Echo & The Bunnymen: Big Mac.

Live In Liverpool is in stores now.

Let's say it once and for all and get it over and done with: Echo & The Bunnymen is a friggin' great band, one of the greatest ever, Ian McCulloch is one of the greatest singers and songwriters, Will Sergeant is one of the most under-rated guitarists, and their new disc Live In Liverpool, is one of the great 10 live albums ever released.

That's enough to make even Mac blush. And he'll also be happy that some of you will disagree violently with that load of hyperbole. So rather than try and recount 23 glorious years and wax poetic about the band just take it as read that you must own Live In Liverpool and hear the truly unforgettable renditions of Ocean Rain (maybe, the best, most breathtaking, version ever), Rescue, King Of Kings, Never Stop, Seven Seas, Buried Alive, Supermellow Man, Zimbo, All That Jazz, An Eternity Turns, The Back Of Love, The Killing Moon, The Cutter, Over The Wall and Nothing Lasts Forever.

"Well we did all those tours last year. Like we came to Australia for the first time in 20 years."

And they were quite exceptional: on that even most of the country's critics agreed.

"I remember Will saying during the tour, 'We should have emigrated here years ago. We should have come out here and based ourselves in Australia.' I know Will, he lives in a countrified part of North-West England; it isn't Liverpool that's for sure, would just love the combination of the open spaces and the fact the cities seem easy to get round. I just thought the people were great and the vibe was cool. Coming back to England, maybe it seemed a little old-fashioned compared to Australia."

The Bunnymen haven't adhered to the norm. No backwards steps in recent years since Evergreen, their 'comeback' album in 1997. Live In Liverpool though is one of the real jewels in their already much feted collection.

"I know, it rocks, doesn't it," Mac says with characteristic lack of modesty. "What I like about it is that it's got the that rough edge that's always there when the Bunnymen play live.  I tried to make sure it wasn't a shabby, horrible sounding record. People have asked 'Why a live album now?' I think if we'd done one in the 1980s when people were saying 'Oh you're the best live band' and so on, I think we'd have been tempted to smooth it over. There are also so many songs on it that we hadn't even written then.”

It's about the emotional investment fans make in a band and a band makes in its fans, that's what music is about. Most people will go all the way with their favourite three or four if they last. There's a lot of emotion invested and their history becomes entangled with the band's, so in the end the music becomes a road map to the key moments, experiences and emotions in their life. Not surprisingly Mac understands that.

"We've got all these songs that span so much time now. Back-to-back it's a hell of a set list. I'd love to be able to see us from the audience. Some nights over the last few years when we've done songs we haven't played for a while, I'd love to be able to close my eyes and go to where I'm sure some of these people go to. Part of me has been thinking 'I love that feeling, the feeling I had when I first heard Ziggy Stardust' and as much as I want to keep hold of that moment, part of me is pushing it away. It's like this weird fight I've got with myself not to go back but everytime those split seconds happen I just want to sit here and say, 'Give me another 10 seconds of that’. Then it's gone. I'd love to be able to do that.”

“We've also noticed over the last few years that there's a real core of people who seem to travel to every gig. There's one woman, Karen, who's from near Liverpool and she pretty much goes to nearly every show in the world. She didn't get out to Australia but she made it to nearly every show in America, all the British shows, most of the European gigs. She was at the two shows where the album was recorded and I thought a large part of her life is based around us - she works as well and organises her holidays around our tours, so if in 10 years time we're no longer doing our stuff then she can put that record on a revisit those nights that she travelled the world to see the Bunnymen."