The Jones Girls may have come from Detroit but their sweet harmonies made them synonymous with the Philly Sound. And their big breakthrough came after almost a decade when they teamed up with Philly Soul titans Gamble and Huff.

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I was too young to see the New York Dolls in their heyday, though I saw Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers on numerous occasions. The closest I got to David Johansen in those early days was that historically fabulous OGWT in 1973.

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Erasmo Carlos is a legendary musical figure in his native Brazil and this is the closing song in the Oscar-nominated film I’m Still Here. If you’re anything like me, and half the rest of the audience, you’ll be hearing through a veil of tears.

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The Melodians sealed their place in music history with their biblical anthem Rivers Of Babylon – even though most people know it best by Boney M. I’d rather listen to this song, Sweet Sensation, than either version.

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This cute sibling duet from 1975 slipped my mind completely. But it’s peak Seventies in all its faintly emetic glory.

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Brass Construction burst out of Brooklyn in the wake of B.T. Express with a similar recipe of supercharged funk with horns blowing up a storm.

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The late Sixties and early Seventies were incendiary times in politics and music – reflected in the fiery brass sections of funk bands like Tower Of Power.

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B.T. Express were pioneers of the funky early-1970s Brooklyn Sound with their proto-disco classic Express.

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Like everyone else I know* I discovered Bob Marley when the live version of No Woman, No Cry became a huge hit in the summer of 1975. Then I dug deeper and discovered this tune from five years earlier.

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The Saints, who formed in Australia in 1973, were arguably the first punk band of all – but they always claimed not to be punks. Whatever they were, they were fantastic.

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