Susan Santos: Sonora. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Driving through the desert has many rules, chiefly amongst them is making sure that the petrol never runs dry, that the music is always on, and that hitchhikers are never stopped for; and yet sometimes we will break those rules for the sheer thrill of adventure, for the appreciation of silence in a natural world, and for the company of stories that might come from that one soul to who the desert was more than a walk in the sun, it was torment of expression to which you find inspiration a willing benefactor.

Susan Santos: Sonora. Album Review. full post

(422 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Michael Schenker: Is It Loud Enough – Michael Schenker:1980-1983. Box Set Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are few musicians to whom success is almost guaranteed no matter what group they inhabit, even fewer to whom arguably are the principal focus of what drives the sound across the entire spectrum of their spectrum, and it takes a special kind of genius to do so across three or even four bands.

Michael Schenker is that force of nature, through the Scorpions, U.F.O. and within the groups that bear his own impressive name, and one that is assured to be a tornado that tears through the possible objection and sweeps aside the build-up of negativity that comes from the haters and misanthropes in such a way that the devastation is gleefully enjoyed.

Michael Schenker: Is It Loud Enough – Michael Schenker:1980-1983. Box Set Review. full post

(381 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Helen Maw: Growing Pains. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Those Growing Pains we suffer, the aches of maturity, the sentiments of personal grief and niggles, are for the most point angst turned inwards, it is our soul learning to deal with ageing and the world around us viewing our presence in a different way.

Helen Maw: Growing Pains. Album Review. full post

(391 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Canned Heat: Finyl Vinyl. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

In the end is it all that we really ask for when we feel Time’s arrow hurtling towards us, just One Last Boogie, a swan song for those who spent their own time listening to us, a final dance to the cool wind and sound of the majestic parade revealed as our favourite tunes. We pack so much into life that it is perhaps no wonder when we think of the right time to leave the stage, we place greater emphasis on the title we wish to give our lasting bow to.

Canned Heat: Finyl Vinyl. Album Review. full post

(433 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Adrian Sutherland: Precious Diamonds. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Adrian Sutherland might not be a name you are familiar with, but it is one to now make acquaintance with, and to metaphorically look him in the eye and shake his hand warmly as he regales your soul with tales of song that encourage a way of looking at the world that has become almost alien to many us who live and devour the planet rather than being a part of it.

Adrian Sutherland: Precious Diamonds. Album Review. full post

(406 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Paula Rae Gibson and Matthew Bourne: Loving In Real Time. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We seek a connection, a touch from another human being, and sometimes that wish is granted with a favourable result, the sense of being safe, close, unafraid because the world is forgotten in a blink of tenderness; in the hands of caring, we hope we emerge intact as we find Loving In Real Time is the bond that heals all wounds.

Love though must also haunt.

Paula Rae Gibson and Matthew Bourne: Loving In Real Time. Album Review. full post

(352 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Ross Couper Band: The Homeroad. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Those who inhabit islands must look out to sea and dream of escape, the insular only being a comfort for so long, the need to be close or influence another soul from a distant land one that screams to be heard… “No man is an island”, John Donne wrote wisely with implored sentiment, but surely no man can resist keeping to the island whilst they hone their craft and their tale for the world to hear in person.

Ross Couper Band: The Homeroad. Album Review. full post

(381 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Kacey Musgraves: Deeper Well. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The trailer has moved on, the park it was resting upon has been left behind, and now that same trailer occupies a substantial plot in the playground of the comfortably polished and sincerely cool.

For the fan and admirer of Kacey Musgraves, Deeper Well marks a point of delivery to which the listener cannot but help but be impressed and fulsome in their honest appraisal of the country star’s continuing dominance in the genre and beyond.

Kacey Musgraves: Deeper Well. Album Review. full post

(360 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Pando Pando. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

What starts with a growl can end in roar that is felt across the savannah, the reverberation of a king’s voice as it alerts to all that its presence is enough to keep all in its vicinity in line and mindful of how they approach the entity that boomed.

As in nature so to the realm of humanity, and in art it is often the sound of the original that is felt loudest in the gut when coming across the source of the emotions stirred, and even in the realm of the electronic interpretation, the so called voiceless, that roar can leave you shuddering with expectation and desire for more.

Pando Pando. Album Review. full post

(341 words, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)

Elbow: Audio Vertigo. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Art is conflict. Every medium that falls underneath its wide umbrella must acknowledge a truth within itself that even if it sets out to calm the nerves of the afflicted, to offer it shelter and hope, then it must be at its heart in opposition to that which vexes it.

Elbow: Audio Vertigo. Album Review. full post

(416 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)