Great topic.
Mix of 2 and 3 for me.
We still travel far to events to hear the 'underplayed and forgotten '
The likes of Ashton,Soul Shack,Lost Souls Burnley,100 club and the recent Kestrel suite,plus many more evolving nicely.
Quality is still there.
I still find it wonderful to hear something I'd completely forgotten and also finding,with the passage of time,how many records we totally ignored as too slow/funky/bluesy/ect, have now matured into wonderful sounds at a beat we can dance to.
When we have companies like Ace/Kent continually finding real gems in the vaults,I feel we are moving forward nicely.
The scene has always evolved in one way or another.
Thankfully in many cases for the better.
There's always individuals coming and going,sadly some with the only intention of making money by commercialisation.
Let them have category 1.
Obviously this is my opinion and each to there own.
Live and let live.