Its an interesting, passionate and above all persuasive book by a gentle, decent and learned man.

If you get a chance to skim through a Penguin poetry anthology called Poetry of the Forties - you wil find the name A L Lloyd there as a transalator of French surrealist poets. I get the impression he was a man, fascinated by ideas - and Folk Song in England despite being full of information was not merely factual, but also a book with a dialectic attached.

You have to remember the times. The term 'pop historian' was very prevalent at the time. John Prebble's books on Culloden and the Highland Clearances were bestsellers. Despite the perjoratives heaped on these books - they had a point of view and persuaded others to have a point of view about matters hitherto unconsidered.

For myself, I loved the information, but found the general thrust of the dialectic generally destructive. Suddenly the folk clubs were full of 'experts' telling what was real folk music.

If you read my piece on my entry into folk music in the 'Your favourute male folksinger thread' - you will see how I came to regard the traddy element as a segment which provincialised an artistic movement which was addressing the whole world at one time. And to be honest I often feel myself on mudcat to be articulating the views of many people who were cast out of the 'folk revival' as a cultural event, but still run most of the folk clubs in England.

For all that its a wonderful stimulating book, and I would recommend it to anybody - it reminds me a little of Wilde's phrase - we must make ideas acrobats!