It seems almost obligatory for folk-lovers to either sneer at Steeleye Span or to feel they have to apologise for quite liking them (usually qualifying their praise by stressing that only the Carthy era was any good). Personally, if it wasn't for hearing All Around My Hat as a kid I'd never have become curious about Fairport, then delved a little deeper and learned to love singers like Peter Bellamy, The Watersons etc.

I know that some of the songs about elves and the Mike Batt productions can irk many ears, but isn't it fair to say that Steeleye were almost the only artists in the 70s that played folk music that "the folk" actually listened to?