Over my shoulder and barely registering
the rolling news of football updates
and possible giant killing acts
without mercy, I read
your poem and I feel the kick
in the guts, the relentless
cry of foul and the whistle
of finger typed agony
as your blood lays invisible
in my palms.
Let her breathe I urge inwardly,
let her feel this emotion
and all around me is silent,
the publican’s wife sweeps the table clean,
my untouched tea now fast evaporating,
draining,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
What can be first viewed as parasitic, can actually be a mutual sounding board, the two way street of musical harmony wrapped up in a symbiotic relationship; for without someone playing the music that you like, you don’t keep them performing; the audience’s sometimes crude crocodile smile may ensnare some unfortunate bands, grab them so tight that they can hardly breathe but for The Parasite Syndicate and their self-titled debut album, the process is two way, obliterating, powerful and creatively devastating.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Never learn the Tricks Of The Trade, learn the trade, learn the skill and make the very best of it completely, for in the whisper of knowledge stands reason, stands beauty and fulfilment and it something that Dipper Malkin, a superb duo of Folk musicians with a proud pedigree, have gone all out to prove as they give willingly a new lease of life to an instrument from the baroque period, viola d’amore, and the influence that comes with such grand expression.
My inner adult
refuses to join in the games
saying that tiddlywinks
and marbles
are but amusements for children.
It sits in solace, whilst the outer child
smiles and pokes fun,
creates rhymes, draws illusion
and wonders at magic tricks, never understanding
how they truly work,
and yet the bullet trick is the one the adult,
hiding in the shell,
giggles and hopes
will pop a balloon, latex burst with a bang.
Ian D. Hall 2017
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
Aggression in Metal is nothing without self control, without the ability to pull back from the edge without tipping into the fire of unlikeable self promotion; it doesn’t happen a great deal in other genres but in the smouldering furnace of Metal it can be a case of too much reliance on the genre’s image can be a self fulfilling prophecy. You only have to look at Metallica, one of the true heavy weights of the field to understand how too much can lead to some fans feeling alienation from their former idols between ’93 and 2006.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Take a dive to earn a few quid but never be trusted again and let your inner peace be shattered beyond repair or stand up to the fight, the possible knockout blow that can be landed and with it respect and kudos from all angles, all those who listen and take notice. For the Electric Floor it is a symbol of everything they have done so well and continue to be part of that makes them championship heavyweights rather than the lightweight loser who is defeated by their own insecurities and misplaced loyalty to their current circumstances than their promise of what is too come.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
How much of the world is actually real, how much of it is just a by-product of our own consumption and greed? The problem lays with our own perception of what is good for ourselves rather than what is beneficial for the planet. Over commercialised, de-sensitised to the true scale of the issues that are laid out in stark reality before us, Earth is choking, suffocating and throwing up so much bile and yet people are more concerned about profit, the year on year increase of the bottom line and making a fortune out of the world’s misery; it is something to really get angry about, however those that do are still in the minority.
Trade in new Sloops,
Dinghies and Yachts
has sky rocketed this last
quarter,
yet
a downturn is predicted
to hit growth
as there is no forecasted wind
to hit our shores this summer.
A spokesman
said
today, that sails
are likely to be down
for the foreseeable future.
Ian D. Hall 2017
My inner guide
refuses to use anything
but the Ordnance Survey,
not content to update
to Google Maps,
on the basis that anything
so up to date has no historic value,
that having a folded out plan
of the area
and the walk ahead
is filled with status
by having it blow
inside out
at the worst possible moment.
Ian D. Hall 2017
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The resilience and fortitude in the human soul is at times the most amazing and outstanding thing that anyone can ever be privileged to witness. It is an honour at times to see the spirit of the race carry on in the face of untold dangers and come through it, as individuals or as a collective, with courage and resilience so intact that the next thing they do is even more remarkable. To put down on paper, to record feelings that might never have been thought of if such hardship has not been faced is something very special and unique, the framing of the human condition in its most wonderful, so fragile and yet inspired; it is something that Rab Noakes has captured with great sincerity in The Treatment Tapes E.P.