Nick Lowe really ought to be a national treasure. A key figure in pub rock and punk rock in the Seventies, for some of us he already is.

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Is it heresy to suggest that this is not only one of the best Velvets covers but arguably a better version than the original? Especially when you learn that it was recorded in a tent. By a bunch of GIs. In the middle of the jungle in Vietnam.

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Burt Bacharach wrote so many great songs over the course of his career. He also wrote this one – the first pop song I ever heard.

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Magazine had a near-hit with Shot By Both Sides in January 1978. It’s arguably the first post-punk single – and certainly one of the best of that year.

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This slow-burner, with its smouldering brass decorated by guitar licks, is a classic example of the steamy New Orleans hybrid of blues, soul and jazz. A bittersweet ballad of betrayed love written by Al Reed, Danny White’s emotive vocals perfectly articulate the emotion in the lyrics.

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The deeper I delve into the vaults of old soul, the more buried treasure I find. Like this 1965 gem by The Brilliants.

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This tune was released on Syd Nathan’s legendary King label in Cincinnatti four years after they put out James Brown’s landmark first hit Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag in 1965.

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James Hines is one of the more fascinating figures of funk and soul – a six-foot-seven, 300-pound, legally blind albino guitarist, producer, composer who became a preacher after getting his sight back.

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You know when your eccentric auntie drinks a bit too much sherry at Christmas and embarrasses everyone by singing along to a record and dancing around the tree?

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This came out in 1977 when I was pogoing in a seedy cellar somewhere to a snotty young band that sounded nothing like this. But if you love soppy soul ballads, with a sweet singer emoting at the top of his range and backing vocalists echoing his heartfelt words back at him, then this is for you.

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