The Vampire Lestat. Television Drama Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sam Reid, Jacob Anderson, Jennifer Ehle, Eric Bogosian, Ryan Kattner, Seamus Patterson, Sarah Swire, Assad Zaman, Joseph Potter, Delainey Hayles, Gopal Divan, Sheila Atim, Christopher Heyerdahl, Damien Atkins, Vince Kesavamoorthy, Justin Kirk, Amaka Umeh, Shepherd Munroe, Jeanine Serralles, Noah Reid, Andrew Musselman, Guy Maddin.

Arguably Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat is one of the finest examples of the modern gothic horror to exist from the 20th century, and to attempt to capture it in a form that does it justice could be beset with issues that might not be apparently noticeable until one finds themselves completely absorbed into the world of 1980s excess and the glut of superfluity that resonated and was heavily underscored by the literature of the time.

The Vampire Lestat. Television Drama Series Review. full post

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

Bookish: Memento Mori. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Mark Gatiss, Polly Walker, Elliot Levy, Connor Finch, Blake Harrison, Jason Watkins, Sarah Crowe, Saffron Coomber, Rosie Cavaliero, Amanda Lawrence, Sorcha Groundsell, Sid Sagar, Nadia Albina, Gerard Horan, Buket Kömür, Youssef Kerkour, Rupert Graves, Nory Goderis, Jan Van Ryckeghem, Rob Oldfield, Simon Callow.

The dead always leave behind something in the dust for others to spoil, to use in their name, and create deeds by the living that leeches off the bereaved as they grieve and grasp any sign of hope that those they have lost might still be found.

Bookish: Memento Mori. Television Review. full post

(455 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Toyah: Revelations. Box Set Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

King’s Heath in Birmingham might not be that well known to anyone outside of the second city, but it has produced an astonishing number of people to whom art and sport have been fortunate to have graced the suburb, to have been influenced by the leafy green former village and the possibility of being part of a new breed of hero for the post-war generation.

Toyah: Revelations. Box Set Review. full post

(370 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Pulp: Live! Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

All the talk ever seemed to be about Oasis and Pulp, in the expansive field of discussion thirty years ago at the height of what was termed ‘Brit Pop’ other bands seemed to be the surrounding part players, never really able to break through the aura filled bubble of the Manchester and London feud; and yet despite it all for a huge swathe of music appreciators there was only ever one band that caught the zeitgeist so perfectly, and one that didn’t require hype, because the band weren’t driven by that, there were pushed by the realism of life and their album Different Class emphasised that emotional gravitas in one resonating gesture in 1995.

Pulp: Live! Album Review. full post

(488 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Hackett & Rothery: The Roaring Waves. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The Roaring Waves that we see from the safety of the shore can be ether a warning we take seriously, or we see them as omens of the gods at play, tossing the ideas and hubris of humanity into the surface of turbulent truth and seeing what surfaces, what clings to the life buoy and becomes the exceptional majesty aloft of the swell and movement surrounding the that waves cannot, and will never wash away.

Hackett & Rothery: The Roaring Waves. Album Review. full post

(402 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Dark Tides. Big Finish Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Christopher Eccleston, Billie Piper, Ben Arogundade, Doon Mackichan, David Shaw-Parker, Sam Stafford.

Occasionally what Doctor Who needs is a good old fashioned ghost story…or at least what can pass for one in the world of science and speculative fiction, and like the classic New Who tale The Unquiet Dead, there is a lot more to take in than what may be read or heard as things that go bump in the night cannot be explained simply as a ghost, but as something far deadlier to The Doctor, Rose Tyler, and the Knights of Atlas in search of the lost spaceship Vesterbold.

Doctor Who: Dark Tides. Big Finish Audio Drama Review. full post

(370 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Queen: Live At Wembley Stadium. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Only a year earlier Queen arguably ruled the stage at Wembley as part of Live Aid, the brief moment in time at the home of English football, the iconic twin towers crowning the glory of the band in what was to become their most talked about gig of their entire career; if you were there, if you saw it on television then you know exactly how incredible it was.

One year later, Wembley once more played host to the legendary band, and what was captured for posterity at the time on video and for The Tube television programme later that year, was it seems only part of the story.

Queen: Live At Wembley Stadium. Album Review. full post

(456 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Bonfire Radicals: Spaghetti Junction. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Birmingham’s history is such that music is an inevitability, the power of attraction, the force of inspiration flows deeply in anyone who sees the city of a thousand trades as more than just the past, but as tapestry, of a weaved narrative that encompasses all from the Lickey Hills, Selly Park, Handsworth Park to the Spaghetti Junction, its rich diversity of people, and the laid down buildings and constructions designed with purpose capture something almost unique and conclusive that artists cannot but be drawn to the domination of the midland’s municipality.

Bonfire Radicals: Spaghetti Junction. Album Review. full post

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

Stormbringer: Transcendence. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Perfection is a near impossibility to achieve, but we can have fun and bring others a huge amount of pleasure by seeking technical cool and emotional gravitas to the performance, and with our unique perspective offer complexity, a deep relationship between thought and exploration in everything the audience will hear as they undergo a feeling of the divine you inspire, a Transcendence of will that sticks to the hearts for all time.

Stormbringer: Transcendence. Album Review. full post

(371 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Jethro Tull: J-Tull Dot Com. 2026 Extended Edition Boxset Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Every band that has managed to have the kind of longevity that spans over several decades will have in their catalogue the distinction of having albums that are instantly recognisable, the ones that cemented their place in Time, and the ones that for some reason or other defy the mysticism that has taken place. Then there is the odd one that for many perhaps passed them by and yet has all the qualities of a gem in waiting, an album that didn’t shake the charts at the time of release and when listened to more than a quarter of a century on sounds cool, passionate, and filled with tracks that just free the imagination. 

Jethro Tull: J-Tull Dot Com. 2026 Extended Edition Boxset Review. full post

(533 words, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)