"The blessed work of helping the world forward,"
Nice to see George Eliot raising her common-sense filled head here, Mary Ann.
Very apposite to discussions like this.
Sorry Dick, this is getting a bit waffley and side-trackey.
I've tried to get a half-decent, troll-free discussion of MacColl's work with The Critics Group going many times - not because of my liking or respect for the man (I plead guilty on all counts on that one me lud), but because I believe the ideas that were thrown up and the techniques that were developed in the process, proved very helpful to the people involved and might just be useful to those who love folk song and would like to see it survive a little longer.
Rather than get bogged down in who did what to who when, I'd quite like to try first a brief summary of how and why the Critics Group came about, the theory it was based on and the different aspects that it covered - in as much detail as people feel necessary.
It will involve quite a bit of repetition of of what's been said on other threads, but it might enable us to bring it all under one roof.
While I'm happy to discuss to whatever length necessary, those ideas and practices, I'm not interested in war-records, name-changes, hedgehog feed through letter-boxes, trousers, in-fighting in the revival....... we've done all that - ad nausem, the end result being that the work still remains as remote and inaccessible as the origins of the Easter Island statues.
If it works - fine, if not - ah well!!!
Maybe the O.P., who obviously has some regard for Ewan's work by saying what should have been said decades ago, might think a thread-title change worthwhile - not necessary of course, and his decision entirely.
Bit egotistical on my part, but that's one of the few perks that comes with old-age.
It would be helpful if this can be done in a troll-free zone.
Yours in anticipation
Jim Carroll