Yearly Archives: 2014

Roger Chapman, Peaceology. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is always a school of thought that suggests to take what is essentially a classic album, something that has been painstakingly upheld as a pinnacle of a musician’s life work and re-master it is somehow akin to robbing the memory of what went before, for both the artist and for the audience. It sits there like a re-make of a much loved film or a different interpretation of a favourite play in some people’s eyes and thoughts as having somehow desecrated the past.

Roger Chapman, Peaceology. Album Review. full post

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

Voices…

After all, it is my own stupid fault.

I certified you to live, breathe; fester like a germ in a blocked sink,

inside my head and was never surprised when you drew across the bolt

and tunnelled your way to where you grandstand at what I think.

Your expertise, I applauded, for who could not admire the sense

of purpose you showed in whispering in my ear,

of living with easy contempt with every pound, shilling and pence

worth of damned words at my chosen life and career.

Voices… full post

(176 words, estimated 42 secs reading time)

Doctor Who: The Widow’s Assassin. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Tim Chipping, John Banks, Andrew Dickens, Fiona Sheehan, Glynn Sweet.

A year seems far too long to wait for the dulcet, attention-grabbing tones of Colin Baker’s incarnation of The Doctor to play with the listener’s ears in a way that would have cat’s purring contentedly and theatre audience’s gripped. Even in the calmest moments, the time between time, the resonance of his delivery is nothing short of exquisite and somehow it still rankles that the B.B.C. at the time were so short sighted in their appraisal of his era in Doctor Who.

Doctor Who: The Widow’s Assassin. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(656 words, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

The Last Tinker: City of Colors (PS4), Game Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9 out of 10

The Last Tinker: City of Colors is a platform game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4. The game has an ambition to rekindle the classic and much loved 3D platforming genre that was synonymous, but can it fully realize what it sets out to achieve?

The Last Tinker: City of Colors (PS4), Game Review. full post

(2178 words, estimated 8:43 mins reading time)

The Searchers, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

The Searchers at the Liverpool Empire Theatre. November 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

You are never too young to be spoken of highly, you are never too old to perform as if the world has always loved you and as long as there is an audience who responds to your music then never mind the detractors, forget those that decry the period as something that is no longer relevant, for the four men who make up The Searchers, every cheer, every moment of the long lasting applause between songs and every well played note was more than worth rolling back the years to headline a night of pure wonderful 60s music at the Liverpool Empire Theatre.

The Searchers, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(532 words, 1 image, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)

Spencer Davis, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It seems at times there are more living legends still placing one foot infront of the other and getting, mostly rightful, plaudits for their continuing appeal and depth of character. There well as may be a sign on a student’s door proclaiming that after all the defining era’s of the Earth’s evolution that the latest one may as well be named, the era of legends.

Spencer Davis, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(409 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

The Fortunes, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

The Fortunes, Liverpool Empire Theatre. November 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The ties that bind Liverpool and Birmingham are deeper and stronger than many might realise or even understand. Politically both squeezed by the Westminster Empire and its mouldy London centric viewpoint, both devastated by unrest in the early 80s and both at one point claiming the title of second city of the U.K. They also share a people who took music to the hearts more than any other city during the 60s pop revolution and who have spawned some of the greatest musicians to ever play on a stage the length and breadth of the islands.

The Fortunes, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(475 words, 1 image, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Live Lounge, Gig Review. Palm Sugar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In Chevasse Park in Liverpool One, the first hopeful sounds of a Winter many will dread overpowers the senses, the heady aroma of Christmas is clinging in the air. The sound of children being treated by their parents to try their luck in the hope of winning an overstuffed bear or the thrill of a ride being undertaken with much glee follows suit and a cold November evening feels as biting and as forced as commemorating the end of the First World War with a supermarket advert for chocolate.

Live Lounge, Gig Review. Palm Sugar, Liverpool. full post

(481 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

The Vagaband, Medicine For The Soul. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Whatever helps the medicine go down is at times more beneficial than the cure it aids. Rest to help the weary, revolution to assist the neglected and mistreated, fire to cleanse the diseased and wanton and a purge to bring those who inflict tyrannical misery upon those they are meant to serve, all buff up the spirits of humanity but a defining way is to help the inner peace to all and in The Vagaband’s new album, Medicine for the Soul, the music is at the core of the recovery.

The Vagaband, Medicine For The Soul. Album Review. full post

(382 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

Russell Edwards, Naming Jack The Ripper. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is one of the most baffling mysteries and indisputably one of the most horrific set of crimes in British detective police work to have ever been committed. Every corner of the Earth, from all walks of life, the foul and craven murder spree of Jack the Ripper is known, researched and poured over by amateur detectives, hunters of the truth, the rank and file and the ghoulish alike.

Russell Edwards, Naming Jack The Ripper. Book Review. full post

(707 words, estimated 2:50 mins reading time)