I take it you haven't read much music writing in a long time, Gluey, if you're working on the assumption that all reviewers are essentially wannabe me-me-me columnists like Julie Burchill, who appear to have used a particular take on music journalism as a leg-up to bigger and better things. You couldn't possibly have the same opinion of (to stick for a moment to journalists who concentrate on folk music) Colin Irwin, Robin Denslow, Neil Spencer, Oz Hardwick, Paul Davenport, Rob Hughes, Raymond Greenoaken, Vic Smith or Sophie Parkes - to name a few, just off the top of my head. These are writers who clearly know their chosen area and have managed to combine this with an enjoyable writing style. Also, as folk music reviwers, they can hardly be accused of pandering to some artificially constructed notion of good taste or fleeting fashion.

I do read reviews, and whilst I rarely buy something purely on the basis of a review, I often check stuff out when a reviewer whose taste and judgement I tend to trust says it is worth listening to. And I've heard some fabalous music as a result. Then again, I'm a voracious reader anyway, so maybe I'm more that way inclined. I'd also say there's so much music out there, that without people whose job it is to filter, signpost and suggest (not gatekeep) you could easily get lost in a morass of grot searching for the diamonds.

Al, it is quite possible to like traditional music, West African pop and 60s inspired rock at the same time without imploding. I lived to tell the tale and that's just scratching at the surface of my record collection. Setting, say, Oasis against African music, as if its only possible to like one or the other, with the implication that one is good (i.e. working class, populist) and the other is bad (i.e. middle class, elitist) is in my opinion arrant nonsense. Personally, I can only take so much Oasis, because after a while I feel like I'm being aurally bludgeoned to death, particularly by Liam's foghorn of a voice, but there are plenty of other groups who nod heavily in the direction of the same influences I could listen to all day. It's all about having wide open ears... and not letting your beliefs about the sorts of other people you think might like a particular artist get in the way of taking the music on face value.