Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8/10
Touring with his new album Mutineers, this was David Gray’s first performance at the recently refurbished Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and his second overall since becoming one of the most sought after British artists of the last two decades. As soon as David walked on stage the crowd were on his side. Rightly so too, as David Gray’s career has been a long lasting one, with 11 studios albums under his belt; he has been performing live now for over 20 years.
Wallis Bird at Leaf, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound And Vision Rating 9/10
There is something uniquely endearing about Wallis Bird as she takes to the stage, something deeply fascinating and mesmerizing. It is as if the room upstairs at Leaf on Bold Street, known more perhaps for its gentility and courtesy has been suddenly transformed into the Liverpool Echo Arena. The mesmerising power of the individual to make the room appear so vast, to make the sound generated that of a collection of Concorde’s taking off simultaneously next to you and yet the true focus of attention appear so larger than life that their essence makes Wembley Stadium feel like a match box is one that makes you feel compelled to believe in power of mass hypnotism. All of this and yet the only weapons of choice is an acoustic guitar!
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8/10
The eye of the storm is the most wondrous place, it is the moment’s serenity before the wall of sound assaults every sense possible and leaves you breathless and hungry for more. It is a storm of its own, it is the quieter but no less important, nor less impressive, time in which letting your guard down might just result in the surprise of your life and in the spirit of singer/songwriter Dani, that quiet repose was granted and yet with the power of a pre-rumbling earthquake, something seismic was unleashed inside Leaf.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
In all of us there are times in which the urge to disappear, to walk away from all that surrounds and consumes us, when its either overwhelming to the point where one day your best friend suddenly finds you have left the country and are now contemplating eating lentils and enjoying a spiritual uplifting moment in Tibet or at the very least your loved one might come across a journal in which you have kept with an eye on the future in which cutting logs outside of a wooden cabin in the depths of the Canadian wilderness.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Lindsay Jones, Arryn Zech, Kara Eberle, Barbara Dunkelmen, Miles Luna, Jen Brown, Samantha Ireland, Michael Jones, J.J. Castillo, Adam Ellis, Gray G. Haddock, Shannon McCormick, Katie Newville, Jessica Nigri, Mounty Oum, Patrick Rodriguez, Kerry Shawcross, Kathleen Zuelch.
From, the very first episode, from the very first minute the fans of the RWBY are not disappointed. The creator Monty Oum has thought out this season very well and with a story to tell about the others as well as the main characters, the audience is now given further insight into each of the member’s back stories and what they are fighting for and that is only to the benefit to Monty Oum and the production team.
The Human League, November 2014. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There are not many bands around whose music manages to be impossibly and wonderfully timeless and yet still sound as if it is as fresh as a newly plucked rose being placed into the hands of a loved one, there aren’t many but then there are not that many bands like The Human League.
The superficial feel of a day merging into the next is highlighted more in December.
The few short hours in which the remaining, decaying leaves on the ground
deposit their skid-like dead mark forever in the winter blasted ember,
only to be eaten away by the snow and harshness of the chilling, frost biting sound.
December is the widow of our years.
It fights for all its worth against the final reckoning,
but it knows that soon, very soon, it will sleep forever and in no more tears
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The name alone evokes images of nights in the more entertaining and laid back venues in Liverpool, the relaxed atmosphere of the afterglow of an easy afternoon turning its hands to the time of the extraordinary and the anxious furtive glances of a night in which elegance and style are only part of the running order. For Liverpool’s Mellowtone, the homes have been many, the acts numerous and always welcome but there is really is only one Dave McTague.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
St. Andrew’s Day falls with the appearance of a widow placing her mourning garments around her as she prepares to bury her late and possibly foolish husband. Unlike the party atmosphere that surrounds St. Patrick’s Day or the feel of stirring independence in the Welsh national day or even the somewhat mixed feeling that surrounds the flag of St. George, passionate, inspiring and rousing in the right hands, a force for undisguised hatred, intolerance and shame in others, the Saltire anywhere outside its natural borders, seems to usher in the thoughts of the cold blast of air that comes with the dying days of the year that December holds fast to its bosom.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Ultimately all that can matter from a single release is whether it grabs you first time round and playfully suggests that you go and investigate the hopefully inevitable album or E.P. that comes a few weeks after. In the end the complete work is where the reveal into an artist’s soul and thoughts lay. Like a Shakespeare sonnet being read aloud in an English class and discussing it with knowledge without having read any of the others, the whole body of work is where the real insight comes into play.