Gathered from Coincidence review – three-disc compilation of British folk-pop classics

Before the arrival of The Beatles and Bob Dylan, the divisions between pop and folk music were remarkably well defined, if not unco-operative.

After the Fab Four steered the so-called “British Invasion” of America, thereby changing pop music forever, and after Bobby D upended folk music, such barriers came rapidly tumbling down.

This expertly put together three-disc compilation gathers almost 80 examples of a cross-fertilisation that started off on shaky ground, but which grew in strength during the latter half of the 1960s, and which is now as conjoined with pop as makes no difference.

You have well-known names that are still around: Donovan, Marianne Faithful, The Zombies, Olivia Newton-John, The Kinks; well-known names that aren't: Marc Bolan, The Hollies, The Shadows.

Then there are cult acts: Twinkle, Pretty Things, Bill Fay; eminent: Graham Nash, Davey Graham; the completely forgotten: Liverpool hairdresser Greta Ann – and even a couple of Irish acts that crept in: The Greenbeats, The Ramblers Two.

One might argue about the inclusion of Australia’s The Seekers, but for many the (then) London-based group remain one of the central and most commercially successful folk-pop groups of the era.