Probably because I'm a bit simple.

I was listening to Andy Irvine's new abum 'Abocurragh' today. I like it very much. There are some great songs on it, but there's not a single track that I don't prefer to hear Andy perform live and solo just with a bouzouki or mandola.

Take George Papavgeris's heartbreaking song 'Emptyhanded'... Andy does a very fine version live: he really feels it, but somehow the fully arranged version on the recording, IMHO, loses something. It's a nice arrangement, but it's just not the same.

It's like the songs Planxty did with Bill Whelan on keyboards. It was an exercise in lily-gilding.

And how about the Fleetwood Mac version of 'Need Your Love So Bad'? Am I the only one who hates the strings in the background? A beautiful, simple slow blues with fecking orchestral strings stuck in it. Actually, I probably am the only person who hates the strings on that otherwise sublime record!

I don't know if it's a minimalist tendency in me, or if it's that some things just seem inappropriate or a bad fit - violins in an electric blues, or electronic keyboards in an otherwise acoustic and trad-inspired line-up.

I've kind of lost sight of what I had in mind when I started this post, but having typed so much I'm going to post it anyway.

And did I mention how bloody brilliant I think George Papavgeris's 'Emptyhanded' is? I'm a cynical old twat who avoids displays of emotion. I hate calculated sentimentalism, and I chuckled when Bambi's mother got the bullet. But that song chokes me every time.