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Big t.rex fan here ..no1 electric warrior..no2 Bolan boogie..no3 tanx ...to be truthful loved everything Bolan put out

Love that Isley Brothers song. Didn’t a young Ernie switch to playing left handed after Hendrix played in their backing band? He certainly channels Jimi. Favourite track by them I’ve only recently discovered is Here We Go Again.. so timeless.

Perhaps Sandy's finest moment ? The Sea was my favourite track off the Island Bumpers compilation from '71. It always brings back great memories. I think that was Trevor on acoustic and Jerry Donahue on electric guitar. All the best to you Mal for Christmas and the New Year. That was a Scrooge (Bah Humbug !) rant at religion to begin with though yer miserable bugger ! Have a good one.

It being the season of goodwill and such, found myself greatly relieved to find that VM’s Christmas offering was entirely pleasant and non-controversial. Apparently a view not shared by the recently paroled Father Fitzpatrick who, it has been reported, was last seen boarding the Number 34, outside Franklin Prison, Hartlepool bound, carrying an oversize crucifix, a hammer and a bag of nails.

Another slick changeover at the end. Seamless. Thought as you are so into Christmas Shane McGowan would have had a mention. You forgot to mention the priest who got sent off playing a charity football match against the police for violent play.

System sounds good ❤

All the best bro, and best wishes for new year, keep the videos coming,

*Ghost Stories for Christmas* - - centuries-old UK Christmas tradition. Dickens, M. R. James, the Joan Collins segment of *Tales from the Crypt* in 1972. So it would make more sense to me if Christmas swapped places with Easter which is more of a ghost story. Now you could say How can anyone be resurrected before they're born? I'd say it's got to be more plausible than the other way round. I'm listening to Quincy Jones's score *In the Heat of the Night* now, & ppl rightly say what's that got to do with Christmas? It *would* have to do with Christmas if we swapped it with Easter for 30 pieces of silver. " *I got the motive which is money & the body which is dead!* "

Afternoon Mally. and certainly looking the part. especially the front of the jumper showing who i believe would have made the best PM in my lifetime, but, not to be. Jackson Brownes " The Rebel Jesus" gets an airing in this house around this time of the year and for well over 45 years so does Paul Brady and Andy Irvines rendition of the trad Irish anti war song "Arthur Mc Bride and the Sargent". If there is a God out there please help us. Good health to you and yours Mally... Take care..

Albert Collins ice picking is my favorite, might be too funky for this list, but check it out if you don't have it

Good video and unique list!

Finally, Lightning Hopkins and John Mayall getting a little love. Lightning hard a conversational vocal delivery that was all his own and Turning Point has been on my playlist for decades

Stephen Thompson on bass , no drummer on Turning Point . My fav album of all time .

You could probably own 3 blues records and cover the whole genre. Come at me blues fans 🤪

Spot on about your feelings about the US electorate and the attributes of their candidate. Lou Reed - white light, white heat. His homage to being strung out on herioin.

Houston Texas Calling and you think you got the political blues there? Love that you have our own Houston Texan Lightnin' Hopkins at number 1. He is for me as well. I love being a Lightnin' fan (over 23 Hopkins LPs,) and being from Houston. A lot of his lyrics come from different parts of Houston and East Texas. I'm a newbie to your channel and so far I'm really enjoying it! When we think of the Blues we think of Delta, New Orleans, Chicago but Houston has contributed some great Blues Musicians. Bobby Bland, Lester Willlians and Lightnin's friend Juke Boy Bonner. Cheers!

Wow! Buffalo Nichols. Really compelling choice. Taj and Ry, very well thought out. I'm sure there are plenty that disagree, but it's your list, Monkey.

I was introduced to John Mayall through Turning Point. Room to Move is a classic.

First Blues album I ever bought was John Mayall's The Blues Alone on Ace of Clubs label in 1967. He plays everything on it except drums which Keef Hartley handles. Great musician and excellent album.

A fellow blues fan! By your accent, are you from Yorkshire like me?

Nice video, you have some great albums in your collection, love listening to your commentry on all aspects of music ❤

Cheers man, great albums.

I have collected and seen Cray for decades. Find Showdown with Cray, Collins, and Copeland. Mayall - a super no percussion record. Even his later outputs is pure music. On that record, when performing he would insert the tossed joints into his guitar strings. If you can find the three History of British Blues records - very cool.

Great video.

In a VC conversation I went off-topic from Jimi Hendrix to complain that ' *While My Guitar Gently Weeps* ' upstages the song with a fake blues solo too on-the-nose. *George Harrison* lacked confidence to do his own solo, likely more authentic. I was reminded that *Eric Clapton* is blues rock, not traditional blues. Adept, but the feel isn't there. This made me realise George Harrison wasn't even a rocker, once pop left '50s rock 'n' roll behind. So his own guitar is closer to blues, without Clapton's pumped-up showstopping cayote up a mountain gesturing. Harrison was content to skip some chords & bend a note. The acoustic version was a blues ballad that Clapton's electrified wailing shoved aside like the lyrics don't count, specially the word "gently." Still a fab song but didn't reach its potential, & I think it's Clapton's expert guitar, not the tune. Hearing the passive-aggressive wry bite that Harrison put into his lingering blues solo for Lennon's ' *How Do You Sleep* ' - - resigned as it is to a gutted friendship - - it makes me think, Clapton should have encouraged Harrison to take the solo in 1968 if he really wanted to do his mate a favour. When Harrison wasn't impressed with his own work & asked to redub his solo on 'How Do You Sleep', Lennon cut him short with one of those remarks that you have to think twice to realise you'll never get a better compliment: "Are you crazy? That's the best playing you've ever done!" 2 years too late. Because the thing is, in *Get Back* sessions when George walked out on the group, Lennon's cavalier answer was, If he's not back by Thursday we'll get Clapton.

