Merry Clayton is best known for her gospelly backing vocals on the Stones’ anti-war anthem Gimme Shelter, wailing in harmony with Jagger. But there was much more to her than that.

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Bo Diddley’s heyday was long gone by 1970 and he was mostly seen as a heritage act on the oldies circuit (if at all) by the time he tackled the topical issue of Pollution. But it’s a great track.

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Michael Chapman was a guitar virtuoso, acclaimed for his acoustic fingerpicking. But it’s Mick Ronson’s electric guitar that steals the show here.

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I’ve never heard of Area Code 615 though I do know one of their songs without even knowing it – their number Stone Fox Chase is the theme music of the Old Grey Whistle Test. 

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Jerry Williams Jr is one of the great cult figures of 20th century American music – better known by his eventual stage name Swamp Dogg.

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Here’s a slice of slinky, sinuous, sweaty, steamy Southern funk from the natural home of that sort of thing – New Orleans.

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Tony McPhee never achieved the fame and fortune of Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page or Jeff Beck, his fellow British guitarists to emerge from Britain’s blues boom in the 1960s.

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This is the opening track from my favourite Elton John album. And who’s that on backing vocals? Why, yes, it’s Dusty Springfield!

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Three Dog Night introduced Elton John to the world when they recorded Your Song – six months before it gave him his first hit.

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Happy Beltane to all the old hippies, from the most famous pop idol to come from my neighbourhood, Stoke Newington.

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