Author Archives: admin

Mary Magdalene. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Rooney Mara, Joaquin Pheonix, Chiwetel Ejiofer, Tahar Rahim, Ariane Labad, Denis Menochet, Lubna Azabal, Tcheky Karyo, Charles Babalola, Wawfeek Barhom, Ryan Corr, Uri Gavriel, Shira Haas, Tsahi Haevi, Michael Moshonov, David Schofield, Irit Sheleg, Jules Sitruk, Zohar Shtrauss, Lior Raz, Hadas Yaron, Roy Assaf, Valentina Carelutti.

Written history is the by-product of agenda, especially when someone’s legal observance is shouted down by a system that wants to subjugate and put the masses into place. Tell someone enough times that they don’t matter, exclude them, or worse, paint them in the tones of the aggressor, the liar, or the one whose words are based on the derogatory, then history is not only celebrated by the winner, it is a falsehood designed to keep everyone in their place.

Mary Magdalene. Film Review. full post

(482 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

In A Sarcastic World, Call Me Cynical.

 

Call me cynical

if you must,

but I believe it is harder to hand out hope

and be sincere with your praise

than to be callous, revelling in the quick-

soundbite of sarcasm as you search

for the cheap laugh, the moment

in the sun, the joker who drives the fans wild,

until it gets out of hand and the wit

turns ugly, because after all,

it had nowhere else to go.

Being kind is filled with pain, holding

out a hand that gets rejected

In A Sarcastic World, Call Me Cynical. full post

(156 words, estimated 37 secs reading time)

Indebted: The Mix-Tape, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Side A Cast: Abel Lordan, Amaka Onaura, Emily Escott, Famia Umama, Fatima Sajal, Fred Lima, Freya Goss, Georgina Garrod, Kadisha Kayani, Kyle Walsh, Leela Maguire, Letticha Taylor, Linue Kuamona, Luke Coulson, Maya Harris, Rosie Evans, Sophia Kelly-Prandelli, Tia Hume-Jennings.

Side B Cast: Annie Mukete, Chris Maylor, Daniel Sebuyange, Emma Burns, Ezrah Watt-Haydon, Isobel Campbell, Isaac Hodgson, Jay Cast, Joel Cobblestone, Joel Hale, Josh Whitmore, Manoka Mbolokele, Nicole Kennedy, Owen Jones, Riaid Saif, Ryan Tomes, Shauna Higan, Scott Lewis, Shaundel Wright.

Indebted: The Mix-Tape, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Serious Child, Empty Nest. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Time makes the thought of the empty nest syndrome easier to bear, it doesn’t make it any less painful, but like all moments of sadness, of loneliness and heartbreak, Time is, as they say, the great healer. It is the ritual that we perhaps all go through at some point if we are fortunate to have the Serious Child, the inquisitive, the brave, the loved, the demanding, the passionate of every creed, colour and belief in our hearts, the Empty Nest is not the end of all things, it is the beginning, and for the talent within Serious Child, Alan Young, Carla March and Steve Welch, it is a launch, an coolly framed active introduction, that sits wonderfully in the heart of the listener.

Serious Child, Empty Nest. Album Review. full post

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

Linsey Aitken And Ken Campbell, Shore To Shore. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The maps that show the world the scale of the countries, the nations that fit into place, are normally completely wrong, at its most central point, the continent of Africa is so much more than is ever given respect for, not only in terms of its sheer size but its beauty, its endurance and its people. The same can be said for Scotland. Yes, from Shore To Shore its land mass is not as great as some, its near neighbour perhaps disproportionally larger in the ground it takes up, like an overweight, blustering man and his skinny put upon wife sharing the same bed, the strain on the relationship becomes too much. Yet Scotland itself is immense, it’s heart and soul is everything, and in its art, its stature across the board, is phenomenally endearing.

Linsey Aitken And Ken Campbell, Shore To Shore. Album Review. full post

(422 words, 1 image, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

The Shires, Accidently On Purpose. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10


There are so few things that are ever truly accidental, most chain of events and progression of cause and effect are designed, perhaps unconsciously but always with the firm result that the person’s life will change because of it. Accidently on Purpose, the eye rolling declaration of the mother who sees her child do the exact opposite of what she has commanded and even the experiment gone haywire in the lab, all have their reason, the effect consuming. In the studio, in the pursuit of sign of elegance and beauty, it is not an accident that comes to mind, but the sheer weight of passion that regales the listener to appreciate the coming together of British Country greats, The Shires, for their third album.

The Shires, Accidently On Purpose. Album Review. full post

(377 words, 1 image, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Anthony Horowitz, Moriarty. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating * * * *

When you hold someone in such high regard, inevitably, cruelly, they will often at some point, let you down, even from beyond the grave the disappointment felt is almost akin to making the grief grow, become a monster, it can be unbearable and drive you to the point of reckless, or worse, emulation.

Anthony Horowitz, Moriarty. Book Review. full post

(481 words, 1 image, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

I Could Believe (Even After The Final Whistle).

 

There were nerves admittedly,

Isn’t there always, I thought,

but did it matter, I had

taken my mind of the evening,

super sexy perhaps,

or just a brief glimpse of the divine,

once in a lifetime, my soul,

nestling somewhere between the Canadian

past, Cornish beauty and Birmingham

love, the Manchester Saturdays

in which I exploded with passion

in your forgiving arms,

the Mersey beat in which I trust,

the south coast serenade

and a moment in which identity

I Could Believe (Even After The Final Whistle). full post

(130 words, estimated 31 secs reading time)

George Duff, The Collier Laddie. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is perhaps natural in the modern world, to hear the voice of the traditional musician, the established song, and think of it as a quaint reminder of what life was like before the advent of the electronic revolution or the influx of genres that either you have embraced, or which leave you cold. It is that quaint reminder that left the Blues suffering towards the end of the last century, along with its bloated sense of entitlement which kept people from holding it too close, and left Jazz in a quandary of how to reinvent itself in the 21st Century.

George Duff, The Collier Laddie. Album Review. full post

(490 words, 1 image, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)