Author Archives: admin

Neil Campbell: The Turnaround. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

One of Liverpool’s most endearing and enduring talents is a force of nature that resides in the humility of acceptance and vision, and to hear the music and imaginative insights of Neil Campbell as he offers his latest album, The Turnaround, to an audience well versed in his application, but who still find the beauty of surprise awaiting them with heartfelt adoration.

The composer and the player, a fulfilment of the harnessing energy at the will of the elemental originality that is focused on each form and collective gathering that the music requires, and whether on his own or in an ensemble, the pieces are brought together with precision and an attitude of dramatic peace and generosity.

Neil Campbell: The Turnaround. Album Review. full post

(390 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Sabeth Pérez: Searching For Beauty. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Though we might deny it, though we may be tempted to embrace the darkness and the often ugly rituals of humanity’s excess, to pour and scroll over the doom mongering that comes with our obsessions with social media worst scenarios, the way we linger in the presence of that which blooms, which grows with abundant colour and determination; for we cannot help but admire that which goes Searching For Beauty as it eases the tempest of the soul.  

Sabeth Pérez: Searching For Beauty. Album Review. full post

(370 words, 1 image, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Spear Of Destiny: Janus. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

How often are we afforded, granted the opportunity to look upon our work and think that it could be seen in a different light, given a fresh look with modern introspection and a familiarity which gathers pleasure along the way.

Named after the Roman God, Janus regales in that sense of exactness as it showcases re-recorded and revitalised tracks from the period of 1987’s Outland, and 1988’s The Price You Pay, Janus is an album of transition in Time, it doubles down on expectation, it alludes and then insists on a greater sense of purpose as one does when looking back with renewed vigour.

Spear Of Destiny: Janus. Album Review. full post

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

Star Wars: Andor. Series Two. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgård, Genevieve O’ Reilly, Denise Gough, Elizabeth Dulau, Kyle Soller, Anton Lesser, Robert Emms, Adria Arjona, Varada Sethu, Faye Marsey, Ben Mendelsohn, Benjamin Bratt, Alan Tudyk, Alistair Petrie, Jonjo O’ Neill, Joplin Sibtain, Kathryn Hunter, Alastair Mackenzie, Ben Miles, Forest Whitaker, Muhanned Bhaier, Sam Gilroy, Benjamin Norris, Richard Sammel, Thierry Godard.

If ever there was a series for our times, one that captured the zeitgeist through powerful story telling and a remarkable vision, then the second and final season of Andor would surely be the science fiction fans casting and over riding vote, one delivered with confidence and sincerity.

Star Wars: Andor. Series Two. Television Drama Review. full post

(491 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

The Game. (2025). Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jason Watkins, Robson Green, Sunetra Sarker, Indy Lewis, Amber James, Jenny Rainsford, Scott Karim, Amy Huberman, Simon Harrison, Christina Bennington, Lewis Ian Bray.

The stress of being a detective with a cold case hanging over your career is something that thankfully many of us will never understand or feel; and yet for the individual who has been stretched to breaking point, taking a partner, perhaps a family with them as they close themselves off from everything except the arrest that matters, that stress can consume and eat away at you till the end of time…or until that one person on the other side of the law decides they want to resume The Game.

The Game. (2025). Television Drama Review. full post

(473 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Gig Review. (2025).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

To wander into a cigarette smoke filled underground New York jazz venue during the height of decadence during the early to mid-1920s is a dream for those who see style and music as having an interlocked grip on the hearts and minds of those who attend certain gigs and performances; to step back in time, to feel a carefree sense of existence against the horrors that have perpetually dogged and beaten us, that is the dream of those who find themselves rightfully enamoured with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox  and their jazz/ragtime artful twist they place on the contemporary and the beloved hits of the 20th Century.

Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Gig Review. (2025). full post

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

Una Quinn: Little Anthem. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We perhaps stand to attention when a stirring piece of music that symbolises our country plays out across parade ground filled with uniforms and young faces, some may find solace in the perpetual myth created by the hymn like state of music, the solemnity of each note created; or maybe we find ourselves at a gig of our choosing and applauding wildly when that anthemic blast of nostalgia washes over our minds and we cheer, we sing along, and take heart at the meaning and what it sparks in our hearts…

Una Quinn: Little Anthem. Album Review. full post

(399 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Ancient Psychic Triple Hyper Octopus: Put Emojis On My Grave. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is a fine line between human creativity and the application of AI in our pursuit of inventing art and designing future sculptured appreciation; it is a line that encompasses the use of the improvised and the experimental to the absolute degree, and one we must be careful in which we employ our own narrative.

Ancient Psychic Triple Hyper Octopus: Put Emojis On My Grave. Album Review. full post

(378 words, 1 image, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

The Talented Mr Shakespeare. Radio Comedy Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Mark Gatiss, Arthur Hughes, Harry Kershaw, Renee Lamb, Tom Mothersdale, Alana Ramsey, Martha Travis Ross.

Satire and parody are the right of the human soul to cause disrespectful veneration to the public ideal of a situation or a person. It is the active ingredient in comedy that highlights the absurdity of human detail and experience in such a way that whilst obvious, it can offer relief from the sterile rule book that insists on ego driven reverence to all who are considered our betters and unequal’s.

The Talented Mr Shakespeare. Radio Comedy Review. full post

(324 words, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

Call Jonathan Pie. Series Two. Radio Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Tom Walker, Lucy Pearman, Aqib Khan, Nick Revell, Adam Byron, Laura Shavin, Daniel Abelson, Srah Gabriel, Ed Kerr, Dermot O’Leary, Ed Kerr, Willow Bennison, Izzy Hollewand, Emily Houghton.

The audience and the listener alike could be forgiven for thinking that the second series of Call Jonathan Pie would be toned down, it might spare the rod of absolute indignation from the words and attitude of the former news correspondent…and yet why would Tom Walker as the eponymous Jonathan Pie do such a thing, why would he be instructed to give way on opinions that his comic creation holds, for in no short measure does the second series deviate from the brilliance to which he has given the now late night radio host on the B.B.C. his voice.

Call Jonathan Pie. Series Two. Radio Review. full post

(429 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)