Reviewed by Dougie Adam

'Live At The Mac' was one of the first Larry Norman bootlegs to find its way onto the black market and is the first in Solid Rock's Illegal Noise Series which aims to make the most interesting bootlegs available, well -packaged and at more reasonable prices to the fans. This CD was record­ed during a concert with the Solid Rock gang in 1979. It's hard to com­ment on the performance because the sound quality is so bad that it's hard to bear listening to this horrible sounding audience tape. At points things become even more frustrating as an over-excited crowd continually interupt Larry's introductions to songs, so Larry is forced to say his piece by adlibbing a rap over the top of the guitar chords for "If God Is My Father". I'd go as far as to say that this CD has next to nothing to rec­ommend it to even the most ardent fan. Every official live album, even some of the poorer ones put out by Phydeaux at the start of the '80s sound much better than this. If it were not for the improved packaging (courtesy of Solid Rock) and the inclusion of the cracking bonus track, a wonderfully performed "Lonely By Myself (which was recorded at a different concert on a different tape recorder!) this would have got an even lower score. Well done to the Solid Rock newsletter for warning customers in advance how bad this one sounded and pricing it accord­ingly!

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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