I think Martin would be the first to agree that it's the songs, not the performer which is important. Sometimes with these "Epic Ballads" Flower of serving men, Patrick Spence, Tamlin, Prince Heathen, et all you have to do the whole thing for the balance of the lyric to work. I once tried dropping 3 "unnecessary" verses out of Prince H. and immediately stuck them straight back in, because the flow of the song was disturbed.

I first saw MC in 1992. I was 16 at the time. Since then he has been an enormous influence on me, not just in terms of guitar style, but more importantly in terms of attitude, and approach to the tradition. IMHO a giant of a man.

English Jon