"It's interesting, isn't it, that some people, who have been conditioned by commercial pop music, can't see beyond the 'singer-songwriter' label."

For me, it's not a case of 'conditioning', Shimrod - I just didn't, and still don't, like his voice and singing-style. Nothing to do with American pop, all to do with something in the timbre of his voice, and in his delivery, that jarrs with me, but that doesn't mean I can't recognise him as a giant in the world of British Folk Song. In exactly the same way, I don't like Dylan's and Neil Young's voices and singing-styles, they also jarr with me. But I'm very happy to allow that there are a great many who do like MacColl, or Dylan, or Neil Young, and that they are entitled, and very welcome to, their preferences, just as those of us who aren't enamoured of those artists are entitled to ours.

However, I do like his songs, and if MacColl's only contribution to our Folk Music heritage had been to write those songs, he would still be a giant IMHO.