Bryan - I think that your comparison of 'source singers' to todays floor singers is stretching things a bit far. Jim replied that he would have not turned down recording a source - That is far from saying that he would record old Jimmy Blogg's drunken rendition of "The leaving of Liverpool" with 3 forgotten verses. Are you suggesting that he should treat the Sussex farm labourer with a book full of songs that no-one has ever heard the same as the people who get up and give poor renditions of todays pop songs to an out of tune piano in a pub vault? Oh - And of that is another one of them there rhetorical thingummies.

Stallion - I love it. "lets face it, everyone is so much better now and I mean everyone, to stand out you have to be really special, I sometimes find myself wondering why pay for something that is no better than that which I hear at the local sessions"

So it's not so much the poor quality that caused the 'collapse' but the good! :-) I must admit that there is a certain good logic in there that I think we had all overlooked! I can see what you mean as well:-)

Cheers

Dave