Larry Norman - Pot O' Gold

Reviewed by Phil Thomson

Quote: "His medical insurance company have refused to pay for the neuro-surgeon, the nutritionist, the necessary heart tablets and the defibrillator/pacemaker maintenance costs." So that's what you'll be covering if you go for this rather peculiar release from Larry's Solid Rock label. It's a "proceeds" album - packed with live renditions of Larry Norman on tour, and peppered with several comedy monologues to break up the monotony. The album lurches through one reprise after another of his earlier classic studio cuts, with some gutsy performances and some best left alone - "Why Don't You Look", "Why Should The Devil", "I Wish We'd All Been Ready", "Rock That Doesn't Roll" - and I suppose it serves to remind the more mature Christian music buyer of a time when rebellion was cool and uncomplicated. The Irish connection - Larry as Leprechaun on the cover - seems trifling considering his state of health, yet to those unfamiliar with how it used to be in Christian rock, there is no mistaking the place he has in history - and perhaps no better way of saying thank you in these troubled times. There is a moment when his true potential as a songsmith is allowed to reign - the wonderfully observed and sensitively sung "Romanian Orphan". If you have never heard him, this isn't as good as it gets.