As a longtime practising and professional [I did get paid for it] reviewer of theatre & folk music, I read this thread with interest but do not propose to contribute directly as I would not carry conviction as an objective commentator. Will just say that I have always tried where possible to be positive rather than negative.

I would, however, just like to ask Jack: how would you justify that "deservedly" in the last sentence of previous post? In what way did reviewers who, you appear to agree, were just doing their jobs in pointing out the shortcomings in the music they were reviewing, "deserve" to be ignored?

~Michael~