Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Those who read CR4 will know something of Maggi's particular musical pilgrimage, signposts along the way being pop gospel and praise and worship before Maggi found her particular musical niche with the 'back to acoustic' move of roots music. This album, recorded live at Holy Joe's, Brixton and the Riverside tent at Greenbelt '90, is an accurate record of what you get at a Maggi and Andy concert. Bitter sweet songs (the opener is even called "Bitter Sweet") sung in a thin toned yet effectively phrased voiced with acoustics doing enough to show that husband Andy is far from being a 3-chord strummer (listen to the nifty solo on "More Than A Dream"). Not sure that Maggi's rendition of Bruce Cockburn's "More Than Diamonds" adds anything to the original and over the length of the cassette, a voice-and-acoustic does begin to pall. But Maggi is a consummate songwriter who's poignant cameos of real life keep the committed listener's attention

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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