Bob Dylan painted a picture of economic despair in his heartbreaking tale of a farmer driven to familicide, The Ballad Of Hollis Brown.

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Donovan teamed up with the Jeff Beck Group and producer Mickie Most in 1969 to make the album Barabajagal, spawning his last hit single.

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Boz Scaggs is another of those guys I know a single song by. I’m not even a huge fan of that song – Lowdown – the single that came out in 1976. Until now.

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Roy Head had his solitary hit single with Treat Her Right in 1965 – aided by his extraordinary dance moves on TV shows like this.

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Candi Staton had been singing in gospel groups for years when the future disco diva recorded a solo album of secular Southern soul at Muscle Shoals in 1969.

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I’ve just heard this song for the first time – only half a century after it first came out. And… wow. It’s a spellbinding, heartbreaking account of a loveless marriage and the effect it’s had on the life of their unwanted child.

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When I get the urge to hear some soul music, I often go straight to Otis. And when I go to Otis, I tend to go straight to Try A Little Tenderness. It was only when this came on the radio the other day that I remembered what a highlight it is on the immortal album Otis Blue.

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You’ve got to feel sorry for Fred Neil. The obscure Canadian folkie recorded definitive versions of three great songs that went on to become standards – and all three were made famous in better versions by three other artists.

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Four white men in black suits and white shirts. One black man in a shiny gold suit. And two classic Northern Soul tunes. That’s The Epitome Of Sound.

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The mysterious Rubin only recorded a single side in his obscure music career – but it became a Northern Soul classic. (more…)