Author Archives: admin

Acid Dream: The Great LSD Plot. Radio Drama Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Turn On, Tune in…and pay heed.

The Counter Culture, the one great promise afforded to many who would see the world for its truth after World War Two, was sold a lie in many respects, it was one that was compounded by the sincerity of belief of two people to whom had decency in their heart at the outset, and one that carried a message that there is more to life than the capitalist scream that saw millions adopt an alien experience, running themselves into the ground in search of The American Dream.

Acid Dream: The Great LSD Plot. Radio Drama Series Review. full post

(585 words, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)

Jayne Taylor: Lonely One. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The top 40 may have lost its relevance, its stature since the turn of the century lost a generation who paused their breath as the reveal of the number one was announced, their much loved artist, their latest favourite song, would it be there, the pinnacle of the week’s current adoration; but it doesn’t stop the rise of the song, of the single, from catching our ear, conscious, and soul and taking us from the Lonely One to the one who feels love, friendship, and perhaps inclusion on a larger stage.

Jayne Taylor: Lonely One. Single Review. full post

(356 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Ghosts (US). Series Two. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Rose McIver, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Brandon Scott Jones, Daielle Pinnock, Richie Moriarty, Asher Grodman, Sheila Carrasco, Rebecca Wisocky, Devan Chandler Long, Román Zaragoza, John Hartman, Betsy Sodaro, Trostan D. Lalla, Authur Holden, Nigel Downer, Stuart Fink, Christian Daoust, Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll, Punam Petel, Nichole Sakura, Mark Linn-Baker, Crystle Lightning, Kathryn Greenwood, Mike Lane, Lindsey Broad, Matt Walsh, Matthew Baynton, Odessa A’zion, Dakota Taylor.

Of all the British comedies to have been adapted and altered for the American market, none have arguably come as close to capturing the fine nuances and characterisation that a comedy needs in order to be more than just funny, than that of Ghosts.

Ghosts (US). Series Two. Television Review. full post

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

Taz: Wake Up And Sweat, Vol 1. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

For a decade the music coming out of Los Angeles was raw, energetic, magnificent. It had grown from its encompassing roots of Californian 60s rock standards, flower power child sensibilities, its long hair ‘hippy’ roots and taken on a greater, more fierce, more competitive edge as it sought to outmarch bands emerging from its East Coast counterparts and those from Europe and Australia.

Taz: Wake Up And Sweat, Vol 1. Album Review. full post

(451 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Alice Cooper: Road. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To discover where the road may lead you, you have to first admit that being lost is just the start of the journey.

To still be producing albums of such intensity after more than 50 years is remarkable, and for that alone the legend is set in concrete, protected by a court order of significant cultural appreciation, and a monument to perseverance. Every now and then a lost soul will happen across this monument, they will pull across to the hard shoulder, read the inscription, listen to the audio description, and realise they were never lost, they just needed Alice Cooper to offer them direction.

Alice Cooper: Road. Album Review. full post

(505 words, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

When Rivers Meet: Aces Are High. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Aces are always high, for in a world where the Kings judge they are number one, they can be beaten by those they perceive to be the lowest denominator, and that sows the seeds of overwhelming brilliance from the true aces in the pack, the ones who grow and continue to be appreciated, and not because of imposed rank, but of dedication, natural flair, and a soul that is prepared to work and graft with a truth bursting put of every seam, every pore.

When Rivers Meet: Aces Are High. Album Review. full post

(412 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Hugh Grant, Chloe Coleman, Daisy Head, Spencer Wilding, Will Irvine, Nicholas Blane, Bryan Larkin, Sarah Amankwah, Colin Carnegie, Georgia Landers, Sophia Nell Huntley, Clayton Grover, Bradley Cooper, Hayley-Marie Axe.

Dungeons & Dragons is a phenomenon of our time, more than a game, it is an icon, an industry masquerading as a competitive pastime. It is equally adored and derided, but there is no doubting the seriousness in which those who immerse themselves into the fortunes and constructed tales take as they don the imagination and furnish the creativity, and to those who watch from the sidelines, they cannot help themselves but wish to join in.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. Film Review. full post

(468 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Gareth Heesom: Selfies By The Sea. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The public complain of the rise of the selfie, the pose that keeps on coming in the most arguably often inappropriate places. The issue as they see it is a belief that a camera phone in the hand and the constant retakes is either a case of narcissism out of control, or struggling to see an image of themselves that they can be satisfied without bowing to the pressure of anxiety.

Gareth Heesom: Selfies By The Sea. Single Review. full post

(366 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Once And Future – Two’s Company. Big Finish Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Colin Baker, Camille Coduri, Michael Maloney, Christopher Naylor, Michelle Ryan, Tim Treloar.

The Time War rages, and the Doctor is unable to offer much help; and for once it is because he is trying desperately to help himself in solving perhaps one of the greatest threats to all his existence ever.

Degeneration is the key, and whilst the Doctor has felt its effects as the process, he perhaps has not gleaned the full problem that awaits, and who finer to paint the picture than the recent addition to the Whoniverse than that of the fearsome Timelord, The Eleven.

Doctor Who: Once And Future – Two’s Company. Big Finish Audio Drama Review. full post

(375 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

World On Fire: Series Two. Television Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jonah Hauer-King, Lesley Manville, Julia Brown, Zofia Wichlacz, Mark Bonnar, Parker Sawyers, Blake Harrison, Eugénie Derouand, Ewan Mitchell, Ahad Raza Mir, Miriam Schiweck, Gregg Sulkin, Yrsa Daley-Ward, Eryk Biedunkiewicz, Cel Spellman, Johanna Götting, Beat Marti, Carl Grübel, Matthias Lier, Jonathan Harden, Grace Chilton, Arthur Choisnet.

World On Fire might not be the most in depth, the most heroic, the fiercest critique of World War Two, but it has a sense of honour and grace to it that many television series have neglected, overshadowed, or even pumped up as if to show the period of waste and fear as though it is one big adventure: a celluloid advert for the want of war.

World On Fire: Series Two. Television Series Review. full post

(543 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)