To be alive in interesting times is to be seen as a curse, the strung out meted response by those who wish you ill; yet in many ways it should be seen as a blessing, that you were there in that specific time to see History unfold, to tell perhaps in your words, be it recorded or just to friends and loved ones, just what your take on the situation was. 2016 may go down in history as one that was cursed in terms of the amount of stars, beloved icons and unbelievable talent lost forever to us; the only consolations being that we saw them when they were magnificent and the abiding work that they have left behind for us to enjoy over and over again.
Author Archives: admin
Jon Meadows, Should Have Been Mine. Single Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
So grounded you could harvest the songs he writes as a special reserve coffee and sell him for millions, Jon Meadows has unleashed a track that starts with the discerning growl and ends with the eyes of the sacred tiger hanging on stalks with wide eyed eagerness at what possibly is to come. Should Have Been Mine could be the rallying call of anybody who wishes to plunge themselves into the punk-esque delight but who also knows that to polish some diamonds is to tarnish them forever.
Sheila K. Cameron, Alone On The Road. Album Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
If the tale is right, if the story captures the imagination, then you are never truly Alone On The Road, there will always those that are captivated and feel blessed by your words, so much so that taking them to heart is not only an option but a mantra to live by.
Witness For The Prosecution. Television Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *
Cast: Toby Jones, Andrea Riseborough, Billy Howle, Hayley Carmichael, Monica Dolan, Kim Cattrall, David Haig, Miranda Nolan, Charles De’Ath, Dorian Lough, Paul Ready, Tim McMullan, Robert East, Adam Jowett, Andrew Havill, Ted Robins, Reid Anderson, William Atkinson, Grant Crookes, Carla Langley, Paul Dallison, Keith Lomas, Charlotte Mason-Apps, Dennis O’ Donnell, Graham Partington, Nicola-Jayne Wells, Patricia Winker.
Agatha Christie is such a staple of television and film that sometimes it can be hard to overlook or forgive when an adaptation has not quite hit the high marks expected of it, sometimes you have let it wash over you and remember the good times, when a marvellous suspense mystery would have the viewer glowing with anticipation and the television schedules would be moved accordingly.
Your Late Night Text.
Your late night text message,
unexpected,
non demanding of return
and the only question
that was there on the ill-lit and cracked slightly screen,
was
How Are You?,
sent in unassuming type, sent with only
the thought that I might reply,
at some point.
How was I? I didn’t know,
I could lie and reply back
that I was on top of the world,
whereas in reality I was flat on my back,
no pillow to soothe my head,
and felt as if the weight of the world was upon me.
Angus Smith And North 56, One Day. Album Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The fusion of Rock and language, the guitar simmering with excitement as the prospect of a different voice cutting along its strings is too much to contain at times and yet we find we must sit in the dark, compelled to only love what we love and never venturing forth into another realm, always content in what we know, always stuck in a pattern that is so familiar that we can almost wear it as an outfit and go out about our business assured that nobody would stop us to remark on our choice of outerwear.
Maze, Groundhog Day. Single Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There is something about a new beginning that really sets the fires going, it gets underneath the skin and allows original perspective to take hold; nothing ever truly is let go in this new beginning but the freedom to be yourself is astonishing. Like being freed from a maze you had no idea you were in, to see the doorway open at the other end and enticing you try a different field, that must be the most liberating feeling of them all.
Maigret: Dead Man. Television Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Rowan Atkinson, Lucy Cohu, Shaun Dingwall, John Light, Mark Heap, Katia Bokor, Aiden McArdle, Karen Cagnon, Amber Anderson, Michael Fitzgerald, Ian Puleston-Davies, Peter Schueller, Hugh Simon.
There are many interpretations to any role, there are sublime ones and there are fresh readings, the ones that are arguably more remarkable because you know deep down the actor portraying the part has spent virtually all their lives preparing for the part and have therefore found the moment to give the exact reading the character deserves. For Rowan Atkinson, the role of Maigret must have played over and over again in his mind, the right nuance, the deliberate thought, the compassion, even to those in who do not deserve it, has to played just right and in the tale Dead Man, Rowan Atkinson plays Maigret with absolute conviction.
His Death Was Unexpected.
His death was unexpected,
in a year which had taken
an artistic hero of mine,
it was only in hindsight
that the quiet moment of finality
should take one of yours.
I did not grieve for the man you lost
as many tears had been spilled for the
musician that had abandoned me
but I mourned for the moment,
I stopped and immediately thought of you,
perhaps in your kitchen, holding a last cup
of tea on a busy day and the radio coming on
King Lear, Television Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Don Warrington, Alfred Enoch, Mitos Yerolemou, Pepter Lunkuse, Rakie Ayola, Fraser Ayres, Norman Bowman, Thomas Coombes, Wil Johnson, Debbie Korley, Philip Whitchurch, Mark Springer, Rhys Bevan, Miles Mitchell, Sarah Quist, Sam Glen.
There are times when television isn’t brave enough to stand up to the dictum laid down by the B.B.C. at the beginning of its lengthy life span, to not only entertain and inform but also educate those willing to be edified in something other than endless reality programmes or the often insufferable endless round of celebrities plying their trade on panel games or news items. Yes it sticks the mission statement in many ways but the bravery is truly seen when it puts on its screens a captured live recording from a theatre of one of William Shakespeare’s more complex and lengthy plays.