Song: Even The Rain

Artist: Gabe Dixon feat. Alison Krauss, Nashville

Album: One Spark, 2011

Notes: A true old-school talent and ace pianist, Gabe's been making A+ music for more than ten years, his work harks back to the best melodic singer-songwriter fare of the 1970s, often reminiscent of Billy Joel at his best. Nice guest turn from bluegrass queen Krauss.

Song: Please Forgive Me

Artist: David Gray, England

Album: White Ladder, 1999

Notes: The strong follow-up to his only US Hot 100 hit single, 'Babylon' and taken from his career-defining album. These days, David records most of his albums at his home studio and is currently working on his tenth studio effort.

Song: Bottom of the Sea

Artist: Matt Nathanson, Lexington, MA

Album: Modern Love, 2011

Notes: Few new albums contain more than one or even two top songs - Nathanson's latest effort boasts at least five, including this lovely piano-led roller. Currently touring around the country through the beginning of November.

Song: This Is The Stuff

Artist: Francesca Battistelli, New York

Album: Hundred More Years, 2011

Notes: 26-year old native of the Big Apple with a ukulele-driven gem from her recent album. She normally performs more gospel-inspired pop-rock: her 2009 single, 'Free To Be Me' was nominated for Best Gospel Performance at the 2009 Grammys.

Song: Call Someone

Artist: Thirteen Senses, England

Album: Contact, 2007

Notes: How many more outstanding recordings does this band have to make before more people take notice? Yet another fabulous lost treasure buried on their superb second long-player. If you like Coldplay/Keane etc., pick this up.

Song: Makambo

Artist: Geoffrey Oryema, Uganda

Album: Exile, 1990

Notes: Ethereal instrumentation which hallmarks this lovely World Music number is provided by the Nanga - a 7-string zither. Veteran Ugandan musician whose aural art was given an international birth by Peter Gabriel in the early 1990s. Album produced by Brian Eno.

Song: Here He Comes

Artist: Brian Eno, England

Album: Before and After Science, 1977

Notes: After he left Roxy Music as its first keyboardist and before he began pioneering the Ambient music genre, Eno recorded a few fascinating and hugely overlooked pop-rock albums including this one. Phil Collins on drums.

Song: Promenade

Artist: U2, Ireland

Album: The Unforgettable Fire, 1984

Notes: Produced by Brian Eno and recorded at Slane Castle in Dublin, the quietest cut from their unforgettable 1984 opus. The band's recent '360' tour grossed $736 million, the biggest in history.

Song: Driving In My Car

Artist: Madness, England

Album: Utter Madness, 1982

Notes: Best known of course for their perennial hit Our House, quirky as ever the loveable Madness with the lost single that preceded it. Still going strong today, led by their smartly dressed, irrepressible lead singer, Suggs.

Song: The Beginning of the End

Artist: Steve Moakler, Pittsburgh, PA

Album: Watching Time Run, 2011

Notes: Self-released singer-songwriter magic from Pittsburg-based talent. Steve played in a couple of bands as a teenager, went solo at 18 when he was quoted as saying 'My fear is that I wont pursue my dreams to the fullest, but I have control over that and I won't let it happen'. Right on. More at www.stevemoakler.com.

Song: Just A Little

Artist: Leigh Nash, New Braunfels, TX

Album: Blue on Blue, 2006

Notes: Charming lost pearl with delightful woodwind instrumentation from former (and recently reunited) Sixpence None The Richer lead singer (band name derived from a line in a book by 'Chronicles of Narnia' scribe, C.S. Lewis.)

Song: Say It Ain’t So Joe

Artist: Murray Head, England

Album: Say It Ain't So, 1975

Notes: London born jack-of-all-trades - in addition to a long-running music career he's also a notable film and stage actor, even done some radio drama work. An old photograph of Head was featured on the front cover of Smiths album called 'Stop Me'.

Song: The Man I Love

Artist: Kate Bush, England

Album: The Glory of Gershwin (various artists), 1994

Notes: An obscure Kate Bush treatment tucked away on a tribute album to the legendary songwriting team of George and Ira Gershwin, which also features stylish updates by Sting, Elvis Costello, Peter Gabriel and Carly Simon among others.

