I agree very much that it would be good to hear more of the tapes, both to hear the kinds of criticism that were made and understand better than from the very small samples how dictatorial or democratic it was, and of course just to hear all that singing by all those excellent people.

Matt said
> I rather got the impression that the Roberta Flack cover was there because it was an example of a song that was very different to the kind of songs the Critics Group were (allegedly) being encouraged to write.<

Perhaps that was the reason. It certainly is very different, in that the format is the singer addressing his lover. A lot of modern pop songs also take the form of the singer addressing his or her present or past lover, with the word "you" coming up a lot, whereas it's much rarer in the tradition. The ballads are almost exclusively third person and/or dialogue. The lyrical songs describe experiences, but generally seem to be addressed to the audience, not to the lover.

Richard