Author Archives: admin

Jarrod Dickenson, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There should be lessons in disarming and charming audiences to whom, quite understandably, sometimes don’t want to sit through the situation of being polite to an unknown and out of country support. After all, they will argue, you don’t pay to eat at the finest restaurant and bite into a fast food burger as you approach the table and sniff the wine cork. If lessons are to be had, to be instructed upon then Texas’ Jarrod Dickenson would surely top the list of people to don the lecturer’s outfit and smile beguilingly at the crowd gathered.

Jarrod Dickenson, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(414 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

Ian Burden, Hey Hey Ho Hum. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In a world without much clear-sighted optimism, to find a musician exalting, even with a pinch of notable British reserve, the sense of bravery and enthusiasm it takes to come back out of the audience perceived, or even self-imposed, musical shadows, is to find a place where the soul can be unburdened, where the sound of the scoundrel driven words of personal tediousness Ho Hum, can become a sense of enjoyable perspective, that a reminder of the past can move forward and tickle the fancy of memory in the future.

Ian Burden, Hey Hey Ho Hum. Album Review. full post

(502 words, estimated 2:00 mins reading time)

Rose Tattoo, Blood Brothers. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Paying homage to your own past is an art form that many cannot possibly emulate, no matter their success in previous times, something always hangs back, a moment of brilliance may be lost forever into the ether and stamp of approval that was hard fought for, becomes sadly less that illustrious, opening up to the possibility of anything that may hamper that sense of beauty, of punk filled anger and the fraternal and sororal bonding that occurs, in spirit, in the love and hold of Blood Brothers and blood bound sisters.

Rose Tattoo, Blood Brothers. Album Review. full post

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

Midsomer Murders: Death By Persuassion. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Samuel West, Susie Blake, Abigail Cruttenden, Claire Skinner, Nicholas Gleaves, Georgie Glen, Chris Lew Kum Hoi, John Macmillan, Anamaria Marinca, Paul Shelley, Thalissa Teixera, Karl Theobald, Jodie Tyack, Lotte Rice.

You can arguably do no wrong by having the name Jane Austen come to lips of those you are indebted to performing in front of; a sure-fire winner, only the Brontes could lead the television or cinema audience to sit up and take notice more readily, even the most tenuous link will do, and it is that the scriptwriters have a moral duty to not let the work descend into a screenplay anarchy, dependent upon creating a pastiche which is below gratitude and honour to the much-loved writer, which sparks of desperation and folly.

Midsomer Murders: Death By Persuassion. Television Review. full post

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

Ladies, Sometimes You’ve Got To Lose. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Flick the coin in the air and watch as it either comes down heads or tails, whether it comes down in your favour or against you, either way the only thing you can do is watch, be patient and hope that, should the smile of the gods not look your way then perhaps next time, or the time after that, you might call correctly and see the side of the coin you wish to see. It is an aspect of life that many don’t quite understand the philosophy of, that the world owes you nothing and that Sometimes You’ve Got To Lose.

Ladies, Sometimes You’ve Got To Lose. Single Review. full post

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

The Replaced Ballerina.

 

…and the old ballerina tune,

wound up clock and short of breath,

is replaced, the tacky and old

manufactured plastic, her skirt dead,

faded grey to the point of translucent poison

now gone, displaced, placed in a sack

and given away, not bearing to suggest

that the tip be the final resting place

for the entertainment and love shown.

 

In its place, the song remains,

or of something similar,

up to date and strong on its spring

heels now encased in wood, polished

The Replaced Ballerina. full post

(140 words, estimated 34 secs reading time)

Danny Bryant, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens. (2018).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Danny Bryant and band, with special guest Steve Hill, at The Citadel in St. Helens. Photograph taken and used with kind permission by Kirby Bryant.

They say, even in the brightest of days, in the most serene and beautiful of times, that someday, the rain will come; it is how you deal with the odd shower, the deluge, the emotions of seeing the water rise and threaten, and then the utter relief, the liberation in being able to able to reinforce the desire but at the same time holding onto the thoughts of honour before the days of rain.

Danny Bryant, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens. (2018). full post

(496 words, 1 image, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Steve Hill, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Steve Hill on stage. Photograph by Eric Duvet.

It is one thing to listen to Canada’s Steve Hill via the medium in which he strides, to be thrilled by the sound that comes across as you sit down with headphones in place, the senses tingling at the image in the mind of a musician taking the mantle of the one-man band to its absolute height of sincerity and fascination. It is quite another to witness it in action, to see the Blues played with deftness and spirit, the smile and the stare in your mind as the notes ring out in the praise of the genre.

Steve Hill, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens. full post

(521 words, 1 image, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Bin Laden: The One Man Show, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Sam Redway.

It is only the words of Government that define what constitutes a terrorist, the label placed down upon anybody’s head who happens to be on the wrong side, in the authorities’ mind, of the argument and uses force or the threat of violence in which to achieve their aims. Sometimes it seems these forces are cut and dried, they have taken lives with no provocation, but their own idealism or religious fervour has insisted upon bloodshed and the will to make people bend to their way of thinking by the rule of bullet, bomb, and death.

Bin Laden: The One Man Show, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(512 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

The Seven Acts Of Mercy, Theatre Review. Blue Coat Performance Room, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Joe McGhee, Kate Bricknal, Amy Dalton, Thomas Dalton, Anthony Devine, John Dixon, Harvey Fitzpatrick, Olivia Grace, Christopher Hird, Kayleigh Anne Meredith, Josh O’Grady, Georgia Rooney, Joseph head, Marni Stanley, Samantha Westwell, Georgia Wills.

The Seven Acts Of Mercy, Theatre Review. Blue Coat Performance Room, Liverpool. full post

(494 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)