I'll throw into the mix the raw brilliance of Jo-Ann Kelly and Tony McPhee (pre Groundhogs) on the album Same Thing on Their Minds. If you don't already know the channel, Don's Tunes is perhaps the best place on You Tube for blues music.

Afternoon Mally... Beware of the " cult of celebrity" With your channels popularity growing as rapidly as it is beware Mally and dont ever change.. Be it jazz, soul or as on this occasion the blues you dont need to look much further than Ray Charles.. If you feel the need to i would highly recommend the late and in my opinion great Eddie Hinton... 60s and 70s Muscle Shouls session guitarist, who in his later years released a number of "White" soul and blues albums of his own.. Try his "Letters from Mississippi" album... A truly remarkable voice... Take care Mally..

Teeth n claws sharpened, hunched, ready to pounce and you do this. What’s a no-nothing, arm chair critic going to do when confronted with reasonableness? Pretty certain if you n Lightnin Hopkins had been contemporaries then you’d’ve been snapped up in the blink of an eye as his lead backing vocalist. Picturing you flanked by two fulsome southern gals,eyes half closed, gently and sensitively echoing the great man’s lines. Perfection, give or take a semitone.

Marriott - Small Faces and/or Humble Pie.

There are so many to choose from. Your list is excellent. Personally, i would have tried to queeze Cream into the list. I think their influence on the direction of rock music has been significant.

Lost interest when The Smiths and bloody Morrisey turned up..

Deep Purple? Supertramp?

Nice one monkey, glad to see the hogs in there, just geet hogging the stage on at mo bloody great miss t s mcphee, hope you well rave on my freind.❤

Not a bad list, some unexpected entrants (Groundhogs, Lindisfarne, Procol Harum) and a couple of headscratchers (Manics, Waterboys, Only Ones). I think you could've stretched the definition to include Martin Stephenson & The Daintees, as the band is essentially Martin & whoever's playing with him that night. No Prefab Sprout?

Maybe favorites-not greatest

Hawkwind, Madness, The Cult.

Hairy ape needs a shave and another dozen donuts!!

You are correct. You have the very best taste. Good one ✌🏻

I have never understood why Manic Street Preachers got to be so popular. But as I have always said "We can't like everything"

Great list The Bee Gees were born on the Isle of Man Their nationality is therefore Manx

Also if you have Bolan ,what about Bowie?

Graet stuff! Wrote down my picks before watching. I would have The Who,the Clash,Deep Purple the Kinks the small faces and faces and Family.And what about Queen?All the Best Mick.

I just did this one, I found it tougher to do than the American thread. Too many great bands

Velvet Underground was my top group. Chicago almost made the top. Cool to see Suicide in there, I love that album. Fun list

Poor old Glen Matlock , ignored again !!!! 😂

The Kinks? The Who?

I'm getting over that cold, it's on a national tour. Used to be music in the air whose catchy tunes we all bought. Now it's farmedoutgerms - - distinct drop in quality of life in that tradeoff. Cautious recommendation: *33 and a 3rd* series of pocket-size books still going after 25 years. No illustrations: approx120 pages by a different author each time on one album. Careful! some ('Parallel Lines') have next to nothing to do with the album & not much to do with the band. Hit and miss series: a favoured album may not translate to a good book. *Bowie's 'Low* ' = best in the series I know of, by Hugo Wilcken. ' *Diamond Dogs* ' = a good one. *Elvis Costello's 'Armed Forces* ' - - well researched, goes deep into songs for such a small book. *ThisisHardcoreby Pulp* , written by the woman who was responsible for marketing the album. ' *Let It Be* ' = another good'n that went the extra mile beyond a web trawl of everything-we-already-know. Shouldn't pay more than a tenner for any of them. I've got the usual feeling I've said all this before. I've typed that sentence before for sure. And that one. And this one.

And this year’s award for outstanding modesty goes to? All those cats (well, 9 out of 10 of them) who preferred ‘Whiskas’ in that timeless taste test, Mohammed Ali with his grossly exaggerated ‘I am the Greatest’, or Trump laying claim to being “A very stable Genius”. They’re all knocked into a cocked hat by our undisputed, master of taste, that gold standard of nuanced and sensitive interpretation. The one and only, our very own, Vinyl Monkey. Who, quite irritatingly, chose 25 excellent bands as evidence of his exquisitely honed taste. T-Rex, Mal. Oh, ffs, you sure there isn’t something else going on there? Very attractive, isn’t he? Curly wig and another T-shirt in the post.

I’ve never been able to get into Genesis. I like the Bee Gees but better than The Smiths and Rolling Stones.

A very interesting list but I think my list is correct.