The funny thing is that of the 12 tracks on Freedom Fields,about 10 are pleasant folk songs of either the contemporary or tradional variety. That nine people of the "experts" on John Leonard's rather excentrically chosen panel then decided to nominate one of the 2 tracks that had instead been given a "pop" makeover to achieve better general radio play as "best tradional song" was just laughable.

It is noteworthy however that the King & Country, the third single extracted from Freedom Fields was not "popped-up" and promptly sank without trace. It did not even trouble the Top 75, let alone the Top 40, which The Lady Of The Sea and The White Hare just missed. While Seth has had a (so far) brief huge success in "folk" terms, what he has achieved so far in music industry terms is pretty small. I predict that once EMI decide he is not "the next" KT Tunstall, Damien Rice, David Gray or James Blunt they will get bored and you'll find Seth will naturally gravitate back towards the "folk" scene. It has happened to plenty before him.

I quite like listening to Seth for a change of tempo, but he is not my listening of choice. One CD's worth is fine, but if you listen to Kitty Jay and Freedom Fields back to back they almost sound like the same double album, and far too many of the songs do sound the same. But hey, I'm someone that went along to a Seth gig last year expecting to have to "put up" with his "support" Billy Bragg and came away hugely impressed with the latter.