Mark Clarke is a real journeyman of rock- he also appears on 'Eager To Please' by Ken Hensley, and wrote some of the songs with Hensley like 'Through The Eyes Of A Child', and supplied 'Stargazer', from a Tempest album. I believe Clarke is also on 'Free Spirit', a Hensley solo album from 1980.
Mark Clarke was in Uriah Heep for a very short while, but stuck around long enough to co-write 'The Wizard', which brings me to ask a query about 'The Wizard' that has puzzled me for a while. Who sings the part 'why don't we listen to the voices in our hearts...' on the original studio version? It's certainly not Byron or Hensley...
Peter Green is one of my favourite guitarists, and is held in real regard by the old blues players like Buddy Guy and BB King, with good reason- you really get the sense Peter Green is putting everything into his solos.
Paul Kossoff is another brilliant player- but like Green, went off the rails in a major way, but unlike Green, didn't live to tell the tale. Still, his solos are amongst the most distinctive in rock.
Gary Moore I'd underrated for years for all of those Peter Green/Eric Clapton style albums he did in the 90s, but I'd listened to his work on the 80s hard rock albums he did and in Colosseum II, even Thin Lizzy on classics like 'Waiting For An Alibi', and see why he's so highly regarded. I really love the BBM album too- 'Where In The World' is one of my favourite songs of all time.
Michael Schenker is one of the finest hard rock players ever- his solo career should have been superb too, but he never bettered his solos on the UFO albums like 'Force It' and 'Lights Out'.
Bert Jansch is a favourite of mine- I love his folk/blues playing, and his guitar duels with another folk legend, John Renbourn, are out of this world.
Tony Iommi is arguably one of the finest riff meisters in rock, but for some really great solos, listen to his post Ozzy Sabbath stuff, especially the unsung 'Seventh Star' album where he was argaubly at a peak with some brilliant bluesy solos.
Ritchie Blackmore was one of the most fluid players in rock, with some astonishing solos on songs like 'Highway Star' and 'Burn', and Rainbow classics like 'A Light In The Black'.