Author Archives: admin

Skyclad, Forward Into The Past. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The intro perhaps says it all, “Welcome back my friend, yes, it’s been too long…”, arguably a truer set of combined words never more uttered in the realms of the distinguished career of Skyclad.

Of course the band have been missed, the eight years in between album enough to tear the hair out of any long term fan, those who migrated from the days of Sabbat and the incredible fusion of Heavy Metal with superb allusions to the Folk genre, those who have not been able to see the band on tour for what perhaps seem forever; missed? There have surely been fans who have pined themselves into a state of unearthly unease as Time has flown by and now feel the relief of the checked mark of the clock as the band return to go Forward Into The Past.

Skyclad, Forward Into The Past. Album Review. full post

(452 words, 1 image, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Bucket. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Frog Stone, Miriam Margolyes, Stephanie Beacham, Catherine Steadman, Cyril Nri, Maggie Stead, Iain McKee, Waleed Akhtar, Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Chris Middleton, Sonny Ashbourne Serkis, Samantha Baines, Cicely Giddings, Janine Harouni, Seeta Indrani, Tom Price.

 

The Bucket List, we all perhaps have one but it is one that is constantly updating, ever shifting, perhaps never taken too seriously, there is always time to do anything and only the most daring of adventures are ever put off till it is too late to ever contemplate doing them. Bucket it all, the list should always be looked upon as a friend, the memory for others to be inspired by and no matter how bizarre the revelations’ that come with them, no matter the chaos that ensues, some things in life are just too important to never achieve.

Bucket. Television Review. full post

(479 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Oxygen. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, Matt Lucas, Kieran Bow, Justin Salinger, Lewis McGowan, Mimi Ndiweni, Peter Caulfield, Katie Brayben, Clem So.

All that you need is the air that you breathe…and a superbly written Doctor Who story in which the means of Capitalism are shown for what they truly are, the means of control, supply and demand and when demand for labour is non-existent, the way that the economic and political structure survives is to terminate all who cost too much to be involved.

Doctor Who: Oxygen. Television Review. full post

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

The Sarcastic God In The Pews.

The handshake

from one who supposes himself to be God,

sarcasm overflowing and it is there

in plain sight, drool dripping in anticipation

of the take down, of owning a soul

and making them feel as stupid,

as insignificant

as an ant in a silver filled ant mound,

his home destroyed by the handshake

and the hose pumping hot toxic metal.

It was offered in a church,

both the biting sarcasm and the handshake,

both accompanying the sound of a section

of music that tinkled over the church hall pews

The Sarcastic God In The Pews. full post

(206 words, estimated 49 secs reading time)

Hand In Hand In The Grave.

I don’t believe in burials,

outdated and morbid,

better to be free in the air,

to let your soul soar

through time than be in the ground,

cold, alone, aloof, who would want that;

yet if we still love each other

at the moment of passing,

I would want be safe with you,

let a future grave digger

find our bodies side by side,

holding hands

and perhaps your head resting

on my bony shoulders.

 

Ian D. Hall 2017

Hand In Hand In The Grave. full post

(82 words, estimated 20 secs reading time)

Findlay Napier, Gig Review. The Music Room, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The music Rooms of the Philharmonic Hall are exactly the type of venue that were made for the writings and compositions of an artist such as Findlay Napier, the sense of beauty that is carried within the lyrics, the harmony that exists between musician and their chosen weapon of virtue and the deeply held implication of the offering that can be felt without being blinded by lights and dazzled by distance; for Findlay Napier and his visit to Liverpool this was as close to heavenly, funny, anarchic but brilliant, as an audience could ask for.

Findlay Napier, Gig Review. The Music Room, Liverpool. full post

(408 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Miss Sloane. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jessica Chastain, Michael Stuhlbarg, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mark Strong, Jake Lacey, Alison Pill, John Lithgow, Sam Waterston, Douglas Smith, Dylan Baker, Ennis Esmer, Lucy Owens, Noah Robbins, Joe Pingue, Michael Cram, Meghann Fahy, Grace Lynn Kung, Sergio Di Zio.

 

There will be those that dare suggest that Feminism has no place in the 21st Century, that to them, disturbingly on the increase in the younger more affluent ends of female society, the word is dead, that it is meaningless to them; however without a construct and movement in place such as Feminism, it would be unlikely that a film of such intrigue and collective brilliance such as Miss Sloane would have ever been made.

Miss Sloane. Film Review. full post

(463 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

Alien Covenant, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride, Demián Bichir, Carmen Ejogo, Jussie Smollett, Callie Hernandez, Amy Seimetz, Nathaniel Dean, Alexander England, Benjamin Rigby, Uli Latukefu, Tess Haubrich, Lorelei King, Goran D. Kleut, Andrew Crawford, James Franco, Guy Pearce.

Perhaps once upon a time it would have been too much for a cinema audience to ask that the phenomenally superb and Box office smash Alien would ever get the treatment it deserved in sequels; to think it could happen in a prequel was beyond even the stretch of imagination of many a die-hard fan and yet lurking in the shadows, skulking with shiny black skin and acid for blood is the 21st Century equivalent of a nightmare made real, the outstanding Alien Covenant.

Alien Covenant, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(545 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Burned Out On Holy Corner.

I slowly ground to a halt

on the intersection of the Holy Corner, my mind

blowing hard on Paradise and Whitechapel,

Lord Street and Church, I was crossed

on all sides, spectacles, tentacles, wallet and watch

and the Friday night throng of people passed me by,

invisible, concealed by own thoughts of the weekend ahead

and disguised by looking aimless, a waste

of space and noticed only as being in the way,

get out of the way, get out my way,

the unseen only sighted when they dare make a noise.

Burned Out On Holy Corner. full post

(246 words, estimated 59 secs reading time)

The Sum, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Patrick Brennan, George Caple, Pauline Daniels, Laura Dos Santos, Emily Hughes, Tom Kanji, Asha Kingsley, Melanie La Barrie, Dean Nolan, Zelina Rebeiro, Keddy Sutton, Liam Tobin.

The balance sheet that people live their lives by, the counting out of every penny just to make ends meet, the sense of never getting ahead of the game and spiralling ever deeper into the world of debt, of being on the streets. This is a world in which the feeling of inhumane, of intolerable suffering, is so prevalent, so close to everybody’s thoughts that it is surprising that there is less vocal anger than there should be at politicians who see food banks as a complex reason, who see the poor as deserving and it always feels like the world of politics is one step away from re-introducing that most evil of Victorian values, the workhouse.

The Sum, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(546 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)