Yearly Archives: 2014

The Jackobins, Ghosts. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

For anybody over a certain age and who never fulfilled a particular inventive goal, to see a great band produce quality recordings and have the absolute conviction that strides alongside the energy to pull off the artistry is something that the previous generation could only perhaps feel the tiniest bit of jealousy for. Of course the jealousy, if it appears, never lasts long, for the only thing you can do, on either side of the divide that separates one age bracket from another is too wish them well and revel in the dedication that sweat out like the fire from a jet propelled rocket.

The Jackobins, Ghosts. E.P. Review. full post

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

Windmill, One More Dance. Single review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

They may be a disappearing feature from the British countryside, however there is one particular Windmill that is going so strongly that its rotating blades of lingering vocals, moodily impressive guitars and drum pattern is sure to keep offering a twirl of spirited dynamism that is surely vital and causes a breeze of content to waft through the street of Liverpool.

Windmill, One More Dance. Single review. full post

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

James Patterson, Cross My Heart. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When it comes to writing Crime Fiction there is probably nobody more prodigious or capable of such a vast wealth of tension in their words than American writer James Patterson. When it comes to undoubtedly his greatest creation, Detective Alex Cross, that output generates enough steam from the ideas being poured out that it would put the weight of pressure that is ready to explode under Yellowstone Park seem like a damp dish rag ready to be put out to dry in the Florida sunshine.

James Patterson, Cross My Heart. Book Review. full post

(471 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Northern Broadsides Return To The Playhouse Theatre For The Classic Romp, She Stoops To Conquer.

Following their recent successes of An August Bank Holiday Lark and Rutherford & Son, Northern Broadsides are set to light up the Liverpool stage once more, as they bring Oliver Goldsmith’s classic romp She Stoops to Conquer to the Playhouse. The 18th century comedy of manners, filled with ludicrous misunderstanding, mischief and mayhem, runs from Tuesday 18th to Saturday 22nd November.

Tongue-tied, uptight Charles Marlow needs a lesson in the art of love. He longs for a wife but finds it easier to have a bit on the side. Barmaid Kate Hardcastle seems fair game – but there’s more to her than meets the eye. Set against the increasingly chaotic proceedings of one very long night, She Stoops to Conquer is filled with larger than life characters, outrageous frocks and plenty of mayhem.

Northern Broadsides Return To The Playhouse Theatre For The Classic Romp, She Stoops To Conquer. full post

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

Blue Announce New Tour In 2015, With A Night At The Philharmonic Hall Eagerly Anticipated.

Blue, one of Britain’s most successful pop groups, have announced a brand new tour for spring 2015, the tour, which starts in the Guildhall in Portsmouth on Saturday 21st March, will come to the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on Thursday 2nd April.

Lee Ryan, Antony Costa, Duncan James and Simon Webbe catapulted to fame in 2001 with their Top 5 single All Rise. The affable quartet quickly ascended to the top of the charts with three number 1 albums, scored highly-respectable collaborations with Elton John and Stevie Wonder, and even represented the U.K. in 2011 at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Blue Announce New Tour In 2015, With A Night At The Philharmonic Hall Eagerly Anticipated. full post

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

Steve Hackett, Genesis Revisited, Gig Review. Birmingham Symphony Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The invisible but highly audible Sirens that line up and down Birmingham’s glittering Broad Street area could have bayed and bleated all night long as they watched the neon lights fade and dim to obscurity, nothing could have torn the rapt attention of the audience inside the Symphony Hall away from Steve Hackett and the band as they recreated for the final night in the U.K., the songs that entranced a generation and beyond.

Steve Hackett, Genesis Revisited, Gig Review. Birmingham Symphony Hall. full post

(725 words, 2 images, estimated 2:54 mins reading time)

Rhys Marsh, Sentiment. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Sentiment, the reaction to something that grabs the musical spirit and allows it grow over time into a positive and perhaps enlightening response that allows the human imagination to remember where they were when they first heard a particular song and the imagery that flashed before their eyes.

Rhys Marsh, Sentiment. Album Review. full post

(446 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Iain Till, The Rise And The Fall. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When Iain Till found himself back in the performance arena, not quite gladiatorial provisioned but still armed with a sense of hope, proportion and wielding a deck full of songs, he perhaps would not have expected to reach the point where the release of the E.P. was to be considered the norm. The climb is a hardy beast full of pitfalls and the descent, well that is only too carefully planned by hubris to really ever keep an eye upon. Such is fortune’s way of preparing for The Rise and the Fall.

Iain Till, The Rise And The Fall. E.P. Review. full post

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

John Cee Stannard & Blue Horizon, Bus Depot Blues. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The light at the end of the tunnel is always best illuminated by missing the last bus home. The dejection and disappointment of having to walk the miles from the last chance saloon to the cold and unfriendly home is always punctuated by the chance to listen to whatever music infects your ears and take in the natural air that dances sickly in urban abundance as you walk the walk home and keeping the eyes firmly fixed on the way ahead; only your ears press ahead with learning something new.

John Cee Stannard & Blue Horizon, Bus Depot Blues. Album Review. full post

(474 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Onward Chariots, Take Me To Somewhere. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Although it will never be proved, there must be a length of rope so vast and strong, a fastening so binding between Liverpool and New York, that makes these two almost empiric like states arguably the greatest cities in which music has such a power over its inhabitants that its influence reaches back and forth over time and tide and the listener is only required to do one job, to listen carefully!

Onward Chariots, Take Me To Somewhere. E.P. Review. full post

(471 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)