My track-by-track tales follow the bare-bones list. Song clips also available on my Facebook page.

1. Wishbone Ash, The King Will Come
2. Bill Wyman, Every Sixty Seconds
3. Mick Taylor, Late At Night
4. Mick Taylor, Blind Willie McTell (Bob Dylan cover)
5. The Rolling Stones, Watching The River Flow (Bob Dylan cover)
6. Mark Knopfler, Boom, Like That
7. John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Bare Wires Suite
8. Spooky Tooth, Weird
9. Ian Hunter, Rain
10. Phil Collins, The Roof Is Leaking
11. Robert Palmer, Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley
12. Bruce Springsteen, Missing
13. Johnny and Edgar Winter, Baby, Watcha Want Me To Do (live)
14. Van Morrison, Take Me Back

My track-by-track tales:

1. Wishbone Ash, The King Will Come . . . Progressive rock from arguably the definitive Ash album, 1972’s Argus. Famous for the twin guitar attack of Andy Powell and Ted Turner that proved a big influence on Thin Lizzy, Iron Maiden, and others. The song has a mythic, medieval feel, common to at least some British bands of the time and beyond, with lyrics that could be interpreted in a biblical or fantasy context.

2. Bill Wyman, Every Sixty Seconds . . . From the former/longtime Rolling Stones bassist’s second solo album, the 1976 release Stone Alone, a title he later used for his 1990 book about the band. It’s a lazy in a great way tune featuring Wyman on bass and guitar, Joe Walsh on slide guitar, Van the Man Morrison on harmonica and session drummer to the stars Jim Keltner. The album overall features a long list of musical luminaries of the time, and forever, like Dr. John, Bob Welch, Nicky Hopkins, Al Kooper and Ron Wood, among others.

3. Mick Taylor, Late At Night . . . Nice groove on this one from the former Rolling Stones’ guitarist’s 2000 release A Stone’s Throw. Some have suggested it could be a Steely Dan track in terms of sound and production, which I can see/hear. It’s an excellent jazz rock tune, written and sung by Taylor, that also features longtime Who collaborator John “Rabbit’ Bundrick on keyboards.

4. Mick Taylor, Blind Willie McTell (Bob Dylan cover) . . . This reinterpretation of the Dylan classic – it starts slow and bluesy before shifting into a harder-edged blues rocker two minutes into its near nine-minutes duration – is also from Taylor’s A Stone’s Throw album. Blind Willie McTell, recorded during the sessions for Dylan’s 1983 album Infidels that Taylor played on, wasn’t released until 1991 when it came out on Dylan’s The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991. That was the first installment of what is now a 17-volume series. When it was revealed that Blind Willie McTell was an outtake from Infidels, the music world was perplexed as to why Dylan had decided to not include such a great track on the album. He later told interviewers that he didn’t think he “recorded it right” but in any event it was finally released and has since been placed on various Dylan compilations. I played it a few weeks ago as part of a blue/blues rock show.

5. The Rolling Stones, Watching The River Flow (Bob Dylan cover) . . . A Dylan tune that appeared on the Boogie 4 Stu tribute album to the late “sixth Stone” pianist Ian Stewart, who was originally in the band but then deemed not to have the right ‘look’ by management although Stewart continued to play on the group’s albums and most tours. Watching The River Flow is not an ‘official’ Stones’ release technically but the various band members past and present at the time were easily convinced to come together in studio or online in tribute to their cherished friend, who died of a heart attack at age 47 in 1985. The Boogie 4 Stu album, released in 2011 and featuring a variety of musicians, was assembled and coordinated by English pianist Ben Waters. He’s worked with the Stones including solo excursions by Ron Wood and Mick Taylor as well as Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck and The Kinks’ Ray Davies.

6. Mark Knopfler, Boom, Like That . . . Up-tempo tune from the former Dire Straits leader’s 2004 album Shangri-La, inspired by Knopfler’s reading of a book about McDonald’s entrepreneur Ray Kroc.

