Author Archives: admin

Ashton Lane, The In-Between. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *


There are models of music release which were once seen as innovative but have now become the role model in which everybody employs, such is the shrinking dominance of once proud record labels that the participation of the fan has become even more demanding, crucial to a band’s or artist’s success. It is a relationship in which the fan has a say, perhaps not on style or delivery, but in the process, sponsoring in effect the realm of fortune it costs these days in which to produce a record, a piece of art.

Ashton Lane, The In-Between. Album Review. full post

(427 words, 1 image, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

The Betterdays, Backlash. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It seems we have become fixated with destroying the past, that the new challenges of the 21st Century are not about progression, preservation of the moments in which can bring joy, which can carry meaning, but instead warrant in the eyes of those with an alternative agenda, the possibility of starting again with an image in keeping with their own judgment, even to the point of desecration, name-calling, accusations and deceit.

The Betterdays, Backlash. Album Review. full post

(559 words, 1 image, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

Not Going Out -Live. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Lee Mack, Sally Breton, Hugh Dennis, Abigail Cruttenden, Deborah Grant, Geoffrey Whitehead, Mark Kempner,

There is always a concern when it comes to attempt to pull off the live show, especially when it a comedy, particularly when it is one comfortable in its own skin of being one that can be rehearsed to the point of exhaustion to make it seem sharp and on the ball. The trouble is with recording weeks or even months in advance is that relies far too eagerly on the set-up and not enough on the natural skill of the performer in which to bring the element of surprise, the ability to rise above the fluffed line with the spur of the moment quip or ad-lib in which to keep the momentum moving.

Not Going Out -Live. Television Review. full post

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

Longstay, Calling Me Home. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

No matter how far we go in life, there is always that thought at the back of the mind that makes you tremble with delight and concern in equal measure, that notion, the inkling that someone is Calling Me Home, that something is imploring you to walk back into the lives of those you may have left behind.

It is a feeling that sweeps over you like an artist’s brush delicately placed upon a canvas, each particle of paint patiently making contact with reality, creating a picture in which the only reasonable thing to do, the only proper response is to succumb to the will of fate and once again shake hands with the past.

Longstay, Calling Me Home. Album Review. full post

(358 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Vargas Blues Band, King Of Latin Blues. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There are always contenders for the positions of Kings, Queens and Princess, there is no shortage of willing candidates and challengers in whom the public will doff their hats and open their hearts to, to defend their competitor and court favourite in their battle to be seen as the leader of the regal pack, the liege to whom the standard is raised.

Vargas Blues Band, King Of Latin Blues. Album Review. full post

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

Idles, Joy As An Act Of Resistance. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Whatever Joy may make you stand out from the crowd, that is the solution to the dramas inflicted upon you, it is the act of resistance in which others will do their damnedest to beat out of you, they will always be there in their multitude of numbers, persuading, finger wagging, delightfully suggesting that the problems you are fighting are worthless, not real, the creatures are just figments of your over active anger.

Idles, Joy As An Act Of Resistance. Album Review. full post

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

The Tea Street Band, Frequency. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Regardless of whether you are on someone else’s Frequency or not should not preclude you from trying to understand them, to see their world through their eyes, to seek out what drives them; you might not get along, but it should never interfere with your ability to break bread with them, to discuss the state of play and what it means to come together in peace and reconciliation.

The Tea Street Band, Frequency. Album Review. full post

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

Gareth Owen, I’m Out Of This Place. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

All we truly ask for in life, all that we should be requiring from the Universe, is the chance to be understood, to be recognised for our value, even if it is only in the eyes of a few who seek you purposely out in which to make their own life something wonderful. It feels simplistic, an easy deal with the greater good and wider cosmos to feel content with shaking hands over, and yet for the one person that finds a way to smile broadly at the knowledge they will be comprehended and recognised in later years, for a thousand others the Cosmos reneges, shakes its head and whispers in the ear of a thousand more, “I’m Out Of This Place”.

Gareth Owen, I’m Out Of This Place. Album Review. full post

(445 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Sinnober, Projection. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Life doesn’t often throw us the life-line of harmony, the sense of discord is too readily available, we display our faces with permanent smiles and wear our masks with certainty, believing that if we show a sense of Projection of ourselves onto the vision of others, then perhaps they might infuse us with their positivity, the creative beauty of the pleasant and the tuneful we all search for.

Sinnober, Projection. Album Review. full post

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

Calum Woods, She Wynds On. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Poetry is derided by some as nothing more than a waste of time, a harshly delivered mantra, almost always attached to glowering sneer of projected snobbery, the sermon instructed by those who cannot see the value in the search for beauty and meaning when a dark lonely road is being travelled upon and the urge to light the way for others when their time comes to traverse the same bumps and widening holes, is paramount.

Calum Woods, She Wynds On. E.P. Review. full post

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