Song: Atlantic

Artist: Midway State, Canada

Album: Paris or India, 2011

Notes: Fresh anthemic modern rock from inventive Toronto-based quartet who cut a secret version of the Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush duet 'Don't Give Up' with Lady Gaga in 2008.

Song: I Don’t Worry

Artist: Bess Rogers, New York

Album: Travel Back EP, 2009

Notes: Cheerful, breezy, ukulele-driven lost nugget from multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter who learned to play the Flute in fourth grade, added ukulele, piano, guitar as she grew up, before earning her musical chops performing on the lower East Side while still attending college in NY.

Song: Different Roads

Artist: Joe Cocker, England

Album: No Ordinary World, 1999

Notes: Old corker Joe's unique blues-drenched voice just gets better with age, so it all comes down to the songs he chooses to record. The 67-year old resides on a ranch in Crawford, CO which he named the Mad Dog Ranch after his classic 1970 album 'Mad Dogs and Englishmen'.

Song: Lost Cause

Artist: Beck, Los Angeles

Album: Sea Change, 2002

Notes: Ever-so-simple but effective gem from perhaps his most morose and least joyful album. Beck's father is an incredibly talented Canadian composer and strings arranger, David Campbell.

Song: Oh, The Divorces!

Artist: Tracey Thorn, England

Album: Love and the Opposite, 2010

Notes: Too good for prime time, effortless class and smart lyrics on this superb self-explanatory observational ditty, the lead-off track on her wonderful solo work from last year.

Song: Give Me What I Cry For

Artist: Chris Rainbow, Scotland

Album: The Anthology 1974 - 1981, 2001

Notes: Overly dramatic but extremely harmonic and most rewarding pop gem from ultra-melodic '70s singer-songwriter/keyboardist - who was also frequent lead singer with the unfashionable Alan Parsons Project in the '80s. Great anthology if you like this kind of (dated) melodic pop-rock.

Song: Congratulations

Artist: Blue October & Imogen Heap, Houston, TX

Album: Foiled, 2006

Notes: Fabulous duet with Imogen from the alternative rock group's biggest album which also features their hit, 'Hate Me'. Band, discovered by Kid Rock's manager, opened for the Rolling Stones in 2006 in Houston.

Song: Baby I

Artist: Amy Millan, Canada

Album: Honey From The Tombs, 2006

Notes: Cute solo cut from one of the singers with the marvelous Canadian band, Stars; she also performs with indie-rockers, Broken Social Scene. Amy gave birth to her first baby earlier this year, a daughter, Delphine.

Song: The Luckiest

Artist: Ben Folds, Winston-Salem, NC

Album: Rockin' The Suburbs, 2001

Notes: Outstanding ballad, highly romantic lost gem from top ivory tinkler who's been playing the piano since the age of 9. Also check out a terrific album last year called 'Lonely Avenue' with lyrics by English novelist, Nick Hornby.

Song: Pink Moon

Artist: Nick Drake, England

Album: Pink Moon, 1972

Notes: Sparse, authentic, pastoral, the real deal from immensely influential and literate English folk poet. Career-defining classic from singer-songwriter who died too soon at the age of 26 in 1974.

Song: My Mistakes

Artist: Eleanor Friedberger, Brooklyn, NY

Album: Last Summer, 2011

Notes: Brand new, delightful pop-rock bubbler. With her brother Matthew, Eleanor is also in the indie rock duo the Fiery Furnaces which has been around for about a decade getting it done out of Brooklyn.

Song: Love Action

Artist: Human League, England

Album: Dare, 1981

Notes: Synth pop-rock outing surprisingly never a hit record in the US despite being on the band's biggest-selling long-player. Core members Phil Oakey, Joanne Catherall and Susan Smalley are still together, often touring and headlining the occasional retro festival.

Song: Burning In The Sun

Artist: Blue Merle, Nashville

Album: Burning In The Sun, 2005

Notes: Such a shame that Blue Merle were only around for a few years from 2003 through 2006 and that they only cut one album - but what an album. Barely a duff track on it, well worth discovering.

Song: Believe Again

Artist: Delta Goodrem, Australia

Album: Delta, 2007

Notes: Huge star down under, indeed everywhere except the US. Big pop ballad which was #1 in her home country. Snapped up by Sony at the tender age of 15, but sadly diagnosed with cancer at the age of 18 - she's recovered but still in remission and devotes much of her energy to helping cancer charities.

