I've seen this 'well it brings the music into the mainstream'
apologia a couple of times now.

I don't buy it.

This dreck won't 'bring it into the mainstream'; it will send
the 'mainstream' running for the exits.

Some of it is among the worst...I mean THE WORST renditions
I've ever heard.

Ignoring the fact that most of the lexicon from which they
draw comes from an era a century or two removed from the
'Jack Sparrow' era, the stuff is mostly very badly performed
and in most cases just as badly engineered and produced.

It seems to me that if you wanted to 'bring it into the
mainstream' you'd be far better off selecting some of the
more stirring performances of forebitters and shanties from
the Mystic Festival (or others) and assemble a collection
that was at least listenable.

I guess if all I heard all day was a car alarm, it would
eventually 'grow on me' as an alternative to silence...

Greg