Gabrielle & Marie Yacoub were first brought over to Britain by Robin Dransfield in 1973 before Malicorne was fully formed. They'd made Pierre De Grenoble though and played a series of concerts which Robin promoted to high acclaim and interest. Like Les Frères Dransfield, they started off with traditional songs from their own country and the parallel between the two bands continued as each ventured into self-written material composed in their respective traditions. However, Malicorne grew even bigger in size than Bellowhead, became a bit silly and disbanded in the early 80s.

What is interesting is that, alone among "f*lk-rock" bands, Malicorne, Dransfield (and Mr Fox) recognised the blind alley other bands of the day were backing into by simply plugging in and souping up trad songs with a four-square thump. They were important in that they led the way into creating new material and adding to an existing cultural heritage rather than just reworking it.

Rather like what the English Acoustic Collective and Chris Wood (who I've just been out to see promoting Trespasser) are continuing in fresh directions 30 years on.