I was there at the time when Liege and Lief was released and can thus guarantee that the effect on the music scene was truly seismic. I was working at Cecil Sharp House where various Fairport members called in most days to research tunes and lyrics. Whether or not you happen to like the finished product it is undeniable that its influence has been far-reaching and continuous. It was fascinating for me to recall those times as well as the press conference that Dave Swarbrick convened a couple of years later to show us the old newspapers he had discovered concerning John "Babbacombe" Lee, the man they couldn't hang and his plans for a folk opera. This, presumably, is the "concept album" referred to so disparagely above. It is, however, a true story, one of the English legal system's mysteries and thus worthy of such chronicling. I adore Handful Of Earth and indeed most of Dick Gaughan's work though I cannot say quite the same about all of Nic Jones' back catalogue of earlier work, as indeed neither does he. He describes a lot of it as "some nice songs, some crap" as it surely was. No artist expects everyone (includeing themselves) to like absolutely everything they have done throughout eternity. Tastes alter with time and experience.I believe he prefers Radiohead and Bob Marley these days.