Excellent. I have enjoyed it over the years, even where MacColl wallows in fantasy. I suppose you have to forgive him his sense of theatre sometimes.

Like many folk inspired works, it is more reliable as a music source than any accuracy of recalling lives and communities. I got quite a lot out of them when I first heard them and they remain of historical note. Folk was widening in the many styles and contents within the genre at the time of recording so it is fascinating to hear this, a late snapshot of the origins of the popular folk music which developed from it.