Monthly Archives: April 2014

The Basin Street Brawlers, It’s Tight Like That. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Jazz and swing can so easily mocked by some but at times providing the link between good music and an enjoyable time. It cannot be a coincidence that the increase in popularity over the last few years is more akin to the times we find ourselves in, the untold parallels that don’t get talked about in the hushed rooms of Westminster to those that afflicted Europe in the 1920s and 30s. Between Jazz and Blues the music certainly kept up the spirits of many of those under fire during that time and now The Basin Street Brawlers are putting up an excellent fight to keep the music flowing in the 21^st Century with their new album, It’s Tight Like That.

The Basin Street Brawlers, It’s Tight Like That. Album Review. full post

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

Ian Anderson, Homo Erraticus. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Jethro Tull or Ian Anderson? To be fair it makes no difference what name the man who bought Gerald Bostock into the world and gave prominence to the flute being front and centre of the stage of any gig or album. He could call himself after any inventor of 17^th Century or 21^st Century gardening implement or seed drill as long as he continues to make outstanding albums such as Homo Erraticus and given the man’s unerring and unwavering contribution to British music in the last 45 years, that doesn’t seem to be an issue that will ever come up in polite conversation.

Ian Anderson, Homo Erraticus. Album Review. full post

(551 words, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Endeavour: Sway. Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Anton Lesser, Jack Laskey, Sean Rigby, James Bradshaw, Joe Bannister, Jack Bannon, Gina Bramhill, Rob Compton, James Doherty, Rob Jarvis, Brian Lipson, Shvorne Marks, Tim McMullan, Caroline O’Neill, Cécile Paoli, Adrian Schiller, Michael Thomas, Sara Vickers, Matthew Wilson, Max Wrottesley.

Morse may have been living life a bit more inside the box in recent months but as he relaxes more into a life with purpose after being shot in the last series, Oxford has a serial killer on the loose, one who is acting out of fanatical zeal and the foggy streets of the University city have become a dangerous place for women.

Endeavour: Sway. Television Review. I.T.V. full post

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

Elbow, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Elbow in Liverpool 2014. Photograph by Mr. Darren Moore.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

For many inside the Liverpool Echo Arena it may well have been the first opportunity to see Elbow in such a setting. The enormous roofed space in which has held so many great concerts since it first opened its doors to the public in 2008 now reverberated and swayed to the atmospheric delights employed by Elbow.

Elbow, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

(634 words, 1 image, estimated 2:32 mins reading time)

The Vibes, Dust Trail. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is always a small part of you that worries that the second E.P. or album you hear performed by a band might see the glimmer of undisguised joy you felt first time round, die a little, become somehow tarnished and smeared with the dirty pain of blotted memories. It is a natural thought. Even when a band has been going many years that nagging doubt remains and in even in masters of the music experience such as Pink Floyd there is an argument for saying A Momentary Lapse of Reason falls into that category. For Liverpool band The Vibes, a couple of E.P.s down the line and they still sound bloody marvellous. Dust Trail proves that you perhaps shouldn’t give much thinking room for second E.P. nerves!

The Vibes, Dust Trail. E.P. Review. full post

(443 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

The Fresh Dixie Project, Dress Pretty, Dance Ugly. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

“If it ain’t got that swing then it don’t mean a thing…” If it’s not The Fresh Dixie Project, then whatever it could be is an obvious pale imitation of something so right that deep down you know you could be headed for booking up confession sessions a few months in advance. Failing that you will be listening to five young lads give such an imaginative display on the scale of seeing an exhibition of a man swagger and swerve temptation as he strides along Oxford Street with a thousand pounds in his pocket and defying expectation, passes into the hands of a local homeless woman.

The Fresh Dixie Project, Dress Pretty, Dance Ugly. E.P. Review. full post

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

He Gave Me More Than He Knew.

Bright blue sky day far from home

Met an experimental performance poet

Who likes to say words that rhyme with ‘an’

And make tiny sculptures from the wire cages

That hold corks onto champagne bottles

Swapped our books by a sunlit forest waterfall

Something mutual and unsaid in that

More than the gift of words on paper

Wandered around a secret Elizabethan garden

Clipped formal hedges and geometric forms

Collected a handful of fallen rose petals

Crushed in my hand they smelled like heaven

He Gave Me More Than He Knew. full post

(112 words, estimated 27 secs reading time)

Cody McCarver, The Lord’s Will. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

No matter what you think of the subject matter to found within Cody McCarver’s latest soul bearing offering, The Lord’s Will, there can be no denying that musically it is a great listen. Regardless of what your views on religion are, your views on certain aspects of faith and conviction are; what devotion you may bring to the table in offer, there are at times moments in life when to hear somebody pour their heart into producing something so delicate can be a little humbling. Whether you believe in a power beyond your recognition is not up for debate but you sometimes do have to listen to somebody else view or way of life to understand that your own particular road is not seen the same from even those you may call friends or lovers.

Cody McCarver, The Lord’s Will. Album Review. full post

(425 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Muppets Most Wanted. Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T. Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, Tina Fey, Tony Bennett, Hugh Bonneville, Sean Combs, Jermaine Clement, Rob Couddry, Mackenzie Crook, Celine Dion, Dexter Fletcher, Lady Gaga, Zach Galifianakis, Josh Groban, Salma Hayek, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Hollander, Toby Jones, Frank Langella, Ray Liotta, Ross Lynch, James McAvoy, Chloë Grace Moretz, Usher Raymond, Miranda Richardson, Saoirse Ronan, Til Schweiger, Russell Tovey, Danny Trejo, Stanley Tucci, Christoph Waltz

Voice artists: Steve Whitmire, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz, Bill Barretta, David Rudman, Matt Vogel, Peter Linz, Louise Gold.

Muppets Most Wanted. Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T. Liverpool. full post

(498 words, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

Captain America: Winter Soldier, Ultimate Collection. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

The graphic novel/ film/television tie-in has had many great reasons in which to celebrate multi-media crossover in the last couple of decades. From Sin City to The Watchmen, from V For Vendetta to Buffy The Vampire Slayer, each has carried the other with the weight of heavy expectation foaming from its pages or celluloid extravagance. When it comes to the world of Marvel, arguably the heaviest hitter in the world of the comic book communities, the films have been great, the comics have been superb but the tie-ins have not been so enamouring.

Captain America: Winter Soldier, Ultimate Collection. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(657 words, estimated 2:38 mins reading time)