Song: Pump It Up

Artist: Elvis Costello & The Attractions, England

Album: This Year's Model, 1978

Notes: How come this wasn't a hit? - one of his finest overlook rock thumpers, great lyrics as ever. Parent LP was voted album of the year by New York's 'Village Voice' magazine in 1978.

Song: Paperweight

Artist: Joshua Radin & Schuyler Fisk, Cleveland, OH/Charlottesville, VA

Album: The Last Kiss (soundtrack), 2006

Notes: Two favorite L&F performers combining on a delightful song which was originally written for the movie soundtrack to 'The Last Kiss's in 2006 - but also used the 2010 film 'Dear John'.

Song: Farewell

Artist: Rosie Thomas, Livonia, MI

Album: When We Were Small, 2001

Notes: Too sad for words, clearly the saddest song of all time, an absolute pearl from sometime stand-up comedienne and much overlooked songstress who was signed to the always hip Sub Pop label.

Song: Love Love Love

Artist: Avalanche City, New Zealand

Album: Our New Life Above The Ground, 2011

Notes: Simple, pleasing confection, already a chart-topper in their home country of New Zealand. Promising new material from folk-rock combo fronted by singer-songwriter, Dave Baxter.

Song: When I’m Small

Artist: Phantogram, Saratoga Springs, NY

Album: Eyelid Movies

Notes: Hypnotic groove broken up by the wispy folkish vocal interlude from the well-groovy electronic rock duo comprising Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter who write and record in a barn which they call Harmony Lodge, located in upstate New York.

Song: It Goes Like It Goes

Artist: Jennifer Warnes, Anaheim, CA

Album: Norma Rae (soundtrack), 1979

Notes: Three minutes of the vocal perfection, timeless ballad by one of the best female vocalists, ever. Unforgettable theme song to the 'Norma Rae' movie. If you don't have her album of Leonard Cohen interpretations, 'Famous Blue Raincoat' then your life is incomplete.

Song: Talkin’ ‘Bout Family

Artist: Max and Simon, New York/Los Angeles

Album: Not available, 2011

Notes: Max and Simon is neither a duo, nor do any members have the name Max or Simon: they're a trio of Blake Healy, Kevin Bard and Mark Rosas, alternately based in NY and LA who describe their mission to 'make the world a better place one sunny day at a time'.

Song: Natural Tune

Artist: Efterklang, Denmark

Album: Magic Chairs, 2010

Notes: Fascinating, worthwhile cut from a creative alternative folk quartet from Copenhagen buried on their third album. Efterklang means 'remembrance' in Danish.

Song: No Other Love

Artist: Chuck Prophet, Whittier, CA

Album: No Other Love, 2002

Notes: Lost gem from a real musician's musician, much in demand among his contemporaries. Strong resume playing with artists like Aimee Mann, Warren Zevon and Cake and his compositions have been covered by the likes of Solomon Burke, Kim Richey, Kelly Willis - even Heart - who recorded a cover of this song.

Song: Chasing Down The Rain

Artist: John Stewart, San Diego, CA

Album: Trancas, 1984

Notes: 'Where's your second chance with your heart alone, And your one light chasing down the rain?' - so evocative, great lyrics from much-revered tunesmith (who was a member of the Kingston Trio in the early '60s, and wrote 'Daydream Believer' for the Monkees). Needless to say, great album has been deleted.

Song: Let The Love Back In

Artist: Orange Lights, England

Album: Life Is Still Beautiful, 2007

Notes: Brilliant rock belter from completely overlooked band described by the Guardian newspaper (UK) as the 'missing link between Coldplay and the Verve'. Virtually unknown quartet from Newcastle in the north of England, released only one album to date which, naturally, isn't available.

Song: After The Fire

Artist: Amy Grant, Augusta, GA

Album: Simple Things, 2003

Notes: Reflective, self-penned treasure from Amy's candid and soulful 2003 CD Simple Thing (her best outing by far). Such a simple melody matched with equally understated lyrics and execution.

Song: Ghost In You

Artist: Gina Villalobos/Psychedelic Furs, Santa Monica, CA/England

Album: Digital single, 2011

Notes: A rather fragile solo female acoustic treatment of the Psych Furs finest song by Gina, morphing into the mighty synth-rock original by the Furs.