"Folk rock" was a term coined in the mid-1960s to describe the hybrid of acoustic singer-songwriter music, typified by Bob Dylan, and the electrified pop-rock style popularized by the Beatles. In 1965, the New York-based Dylan began performing with drums and electric instruments, and at the same time, many of his songs were taken up and turned into hits by a wave of new performers, most of them based in Los Angeles, notably "Mr. Tambourine Man," by the Byrds, "It Ain't Me Babe," by the Turtles, and-God help us!-"All I Really Want To Do," by Cher. Then, people began writing and recording their own, Dylan-influenced songs, such as "Eve Of Destruction," sung by Barry McGuire. Meanwhile, other emerging pop groups such as the Lovin' Spoonful ("Do You Believe In Magic") and the Mamas and the Papas ("California Dreamin'") contributed more confectionery versions of the sound. All of these recordings are among the 30 selections on the two discs of the fourth volume of Time-Life's Treasury Of Folk Music, a well-meaning, if somewhat random and over-inclusive look at folk rock through recordings released between 1964 and 1970. The compilers, no doubt unable to license any of Dylan's recordings, have wisely included others of his compositions done by his contemporaries Richie Havens ("Just Like A Woman") and Joan Baez ("Love Is Just A Four Letter Word"). Other Greenwich Village types such as Buffy Sainte-Marie ("Universal Soldier"), Tim Hardin ("Reason To Believe"), Ian and Sylvia ("Someday Soon"), and Jerry Jeff Walker ("Mr. Bojangles") are also present (but not Simon and Garfunkel, Judy Collins, or Peter, Paul and Mary, whom one must assume also were unavailable), though some of these are deficient in the rock side of the equation. The set also includs many other mid-'60s groups that got a hit or two out of the folk-rock trend: Harpers Bizarre ("59th Street Bridge Song [Feelin' Groovy]"), the Cyrkle ("Red Rubber Ball"), the Grass Roots ("Let's Live For Today"), the Stone Poneys ("Different Drum"), the Seekers ("Georgy Girl"), and the Beau Brummels ("Laugh, Laugh"). Even in that list, we are starting to get beyond the strict confines of folk rock, and other selections, especially the overtly country titles like "Ode To Billie Joe," "King Of The Road," and "Galveston," stretch the definition too far. Not every pop hit of the late '60s with an acoustic guitar on it was a folk-rock record, after all. Still, the album works as a time capsule and will please many baby-boomers mightily. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide