Author Archives: admin

Neville Staple, Return Of Judge Roughneck. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To feel the beat you have to allow yourself to be infected by the strength and depth of the musician and the artist, from them the music has to dominate their every breathing moment, from them the infectious delivery has to insurmountable, it has to consume and devastate, it has to be magnificent. If it fails to raise the heart rate, if it doesn’t install a sense of drama or unrequited love in your very being then throw it away, consign it to the forlorn pile and let it be judged harshly.

Neville Staple, Return Of Judge Roughneck. Album Review. full post

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

Sally Barker, Ghost Girl. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Whilst the caged bird may be fed and watered, given a safe haven in times of storms and squalls, it nevertheless remains a shadow of the creature it could be, that it should be, a phantom with full plumage, a colourful but ghoulish reminder that cages do not work, they flatter but ultimately the enforced imprisonment is too much to behold.

Sally Barker, Ghost Girl. Album Review. full post

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

Quiet In The Dock.

He sweated in the dock,

rings of perspiration clouding his thoughts,

the shuffle board, the made up noises

that dominated his former life

as a Foley Artist.

As the Judge concluded his sentence

He noted

it was only due

to the former Foley artists

unblemished life

and non criminal activity

that the judge

let him off

with a warning,

saying it was down to his

previous sound character.

 

Ian D. Hall 2017

Permanent link to this post (75 words, estimated 18 secs reading time)

Bolshy, Reap The Storm. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is nothing like the sound of youthful anger wrapped up in the song of passion, it gives hope, it offers a sense of wellbeing that no matter what, and for all the denigration they often suffer due to narrow minded comments which seek to detract them, so much of what they have to say is vital, fundamental to our continued security as a society. It is easy to be critical of those coming through, it is effortless to communicate everything we may believe to be wrong with their outlook but it is they who Reap The Storm, they who take all the punishment of words and verbal mismanagement.

Bolshy, Reap The Storm. Album Review. full post

(382 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

Sunny Afternoon, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Ryan O’ Donnell, Marcelo Cervone, Victoria Anderson, Tomm Coles, Nathanial Campbell, Deryn Edwards, Andrew Gallo, Richard Hurst, Sophie Leigh Griffin, Garmon Rhys, Joseph Richardson, Robert Took, Michael Warburton, Libby Watts, Lisa Wright.

The Sixties was more than just the Stones and The Beatles, more than the burgeoning power of The Who, yet for some the Sixties only exists because of this, their immediate reference is to the three British bands from that era that truly went global and who played the American market as if was a child’s game. For groups such as The Small Faces and The Kinks the sound they produced was just as off the wall, just as intricate and finely woven in the fabric of society, it just seems to get lost in the flow of Time and the memories that some are willing to hold on to.

Sunny Afternoon, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

I Don’t Wish To Fight Nostalgia.

I took my nostalgia out for a walk

late in the evening, too tired

to pick a fight with certain

sepia filled memories, too ground down

by hopeful idealism

to brawl or come to bloodied nosed

defeat with reminiscence

in which I loved you;

I am just slightly homesick,

but the trouble with having

lived

is that at times I forget

where I have

died

as well.

 

Ian D. Hall 2017

Permanent link to this post (74 words, estimated 18 secs reading time)

Pride And Prejudice, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Daniel Abbott, Francesca Barley, Anna Crichlow, Doña Croll, Benjamin Dilloway, Holly Edwin, Mari Izzard, Matthew Kelly, Steven Meo, Jordan Mifsud, Felicity Montagu, Charlotte Palmer, Leigh Quinn, Mark Rawlings, Kirsty Rider, Tafline Steen, Geoff Arnold, Jessica D’Arcy, Rose Daulbey, Ally Manson.

It used to be said that manners maketh man, that to be seen as genteel, saying all the right things in polite company, was the way that lead to Britain being seen for its conduct in society, that the revolving doors of etiquette depended its life on how people were judged and measured.

Pride And Prejudice, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Todd O’Keefe, Uptown. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The working musician seems to always be around, playing away to the crowd but never being recognised fully for their achievements or prowess unless they step into the limelight and take on the responsibility of opening up their heart to an audience that might prefer them to be in the shadows.

Los Angeles resident Todd O’Keefe has had the good fortune to work with some of the world’s greats including the indomitable Ray Davies, Elvis Costello and Beck, it is in that chance to express in what is quite obviously a sublime talent just itching to be set free and communicate his own ideas and musical designs. It is an itching that sees a realisation scratch in the tremendous album Uptown.

Todd O’Keefe, Uptown. Album Review. full post

(438 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Backbone Cast, Power Within Ourselves. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The Power Within Ourselves lays deep, it is the way that it comes out, the way emotionally it finds a way to rage and scream whilst at all times being sensuous and alluring, without this power we can only shrink in to ourselves, we can only find that the doors shut and the windows become locked; we have no power to break the cell down if we neglect our voice and the muscle, no matter how robust, in which to get our point of view across.

Backbone Cast, Power Within Ourselves. Album Review. full post

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

Her Arm Is Raised.

Her arm is raised, the red

T-shirt proclaiming her beliefs

and that is just the start

of what this flame

that burns bright

within Liverpool

shows to the world.

There is a sense of magnificence

that resides under the cool music exterior,

always at the heart to show her town

as being the best, the finest, the indomitable,

this Liverpool, this keeper of the Red Flag,

hums along before a note is etched out

and when the music starts

she, with honour, knows that is the best

Her Arm Is Raised. full post

(138 words, estimated 33 secs reading time)