummer Rick Buckler at a gig.

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Justin Vernon has travelled far from his indie-folk roots since his debut album as Bon Iver almost singlehandedly invented the genre back in 2008.

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You can’t see him in this footage but this is the moment keyboard player Barry Goldberg – who died in January -became part of one of the most historic gigs in musical history.

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Sparks return with what might be their best video yet for the opening song of their 28th studio album.

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Susan Alcorn played my favourite musical instrument – the pedal steel guitar – and took it to new places with her experimental approach.

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