Just when you think you’ve heard it all, along comes a tune from (and I quote) “the core of Melbourne’s burgeoning movement of cinematic instrumental soul.”

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Cream’s original version of this song was played a lot when I was at school, driven along by a bassline Jack Bruce apparently inspired by seeing a Hendrix concert. It was only much later that I heard this funky soul version by Spanky Wilson, with its exuberant horns and serpentine basslines.

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This fantastic afro-flavoured fusion of funk and soul comes from a Soweto nightclub back in the dark days of apartheid in the early ’70s. It’s performed by Abacothozi, house band at the township’s first nightclub, The Pelican.

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Simultaneously smooth, smouldering AND funky, this tune helped give soul singer Gwen McCrae a second lease of life on the Northern Soul circuit in the UK.

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The sun is out, the sky is blue and you’ll forget the mercury is hovering just above freezing as soon as you hear this tasty slice of funked-up Congolese rumba.

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Back in 1980 I discovered A Certain Ratio through this song. But until now I never knew it was a cover version – of a 1975 tune by Banbarra. In fact Banbarra’s entire discography consists of this solitary song, divided into two halves of 7-inch single.

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This funky tale of a vengeful black god coming to fix the injustices of the world comes from another of those lost masterpieces – an obscure album of jazz-funk matched to black-consciousness lyrics called Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse.

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Here’s a sultry slice of Southern soul from The Ohio Players’ debut album, long before they became disco-funkateers with a string of hits.

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Here’s a slice of smooth summery jazz-funk from Southern California’s so-called Inland Empire – the area south-east of LA that includes Palm Springs and San Bernadino.

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When I first heard this joyful celebration of Africa and freedom, on a mixtape made by Polly Harvey, I thought it must be by an African group. In fact it’s an entirely home-grown affair – a collaboration between the British neo-soul collective Sault and the British singer Michael Kiwanuka.

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