Zoot Money was one of those Zelig-like characters who turned up as a sideman, playing keyboards on hundreds of records from the early Sixties. But he actually started out as a front man.

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When I was a schoolkid I loved Cream. Everybody loved Cream. And this was their signature song. They were the original “power trio” of guitar, bass and drums – Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.

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This is a fantastic discovery If you like funky horn sections and you like powerful female voices. They don’t come much more powerful than Lydia Pense and her San Francisco-based band Cold Blood.

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Tim Hardin’s struggles with addiction are mirrored in Black Sheep Boy, his heartbreaking tale of alienation from his family.

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Samuel Maghett – “Maghett Sam” merging into Magic Sam – was a Chicago bluesman who had moved north from his Mississippi Delta birthplace in 1956 when he was 19.

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When it comes to The Shangri-Las, my knowledge doesn’t stretch much further than their greatest hits, led by the glorious Leader Of The Pack.

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Blimey! I had no idea The Kinks ever sounded like this. I’ve never heard it before, though seven million others seem to have watched it on YouTube.

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Today I’m feeling a little bit country and a little bit rock’n’roll, just like Donny and Marie once did. So here’s a bit of Buck Owens. This song never fails to put a big fat smile on my face. It just swings, and rocks, and twangs in all the right places.

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Here’s a sweet slice of Sixties psychedelia by a bunch of British teenagers, released in February 1968 to a chorus of indifference. Who would have expected it to launch a multi-million-selling band on a stellar career?

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It’s no exaggeration to say John Mayall is the most important figure in the development of rock music in Britain. 

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