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The ABC Murders. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: John Malkovich, Andrew Buchan, Rupert Grint, Eamon Farren, Fraya Mavor, Michael Shaeffer, Shirley Henderson, Kevin McNally, Bronwyn James, Christopher Villiers, Anya Chalotra, Tara Fitzgerald, Suzanne Packer, Eve Austin, Jack Farthing, Tamzin Griffin, Lizzy McInnerny, Ian Pirie, Cyril Nri, Gregor Fisher, Neil Hurst, Henry Goodman.

No one actor has the monopoly on a character, not one viewer has the definitive right to install as an absolute god their chosen performer in the role in which others can bring a different dimension to the flaws and assets possessed of those brought to life before an audience; it is perhaps not even the right of the imaginative soul who brought them into existence to dictate who should don the greasepaint of any one individual who is there to glean insight into the human condition.

The ABC Murders. Television Review. full post

(530 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Stephen King, Elevation. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is surely fair to say that there will never be another writer like Stephen King, a master of his genre in such a way that rivals Dickens, Terry Pratchett, Agatha Christie or Jane Austen in their chosen avenues of exploring the desire and darkness within the human experience, a fair assumption that despite many suggesting he has lost his touch, or perhaps just simply been part of the everyday for far too long. It is more than likely that his performance as a writer, the stories crafted, still thrill millions around the world, the power of his imagination continues to hit heights that perhaps install just a twinge of envy in some, and downright rude resentment in others.

Stephen King, Elevation. Book Review. full post

(581 words, 1 image, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)

Kramies, Of All The Places Been & Everything The End. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Of all you have seen within your life time, how much of them do you truly remember, is everything that you think you witnessed, every eye-capturing moment, something you observed, or is it the product of the emotions of what you felt running through your veins at the time; not everything you perceive to be real is true, not all the ins you have placed in a map and the images of them in your mind’s eye are everything they could have possibly been.

Kramies, Of All The Places Been & Everything The End. E.P. Review. full post

(411 words, 1 image, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

Handsome Jack, Everything’s Gonna Be Alright. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

They tell you that it will all work out in the end, that the girl will get what she aspires to, that the boy will find a way to bring about change, that corrupt Governments will fall and that the people of the world will reject certain alleged realisms and bring forth a welcome peace, or at the very least learn to live with each other.

Handsome Jack, Everything’s Gonna Be Alright. Album Review. full post

(405 words, 1 image, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

She Makes War, Brace For Impact. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is a time for restraint and there is a time for the abandonment of self-discipline, the removal of the chains and shackles of biting your tongue, a time to make peace and the hour in which to send your thoughts willingly into battle, the guns firing upon your command; holding back the weary calm is a persistent drain on the soul, occasionally you have to let go, and by doing so in return you have to be sure that your defences are ready, that you can Brace For Impact.

She Makes War, Brace For Impact. Album Review. full post

(460 words, 1 image, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Steve Cole, Doctor Who: Combat Magicks. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The long association of intertwining Earth’s history and the fictional lives of the Doctor has always been a passion of many of the fans of the television series of Doctor Who. An abundance of rich and varied accounts, the grand moments, the seemingly small and possibly inconsequential, all are ripe for exploring, for adding the most important of human instincts and emotions to what the chronicles will teach us; to enthuse imagination to any possible recorded scene and to question the authority of those that wrote it.

Steve Cole, Doctor Who: Combat Magicks. Book Review. full post

(561 words, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

John January and Linda Berry, Chemistry 101. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The first lesson you should learn at school is not that you have to understand Chemistry, you should only need to know that you feel it, the interaction and the harmony available between the elements, that in science the first law of thermodynamics is arguably the most poignant when it comes to human relationships, that the energy of the Universe is constant; Chemistry 101 is the place where attraction is upbeat, passionate and altogether carrying a groove which holds temptation in its hands.

John January and Linda Berry, Chemistry 101. Album Review. full post

(393 words, 1 image, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Tom Odell, Jubilee Road. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision 8.5/10

The consensus of inspiration always seems to be loudly asserted that the Muse requires the far-flung adventure or in-depth travelling life in which to gain inspiration to write, and whilst meeting new people, seeing impressive innovative in action and appreciating it with all your senses firing, occasionally all you need is to be able to look outside your own front door, to be able to witness the world turning from the comfort of a front-row seat beside your window; we can all find the Muse without going too far, we can all be part of a story going on down our street.

Tom Odell, Jubilee Road. Album Review. full post

(393 words, 1 image, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

The Birthday Party. Radio Play Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Toby Jones, Henry Goodman, Stephen Rae, Maggie Steed, Peter Wright, Jamie Winstone.

Harold Pinter’s first major play, The Birthday Party, has either captivated or underwhelmed audiences since it first came to the stage sixty years ago. Even in 2018 as it was revived with Zoe Wanamaker, Stephen Mangan and Pearl Mackie amongst its cast, it left confusion in its wake, taken to heart by many, but leaving some distrusting of the playwright’s ultimate question which never truly gets spoken out loud.

The Birthday Party. Radio Play Review. full post

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

The Dead Room. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Simon Callow, Anjli Mohindra, Susan Penhaligon, Joshua Oakes-Rogers.

It was turn of the 20th Century author M.R. James who asserted that the spectres within a ghost story should always have malevolent intent if the story is to work, if it is to prick the conscious of the reader and give them the type of scare in which boundaries are crossed between the world we see and the domain of the dead.

The Dead Room. Television Review. full post

(488 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)