I didn’t see much mention in the news of the death of Kinky Friedman, the self-styled “Texas Jewboy” of country music. It’s probably fair to say his records would not be released these days because of their close-to-the-bone satirical content; and their language (including this one).

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Harry Chapin is someone I vaguely recall in the same MoR mould as John Denver and Jim Croce, making sentimental string-laden songs with sermonising social messages. Which is true. But I do him a disservice.

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I first heard his name when Gerry Rafferty released Baker Street. Everyone knew who played that sax solo. Almost as many knew that the same guy played the two sax solos on Bowie’s Young Americans.

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Captain Beefheart enjoyed one of his more mainstream moments when he recorded Observatory Crest for his ninth album Bluejeans & Moonbeams.

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The deepest of deep cuts, this little-known cover of a little-known soul song is one of the hidden gems in Bowie’s repertoire.

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This really is a proper deep cut from Gene Clark’s long-forgotten fourth album No Other from back in 1974. Long forgotten for many years, but now regarded as something of an underground classic.

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When it comes to underrated talents, Shuggie Otis should be one of the first names to come to mind. No less a judge than David Byrne rates his trippy R&B jams as “equal to Marvin and Curtis.”

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I don’t know how I forgot this one when I was trawling through the songs of my childhood. It wasn’t a big hit but back in 1974 it seemed to be everywhere.

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I don’t know how you can make a song sound this funky with little more than a bunch of drums from Africa and Asia. But dammit, Nina Simone can. And she did.

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