Author Archives: admin

Robert Harris: Act Of Oblivion. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10

If there is one thing you can guarantee upon in life is that the writer Robert Harris will deliver a tale of such epic proportions that it becomes a true definition of the phrase, unputdownable; and in the post English Civil War/ War Of The Three Kingdoms set novel, Act Of Oblivion, that sharpness of writing, the detail of research, the sense of pacing, all lead to a conclusion that this 2022 book is as exciting, as dedicated to the reader as Fatherland 30 years beforehand, Munich, or even the factual Selling Hitler: The Story of the Hitler Diaries, and as the tale of regicides Colonel Edward Whalley and Colonel William Goffe turn from established fact to possible example of their final endings, the reader cannot but help be immediately satisfied with the explanation and the hunt that has been caused by the protagonist Richard Naylor.

Robert Harris: Act Of Oblivion. Book Review. full post

(548 words, 1 image, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Pavlov’s Dog: Lost In America. Album Reissue Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Fast on the heels of the vinyl reissue of the band’s once ‘forgotten’ album, Has Anyone Here Seen Seigfried?, Ruf Records have once again delved into the history of early American Progressive Rock favourites Pavlov’s Dog, and brings to the attention of the fans and the collectors alike the third album from the group, released originally in 1990, Lost In America.

Pavlov’s Dog: Lost In America. Album Reissue Review. full post

(486 words, 1 image, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Beckon The Wyrd: Out Of The Armoury. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

On the back of the single Rise, the West Country-based foursome that make up the powerful entity of Beckon The Wyrd, the brand-new album Out Of The Armoury sits atop of a castle’s keep with the knowledge that its foundations dig deep into the earth below, that its walls are robust and immune to the pounding of the beige in search of complications, and the forge that creates the weapons of words and music roars with satisfaction and keeps the wielders of the genre on vigilant guard and ready to take on the world.

Beckon The Wyrd: Out Of The Armoury. Album Review. full post

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

Woody Guthrie: Woody At Home, Vol 1 & 2. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Whilst history is often made far from home, it is the surroundings, comfortable or otherwise, of home that ideas often occur; and when those philosophies and beliefs stir, when they are captured in the rawness of time’s preserve where love is supposed to be at its most finite and pure, then it is within the graces of those with the fortune to hear the results to proclaim how worthy they are to be remembered, how legends are framed best when they in amongst that which they fight for.

Woody Guthrie: Woody At Home, Vol 1 & 2. Album Review. full post

(458 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Kristen Ford: Pinto. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

One of the most politically informed songwriters of her generation, Kristen Ford, returns with a new album firmly established in poetic rage and an anger of how the world, especially her own native country, has begun turning its back on hard earned, and fundamental rights.

Pinto is more than just emotional, it is a fierce, guttural response to the loss of respect to a community of people to whom she represents with pride; but it also has the balance within the heart to soften, accept and inspire a different outlook for the fans and for herself.

Kristen Ford: Pinto. Album Review. full post

(368 words, 1 image, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Thought Chamber: Myst Of Lyriad. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Through the mists we grope our way forward, the senses dulled by the beginnings of fog, from the cold chill that seeps into our bones, through dense skin, past veins and the running of life affirming blood, into that which holds us upright, the bones, the skeleton, and whilst the mists of life surround us daily, they offer us one vital thing to which the bones cannot fathom, it offers the imagination to focus, the brain’s release valve to conjure up images of what may live in the mist, whether it is salvation, or murky creatures from the depths.

Thought Chamber: Myst Of Lyriad. Album Review. full post

(402 words, 1 image, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Darrel Treece-Birch’s Atlantea: Life. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Life is so complex that to see it wasted is feel the burden of pity, and yet for some it is packed to the brim, consistently evolving, never finding, nor needing the excuse that Time is short, that life has nothing valuable for them to notice or take part in.

Time and life can be amazing in union, and for those who regale in the affirmation of the pair’s ability to bring harmony to the souls of those they attempting to enrich, so they are rewarded with a moment to which others are oblivious of, and it is in such consideration that Darrel Treece-Birch’s Atlantea has found a sense of perfection and quality in the sophomore recording from the musicians, the resounding chorus that is Life.

Darrel Treece-Birch’s Atlantea: Life. Album Review. full post

(394 words, 1 image, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Beckon The Wyrd: Rise. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Step beyond the relative calm of Somerset and Dorset and you enter a world of arguably England’s most beautiful and alluring coastlines, and its heritage of myths and legends; Devon and Cornwall, two separate counties divided by a common river but which holds magic deep within its twin souls; and as north Devon’s own myths play in the mind, the customs and folklore of the area are forged in heat, and cast with spells that present Beckon The Wyrd into the conscious of the far flung music lover and give Rise to a drama infused group whose determination and fantastic sound depth and grace to be admired.

Beckon The Wyrd: Rise. Single Review. full post

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

It’s Karma It’s Cool: 21st Century Meds. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

In times to come when social anthropologists write their conclusions of 21^st century behaviour there will surely be reams, a sheer scape of text that will reveal that we have been living in a kind of survival mode aided by whatever gets us through the day, that there is no forward planning, just an escape route that gets us from the crib to the retirement home without damaging us too much in the process; driven by a world on the edge, ransacked by governments who dictate new laws to drag us down…it’s no wonder those anthropologists will surmise that we have become beaten and scared into trying anything that lets us feel nothing but numb.

It’s Karma It’s Cool: 21st Century Meds. Single Review. full post

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

Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola: How To Raise The Wind. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Energy is, for some, an illusion of consequence; the artist believing they have found a purpose, the fan absorbing the quantity with relish…but both forgetting that the truth lays in quality, and there the energy can fail, be lacklustre, unfailing in its approach, but not delivering in style. True energy, the kind that can shift the universe, which can alter the perception of the listener is one of faith, and in How To Raise The Wind by Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola, that faith is rewarded with competition and a sense of wonderful musical purity.

Sarah-Jane Summers & Juhani Silvola: How To Raise The Wind. Album Review. full post

(388 words, 1 image, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)