7. John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Bare Wires Suite (Bare Wires/Where Did I Belong/I Started Walking/Open Up A New Door/Fire/I Know Now/Look In The Mirror. . . Intoxicating extended trip from Mayall’s 1968 album Bare Wires which featured future Rolling Stone Mick Taylor on guitar. The various parts of the piece feature a host of approaches, mellow to heavy, over the 23 minutes.

8. Spooky Tooth, Weird . . . Non-album B-side to a 1968 single, Sunshine Help Me, which did not chart at least in North America. Weird is, apropos to its title, a moody, atmospheric, psychedelic piece featuring the eerie, hypnotic keyboard work of Gary Wright who later successfully went solo, achieving hit status via his 1975 Dream Weaver album which featured the title cut single along with Love Is Alive. Not on this track but two notables who later passed through Spooky Tooth lineups were Henry McCullough, guitarist/drummer with Paul McCartney’s Wings, and Mick Jones who went on to form Foreigner.

9. Ian Hunter, Rain . . . From 1981’s Short Back N’ Sides album from the former frontman for Mott The Hoople. Hunter was coming off a solo commercial sales rebirth via his excellent 1979 album You’re Never Alone With A Schizophrenic and followup live disc Welcome To The Club. He then released this equally excellent but somewhat different in sound album co-produced by The Clash’s Mick Jones (not the Foreigner guy) and Hunter’s perennial guitarist Mick Ronson. Topper Headon of The Clash is on drums with Ellen Foley of Meat Loaf, Clash and solo fame on backing vocals. It’s a somber and reflective tune with a touch of reggae influence, perhaps a nod, given who was producing, to various Clash tracks from the London Calling and Sandinista! albums of that period.

10. Phil Collins, The Roof Is Leaking . . . One of those deep cuts, this from Collins’ 1981 debut solo album, Face Value, that when I play it, as I did the other day as a possible show candidate, it immediately comes to mind as an ‘oh yeah, I remember this’ tune beyond the hits from that album – In The Air Tonight and I Missed Again. I’ve been doing a lot of that lately, playing albums I have not played in eons, revisiting them, listening to them straight through and being rewarded by their enduring quality at least some of which I intend to keep passing on, via my show, as songs occur.

11. Robert Palmer, Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley . . . I got into Robert Palmer while in college through his 1979 album Secrets which featured hits/great songs like Bad Case Of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor) and riff-rocker Jealous, among many others. I followed him from then on but also went back to things like this earlier relative hit, the title cut from his 1974 debut album. It’s a great funky tune, written by Allen Toussaint of myriad musical genres fame, with Lowell George of Little Feat on guitar and in fact Palmer opens the album with Feat’s Sailin’ Shoes, written by George.

12. Bruce Springsteen, Missing . . . . Sparse, dark, haunting track written during the 1990s but finally officially released on a Springteeen album on the excellent 2003 compilation The Essential Bruce Springsteen. It’s on the limited edition 3-CD bonus disc on that album and also long available on the web. According to Springsteen’s own liner notes on the compilation, after writing it he played it for Sean Penn, who liked and used it in the 1995 movie The Crossing Guard which Penn wrote, directed and co-produced, starring Jack Nicholson.

13. Johnny and Edgar Winter, Baby, Watcha Want Me To Do (live) . . . A rousing 11-minute cover of the Jimmy Reed tune. Johnny’s typically great guitar teamed with Edgar’s sax and keyboard accents is compelling as the Winter brothers’ bands of the time combine forces on the ‘Together’ live album, released in 1976.

14. Van Morrison, Take Me Back . . . A typical Van The Man epic, this one from the Hymns To The Silence album, released in 1991. It’s another of those tracks where his vocalizations are so stirring and compelling. Nobody can repeat lines ‘take me back take me back take me back’ and not bore you but instead draw you further into the song, as Van can as on this musical trip through R & B, folk, pop, Celtic, rock and gospel. It’s a satisfying journey through the mystic, to paraphrase one of his song titles, that Morrison has always travelled.