Boz Scaggs - Boz Scaggs (1969)

Forget about 'Silk Degrees', enticing though the pop-inflected 1976 chart-topper is. It's this brilliantly gritty Atlantic debut that shows what made the purveyor of blue-eyed soul tick in his prime. A remarkable ride that rolls together influences ranging from Motown to Southern rock, the album engages from the very beginning and keeps you hooked right through the aptly-titled closer, 'Sweet Release'.

Scaggs, who performs with a renewed surge of intensity on almost every track, gets superb support from the crack Muscle Shoals rhythm team. And the late Duane Allman lays down some blistering guitar on the 12-minute-plus 'Loan Me a Dime', a Hammond-drenched minor-mode blues ballad that has become a cult classic. Grab it!