Larry Miller
Album: Live And Outlawed
Label: Big Guitar
Tracks: 6+6
Website: http://www.larrymiller.co.uk

"Live & Outlawed" is a live album that's been a long time coming, which is a big surprise considering that Larry Miller has built most of his reputation on the live circuit. I'm only speculating, but my feeling is that the reason for that is because Miller wanted to do it his own way.

A lot of live albums tend to be based on the tour of the studio album that spawned them, in which case there would already be six potential Miller live albums out there. Either that or are recordings of special concerts designed to allow the artist to pick a selection of classic tracks from the back catalogue for one 'classic' live album. That's not the way Millar works.

Yes there are classics and covers on here, but across the two cds that comprise "Live & Outlawed" they are very much mixed in with new songs for which this is very much the first released outing. It was also the first time many people in the audience would have heard the songs so a lot of the reaction and feedback is a genuine reaction to riffs and solos that are hitting the ears of the fans for the very first time.

Whilst "Live And Outlawed" is not an instrumental album, there are vast swathes with the instruments are left to do all the talking and there is absolutely no doubt as to Larry Miller's skills on the fret board, be it blasting out a blues rocker or trying to get to the heartstrings with a ballad, the key is the passion captured in the strings and channelled through the amps.

Larry Millar has produced a series of fine studio albums, but I don't think it's going to far out on a limb to suggest that, "Live And Outlawed" is the closest we've got to capturing the man on cd, definitely a live cut that transcends the arena in which it was created.

Neil King