Author Archives: admin

Glenn Hughes, Resonate. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Eventually you will climb back into the chair that you were blown from, exhausted, scraping at the floor like a mountaineer ascending Everest, knuckles white and fingers cracked from the exposure of high velocity winds that emanated from the speakers and the soul driven on by the calling of standing atop of the tallest peak down upon the wreckage, the fight of other’s albums trailing in the wake just to reach camp one and their insistence on taking a breather every few minutes. Eventually you will sit back in the replaced chair and take back the feeling that comes from such an experience, that to sit in the majesty of the sound, to feel the Resonate and the reverb continue to vibrate in your bones; that is the feeling of being alive.

Glenn Hughes, Resonate. Album Review. full post

(430 words, 1 image, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

The Lonely Polar Bear, 45. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The shotgun response, the smell of cordite and the taste of vinyl hanging in the air, both delivered by the bang, by the initial thump of interest and the cackle of smoke hopefully left behind as they approach their targets. The 45 can be both lethal weapon and defender of the faith, of those that huddle behind it lapping up the possible devastation or those that live for the next note; either can stop the heart, either can make you regret past opinions and once held beliefs, only the vinyl 45 can hold hope when listened to all the way through.

The Lonely Polar Bear, 45. Single Review. full post

(363 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Dalton Deschain & The Travelling Show, Roberta E.P. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Defiance is a key ingredient to staying alive, of being the unregulated thorn in the side of all who wish to control, manipulate or bog you down with their version of life, one that does not suit you but you are expected to play within their rules and desires. Defiance is the key to Dalton Deschain & The Travelling Show’s glorious Roberta E.P., an animated anti folk package that lovingly assaults the mind with its dramatic flair whilst caressing the ears with the touch of silk of lyrical vibe and assurance.

Dalton Deschain & The Travelling Show, Roberta E.P. E.P. Review. full post

(368 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

The Mongrel Of Tamar.

The sound of Plymouth

yet most assuredly Cornish,

beautiful Tamar

sparkling life past the Devil’s eyes.

The home of my great grandparents,

Apple orchard innocence

hugging the cliffs of Saltash

and to the east I see a different land

one where the white cross holds

no fear against the Devil.

Cornish heart, Midland’s mindset

wrapped up in the allusion

of Maple leaf and Bicester youth; Tamar

has my soul,

as soft as the touch of a woman’s hand

upon my beating chest.

The Mongrel Of Tamar. full post

(89 words, estimated 21 secs reading time)

The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Leah Brotherhead, Garry Cooper, Aruham Galieva, Guy Hughes, Amber James, Charlotte Mills, Dharmesh Patel, Fred Thomas.

William Shakespeare is arguably the pinnacle of the English language, the most brilliant observer of human behaviour and the writer of some of the world’s finest plays; from Hamlet to Richard III, from Macbeth to A Midsummer Night’s Dream and onto Henry V and Love’s Labour’s Lost, all are instantly recognisable and charged with experience. Yet even the Bard had to start somewhere, even Shakespeare had to grind out an initial play that even in modern times is under produced, labelled problematic and one that even the B.B.C. in its infinite wisdom has shied away from repeating more than once.

The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(416 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Lloyd Cole, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

For the unexpected, the unforeseen droll and beautifully humorous, sometimes you have to go that extra mile, you have to put yourself into the path of the genius and let their song cleanse your spirit.

Lloyd Cole, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

The Mormon’s Smiling Face.

Their smiles were well meaning

as they outstretched their hands,

on that I could not fault them,

I will not, after all, denounce anyone

unless they have been a dick

to me or tried to blacken my name

and even then I only rarely

forget my standards and actually

talk about them

but why give them the satisfaction.

On the corner of Hardman and Hope

I talk briefly with a magical lady,

poetry is the order of the conversation

and my regret of not being able to attend

The Mormon’s Smiling Face. full post

(275 words, estimated 1:06 mins reading time)

Level 42, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Level 42’s Mark King at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. October 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There was always something about them that was so right, the sound that was different to the pop dominance of British music in the 1980s and 90s. It was enough to make sure that their style of performing, the hard swish of the distinctive bass and funk undertones, was guaranteed a special status in the hearts of music fans; Level 42 were always going to be a positive influence upon the ears.

Level 42, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(395 words, 1 image, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Locker Room.

Trash talk, locker room banter,

hard to recollect

but perhaps,

I am sure

I never heard it

outside of prepubescent nonsense

and the surge of hormones

that flood the body,

as I stood drying myself off as quickly

as possible because I just

could not stand

being in the room;

I used to run the school cross country

as fast as I could

because I wanted to get

in that locker room

and get changed, get out and be on my way

Locker Room. full post

(115 words, estimated 28 secs reading time)

Herringbone John, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016.

Herringbone John knows how light up an audience, how to get them started before a long luxurious day of music, there are very few that have that sense of calmness deeply imbedded into their souls.

We Shall Overcome had been the talk of the town all week, the abundance of bands that have made their way to be part of one of the most loved festivals but one with the most ideal of purest thoughts behind it was a staggering and sobering thought. The message spread, the word passed round that the music is a sure fire way to let people know that the world we live in at this moment in time is nothing short of rotten, a shadow of what a should be, a national disgrace that we have allowed people to get away with for too long.

Herringbone John, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016. full post

(394 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)