A friend to fellow UK folk visionary Nick Drake, John Martyn had his own cult of influence, as this two-disc cover set shows. Drawing on dub and other influences, Martyn took folk-blues into dreamy, uncharted territory, anticipating the roots abstractions of Daniel Lanois and others. Contributors Vetiver, Phil Collins, Vashti Bunyan, and the Cure's Robert Smith make for odd bedfellows. But Martyn's songbook — "May You Never," "Stormbringer," the Drake tribute "Solid Air" — is the star. And with the success of Mumford & Sons (who must've been too busy to contribute), this British folk-pop history lesson couldn't be more timely.

Listen to Robert Smith's "Small Hours":

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“He Will Break Your Heart”

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."