Another turned down invitation,
one that wasn’t meant,
one that designed to encourage
one nodded at but underneath
the spluttering search for solitude
commences;
not that I want to be alone,
not that I crave to be isolated
and abandoned, it is just…
well easier to not be in people’s way,
to feel the cruelty of hope
of a conversation that didn’t switch
to feeling guilty, of opening up
about my fears and dreams,
dreams that are smashed with
the sledgehammer eyebrow raised,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
In your heart you know when you have listened to an album that not only grabs your attention, but one that speaks volumes about how the world sees itself in the reflection of the often dusty mirror; it does not happen enough in all honesty, often too insular, sometimes not willing to wipe the mirror clean and stare into the abyss and come out of the experience with love remaining and beating fast in the soul. You don’t have to hate the world just because you can see the cracks and the faults; you just have to love it more.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It is possible to yearn for the old days and not look as if you are missing the present day. For too many the slightest whiff of reminiscence or do you remember when? is enough to put them into a rage, to send them into a retort of get with the programme, stop musing over the past or the ill dispute and argument starter of what good did the past ever do you?
They shall not bury them
in the alleyways they fall in,
the concrete just does not give
way to the simple spade like grass
and dusty earth, from mud we came
and when the first shots
of final rebellion come,
don’t get caught on open streets,
hard knocks, no grave where you fall,
left most likely to rot in the space
you met your end in,
crows tearing at your eyes,
crows tearing at your eyes;
they have no fear of you,
no open battle ground,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
To be held in thrall by a language and music that you might not fully understand is to know deep in your heart that you have compassion, intrigue and fascination, the prospect for learning, not as is the case may be with some who moan and make derogatory remarks under their breath, for they have no scope, no hope they are in the end as Cold Like Stones to the plight, outlook or experience to one who is different to them.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
We all search for Avalon, the mythical lost island in which so much history, so much of our own island’s tale is based upon, the chivalric code, the fight against the darkness and evil; it may not seem it but there was a time when we could perhaps hold our heads up high and lead the charge against the legions of hate and wagers of desolation and destruction.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Aggressive and punchy, it seems at times the young musicians and artists coming through today have forgotten just how important it is to pick a fight with authority and put their faces square up to flabby, sometimes spineless persona of those who would dictate their future to them. It doesn’t need to be physical, just edgy, exhilarating and showing just enough strength to show that you are not scared, everything is too safe across the board, we have all misplaced the anger because we are too comfortable to take on the Roach that is discrimination and injustice.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There is more in this world than we can ever truly perceive, we think we feel the depth of our emotions but we never truly understand or grasp just how much damage or elation we cause ourselves in the pursuit of forever, of wanting to search for the Always as we forget the here and now. The horizon is majestic but so too is the foreground, so too is The Blue Hour in which strikes the ethereal and the charge of enlightenment.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It is a statement of intent, of courage, of absolute faith, to start an album with a cover of one of the most recognisable songs of the 20th Century. To put your own spin on a track that is part of the musical heritage of Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore takes bravery, imagination and a flair that all three American music legends would have not only have recognised as pure but surely would have congratulated for its inventiveness and music Liberty. Not everyone can carry off the song Ring of Fire in such fashion, but then not everybody is When Rivers Meet.
If I leave a blank page,
If I should just leave the scab
alone, like me, not pick at it,
not to get my finger nail
underneath it and slightly
leave it looking off coloured compared
to the rest of the skin that surrounds it,
would that please you, would it make you
jovial, a feeling of being eight
clouds above me, far out of sight, spit down
to my eye and showing me the arse
you wish me to kiss, bare bottom
and needing a wipe,