Haven't gone to the major list yet, but surely CTA is the worst. I saw Blood, Shite, and Tears, along with their former "master" Al Kooper as solo "artist," and Chicago Transit Authority at the first Atlanta Pop Festival. I wasn't impressed, but my antipathy for these pseudo jazz-rock fusion groups only grew as time went on. They were the wave of the future, and, blessed be the saints, that wave has passed us and died somewhere on the open ocean of bad taste.

Re: Joy of a Toy: not the best solo album of Kevin Ayers (former bassist and vocalist for Soft Machine), just as the only official SM album with Ayers is not their best, but it's interesting, and not just for Syd Barrett but for Ayers' former bandmates organist Mike Ratledge and drummer Robert Wyatt. (P.S. Ratledge, Wyatt, and Kevin's SM replacement Hugh Hopper play on Syd's "The Madcap Laughs.") The best song on Ayers' debut album is "Song for Insane Times": https://youtu.be/VjhOK1uR4nc (think of it as David Bowie on Quaaludes).

"Stop This Train" has an insane solo by Ratledge (listen to on headphones) https://youtu.be/CnzZZVkFBEk , and "Oleh Oleh Bandu Bandong" may be the greatest song in Malay by a non-Malaysian (wait for the piano by classical composer David Bedford): https://youtu.be/KFhLVfae8Dw

Ayers' next album is his most startling. It'll be interesting to see if it makes the top 100 cut.

PPS: If I were recommending a "rock with horns" / fusion song for your father (whose taste was inimitable) it would be this one: https://youtu.be/4RwLgA9U_3I

If Third doesn't make the 1970 top 100,. someone is going to have some 'splainin' to do.