Author Archives: admin

John Cee Stannard Blues Orchestra, The Doob Doo Album. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

What you create today is by no means the final moment into which you will inspire somebody, even if it yourself somewhere down the line, where you stop to take in the possible reflected glory of your pain-staking effort, and realise that at some pint along the path there is a moment in which you can revisit, in which the foundations you once laid down with bare knuckles and hopeful design, can still serve as a resolution to continue striving for excellence.

John Cee Stannard Blues Orchestra, The Doob Doo Album. Album Review. full post

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

Ghosts. Television Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Charlotte Ritchie, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Martha Howe-Douglas, Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Lolly Adefope, Laurence Rickard, Ben Willbond, Katy Wix, Yani Xander, Jim Howick, Richard Durden, Ed Kear, Ania Marson, Anya McKenna-Bruce, Steve Oram, Tom Mackley, Paul Cawley, Peter Coe, Caoilfhionn Dunne, Caroline Guthrie, Geoffrey McGivern, Tim Plester, Sophie Thompson, Richard Thomson, Angela Yeoh, Simon Bubb, Rosie Cavaliero, Florian Schwienbacher, Simon Stache.

Ghosts. Television Series Review. full post

(573 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Daria Kulesh, Earthly Delights. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We look upon this world as if we are but spoilt children, the only amusement we find is that in which others give us when we demand, the only appreciation gained is when we regret that it has been taken away from us, and then with petulance we kick and scream our displeasure, we become spiteful and then as a final act we begin to steal what is not ours and hold it for ransom, the highest bidder gaining ground, the Earthly Delights not realised.

Daria Kulesh, Earthly Delights. Album Review. full post

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

John Cee Stannard, Moving On. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Moving On is not a sign of resignation, the shrugged shoulders epitomising defeat and the slow trudge away from the company you have once kept, it is rather a point of understanding that what has once been and which has helped you scale certain heights, is now just a stepping stone to another adventure, the next beat to which you must follow and into which creativity and life urges you to behold.

John Cee Stannard, Moving On. Album Review. full post

(516 words, 1 image, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Captain Of The Lost Waves, Synthesis-The Story So Far. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The way we consume music now is unarguably different to 20 years ago, even during the golden years of the singles charts being taken seriously as a measure of how the nation reacted to the aural stimulation provided by the imagination and creativity of its heroes and the unknown warriors fighting for a moment in the sun, what we now find is that the single is perhaps lost in the maelstrom of continual listening, it is the instant hit on the senses and without the same sensation on the fan’s anticipation as it once was.

Captain Of The Lost Waves, Synthesis-The Story So Far. Album Review. full post

(466 words, 1 image, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Midsomer Murders: Drawing Dead. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Annette Badland, Bill Bailey, Ruby Bentall, Will Brown, Nicholas Burns, Ben Caplan, Nicholas Farrell, Eloise Joseph, Jemma Redgrave, Elana Saurel, Ellen Thomas, Joshua Williams, Heather Wright.

There was a time when teachers would look upon their pupil’s reading habits and consciously judge them accordingly, no matter how interested in the source material, the children’s ability to report on what they had read and the lessons learned from the text, the snobbery and direct condescension placed at the student’s desk as they admitted to reading comic books whilst their peers and friends got praise for having spent their weekend with their noses pretending to have insight into the world of ‘serious’ literature was short sighted and demeaning.

Midsomer Murders: Drawing Dead. Television Review. full post

(456 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco, Fog Of War/In For A Pound. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Julie Graham, Rachael Stirling, Crystal Balint, Chanelle Peloso, Ben Cotton, Jennifer Spence, Chelah Horsdal, Noel Johansen, Adrian Hough, Peter Benson, Kurt Max Runte, Michael Adamthwaite, Graeme Duffy, Candus Churchill, Raphael Kepinski.

The belief in playing to your strengths is one that is fraught with the acknowledgement that you might never improve in other areas, the whole notion of only ever drawing upon one set of ideals or inspiration is an anathema to writing, it stunts creativity and can lead to the permanent pigeon holing of your possible future endeavour. Yet for all that some conceding must take place when it considers the future of what could be a demanding series, in which the plot begs for a choice to made, one of social commentary or the mystery at hand.

The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco, Fog Of War/In For A Pound. Television Review. full post

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

Derf Backderf, My Friend Dahmer. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

How do we look in to the eyes of a killer, of a psychopath, of a human being who has fallen under the weight of madness and whose life will go on to unravel to the point of extreme actions taken, and not see either ourselves, or perhaps the part that we have played in that person’s downfall.

Derf Backderf, My Friend Dahmer. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(760 words, estimated 3:02 mins reading time)

Long Shot. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound And Vision Rating 5/10

Cast: Charlize Theron, Seth Rogan, June Diane Raphael, O’ Shea Jackson Jr, Ravi Patel, Bob Odenkirk, Andy Serkis, Tristan D. Lalla, Alexander Skarsgard, Aladeen Tawfeek, Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris, Shawn Stockman, Isla Dowling, Aviva Mongillo, Lisa Kudrow.

Rags to riches, we all dream of bettering the hand we have been played, to take on the phantom dealer of the cruel hand of fate and lending our name to the appropriate nature of immortality. Few though hold their nerve by sticking to their principals, by refusing to yield to temptation that such rapid rise might entail, and whilst they will probably end up forever having their dreams dashed, at least they can do so with a clear conscious and a heart that is light and with sign no sign of corruption in their soul.

Long Shot. Film Review. full post

(598 words, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

Tolkien. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Pam Ferris, Adrian Schiller, Colm Meaney, Owen Teale, Derek Jacobi, Craig Roberts, Harry Gilby, Laura Donnelly, Guillermo Bedward, Nia Gwynne, Kallum Tolkien, Tony Nash, Michael Bryceson, Andrew Bissell, Patrick Gibson, Anthony Boyle, Tom Glynn-Carney, James MacCallum.

Subconsciously driven by the exotic use of imagination or shaped by the events we observe, there is a tale in each of us that demands to be told, and in which regrettably few of us choose to pursue.

Tolkien. Film Review. full post

(610 words, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)