Author Archives: admin

Royal Southern Brotherhood, The Royal Gospel. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Your perceptions should be challenged daily, what you think you know, what you believe to be sacrosanct, should be questioned and subjected to scrutiny every minute of every passing day; it is the only way to hold on to your wits and your confidence in the unassuming and the courageous.

Albert Castiglia, Big Dog. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is not the size of the dog in the fight but the size of the fight in the dog, it is the strength of character that marks out, not only genius but the willingness to carve out the furrow long after many have the trench and found their way to a comfortable place beside the fire – it takes a Big Dog to watch the other animals in the pack resign their feelings and still have the courage and tenacity to bark and growl in the night.

The First Day.

The first day,

stuck in between appointments

and the risk of running out of steam,

I found you alone, blue jacket

protecting you against the September

driving pulse of crammed

up halls and lost momentum.

 

A lit cigarette punching above its weight,

enthusing will power into the lungs

and the air of nonchalant

grace tasting beautiful

as it hit the Liverpool air

outside the lecture hall; the final

trip of the day and felt like wheeling

away from it there and then.

 

Urinetown, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Photograph reproduced with kind permission by Andrew Ab.

Photograph reproduced with kind permission by Andrew Ab.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Shaun Holdom-Eyles, Amy Murphy, Jak Malone, Franki Burke, Jamie Barfield, Julie Evans, Andrew Jones, Chris Brockelsby, Alex Williams, Trev Fleming, Megan Key, Tom Lox, Steph Scrutton, Charlotte Wilson, Lily Mak, Martin Ellis, Eugene Tan, Jen Ramage, Zoe Thirsk,Elan Barfield, Steph Longmuir, Taylor Henwood, Jo Vickers.

Musicians: Jonas Tattersall, Andy Weaver, Jonny Knight, Ben Knowles, Callum Clarke.

In Bloom.

The train conductor sighed

as he prepared

to tell his passengers to disembark

at the next and final stop.

“This train is for the Chelsea Flower Show.

This train is going to become a feature

of the show, upon arrival

please spread and sprinkle the seeds from the packets

all over the seats and use the watering can

liberally.”

“All change please, this train will

be germinating at Chelsea.”

 

Ian D. Hall 2016

Lacuna Coil, Delirium. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The heavy heart, the relentless and frenzied attack on the nervous system and the mad, wild pulse of the perfect and ecstasy ridden; everything you want from a Lacuna Coil album but might have been too afraid to desire.

Lacuna Coil’s new album Delirium once more sees the Italian based band rage with an unmistakable fury, with wrath and passion, so much so that the passion itself spills over and takes the songs of neglect, hate and broken things into a realm where obsession lays. It is passion that the listener cannot help but love and adore, that is nothing other the festering of a disease and one with no known cure but to ride the train and urge it to go faster until the engine is ready to explode in a bedlam of sweat and zeal.

Dylan Luster, E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Dylan Luster might not be a name that the public instantly recognises but the music he has created for his self titled E.P. is one that should catch on quicker than a salesman carrying a suitcase full of Mayonnaise finding a remote village that only has ever tried salt and pepper on its fish and chips.

The exposure to certain musical influences are keenly felt throughout the four songs that make up the Los Angeles musician’s E.P., there is no audible escape from the beauty that resides in the songs and more importantly in the vocals that the young man is able to deliver without impunity, without resignation of the soul and without ever straying from the line he has created.

Karma Sits On The Sidelines.

I have been waiting so long

that it doesn’t bother me

if I have wait a little longer,

for in your car crash race

to have the last and final word,

the slurs, the put downs, the exaggerated

and the dog shit smears

rubbed in my face,

I remain silent, I just sit in peace and quiet

and count the days till karma

licks her lips and throws down the gauntlet,

lays all her cards upon the smoking green

table and spits frothy, boiling green flem

in your eye;

Brian Wilson, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

It is arguably impossible to calculate all the love in the world, you would be better off just trying to attempt collecting sand from a far off beach and turning into Cornish tin; some things are just physically impractical to do and hopeless to challenge.

Voices In The Dark.

I started hearing noises, sounds

and voices

in the darkness as I stole

the opportunity to sleep a while.

I would jolt awake, full upright

and that in itself would cause pain

down my spine, the creature of nightmares

inside my body

being summoned with mysterious

incantation by a voice that wasn’t there

and wasn’t my own.

 

The sounds I hear are overwhelming,

beautiful and damned, half of the battle

in which I face every day, I just seize

the moment every time to deny