Clive wrote
I've never liked that part of the mag. The 2 things about it that bother me:

1) If you're going to slag off someone's work, please put your name on the review, so we can know your likes and dislikes over time, and judge your comments by your taste in music.

2) If you can't find something nice to say about a recording, why not use the editorial space to comment on someone else's recording that you *do* like?

I have written hundreds of album reviews for fRoots - ever since the days of Southern Rag - and must admit to some misgivings about the ....And The Rest section.

This is partly because, however bad the record, and I have been sent many that are pretty awful, I am aware that the musicians involved have put a great deal of thought, effort and finally hope into their releases and to have their product put down in a couple of smart Alex sentences must be a terrible disappointment. Yet it would be dishonest to praise records that the reviewer finds lacking in some way. For albums that I find simply don't reach the mark, I put them in this section with comments like "derivative" "fails to excite" or whatever else I think is wrong with them without being rude about them.

If there is something that I find offensive or badly informed then I will put the review of the album (or more likely a book) in main review sections with my reasons why and my name at the bottom.

This does not prevent me from making more general criticisms of the contents of current trends in folk albums here and on other folk music notice boards. One of my pet hates at the moment amongst the many albums that I listen to is the preponderance of "little girly" voices amongst the current crop of young female singers.

The problem is more acute when I do reviews for my own local area magazine The Folk Diary (on-line here) where often I am reviewing albums by people who are friends or regular supporters of my club. I'm afraid that I get round this by just being factual and informative and not expressing an opinion about albums that I am less than enthusiastic about. However, I have been sussed; people read my reviews and then approach me and say, "So why didn't you like xxxxx's album?"