Singer/Songwriters 2

We continue to build our vault of pop talent with this second collection of outstanding tracks performed by the artists who composed them — welcome, once again, to the realm of the singer-songwriter. John Lennon heads up the selection with "Working Class Hero", Ben Folds ("Landed") takes up the tradition of piano-driven performance pioneered by Elton John and Billy Joel, while the likes of Gordon Lightfoot and Devendra Banhart weave variations on acoustic folk. We strip away the covers and discover the pure source, in Next Steps.

A couple of the songs here in Next Steps found their way into the mainstream divorced from their creators, so it's only right you hear them as they were first intended. Whitney Houston scored huge with "I Will Always Love You", written back in '73 about Porter Wagoner by Dolly Parton, whose vocal touch is far gentler than Houston's, and Kirsty MacColl failed to chart with "They Don't Know" in '79 (Tracey Ullman hit big with it in '83). Find creative riches you never expected, in Deep Cuts.

The subtlety and finesse of Nik Kershaw's talent has, for the most part, been obscured by his accessible, mainstream pop output during the early '80s, so if you haven't yet acquainted yourself with the brilliance of "Find Me an Angel" from 1999's 15 Minutes, you're in for a real treat. Joining him here are folktronic goddess Beth Orton (joined on "Concrete Sky" by Ryan Adams) and former glam rocker Martin Newell (with the gentle "Jacqui").

Some of the artists featured in this second collection of the world's finest singer-songwriters established their reputations with bands before striking out solo (Paul Weller and the Jam; Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys; George Michael and Wham!); others composed advertising jingles before setting out their own stall (Gordon Lightfoot); and others still sang in their school choir with Barbra Streisand (we're talking about you, Neil Diamond). However, all the tracks we've assembled here are united by a belief in a unique creative vision, and performed just as they were intended.