Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Class is permanent, as they rightly say, and technical mastery of an instrument lives long into legendary status, as Dutch supremo Jan Akkerman, the guitarist who successfully challenged the notion of dominance of British/American virtuosity that had had arisen, returns to the ears of the listener in a brand new live recording, My Focus – Live Under The Rainbow
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
We may beg for many a garnish in life, for the icing of the cake to be seen as smooth, flavourful, unveiling a rich texture that excites the palette, a revelation of taste, colour, and coherent disclosure; it is after all the final cherry that we expect to be pressed into place which will give us the reason to salivate and chomp at the bit of life.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The Gates Of Hell are open and whilst all the devils and demons have been on Earth for some time, what is being evoked now is the sound of the cries of the human traitors allying themselves to causes that will surely bring destruction. Only the heralds of music for the masses, the portents of good fortune and live mentality can hold the un-songs at bay.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Exploration of ideas is what always pushes the artist into new, unfound realms of discovery, the beautiful struggle of chasing down a song, endlessly correcting a piece of poetry, or indeed sculpting marble into humanity, all lead to the next big idea, Some Other Stories in which to bring to life and see the cycle continue onwards.
Melanie Crew and Ross Palmer seamlessly almost waltz into view once more, and on the back of their impressive E.P. Away From The City, and their enormous debut album Quiet After Midnight, the pair offer a continual drive of folk inspired passion in the release of Some Other Stories.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The inference by many that rock has had its day, that the new generations coming through are no longer influenced by the thrilling demands of its riffs and lyrical bounty are to be frank, not only hogwash, but almost insulting to the genre. Classic Rock is by no means All Washed Up, indeed it has the continuing power to charm and inspire with weighted authority of rebellion that many others wish they could match.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The vagaries of youth demand that we all look at the possibility of reaching a certain age as an almost impossibility, not denying the time spent on Earth, but the vents of frustration and niggles of pains that go hand in hand with it; it is the fine act of human balance called into question where with age comes wisdom but also arthritic knees, bad backs, and a host of other issues to which the user will complain, but to which with a smile and a song in the heart will explain that “I’d Rather Be Older (Than Dead)”.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Few bands are afforded the kind of renaissance that The Stranglers underwent when guitarist Baz Warne had second thoughts after being asked to make his way down south from his native northeast and show exactly what he could do, what he could bring to the group that been on a downward trend in the previous few years.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Rosie Baker, Paterson Joseph, Jeff Rawle, Tim Speyer, Dan Starkey, Matthew Steer, Tilly Vosburgh.
The final novella from one of Britain’s finest ever writers, Charles Dickens, is the subject of a twin release from Average Romp this festive eve, and alongside The Cricket On The Hearth, the adaption of The Haunted Man is one that has been lovingly restored to the consciousness of the public thanks to the writing of Eddie Robson and Jonathan Morris, and their Big Finish colleagues Lisa Bowerman and Howard Carter.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Tony Marshall, Bronté Barbé, Graham Fellows, Geoff Leesley, Jason Forbes, Katie Moore.
The Cricket On The Hearth may not be considered by many in today’s world as being a tale of dramatic substance, especially when set alongside the more weightier themes discussed and revealed in Charles Dickens’ major works, but for one of the sheer all time greats of English literature, one of the few to have an entire genre named after him, the short novella perhaps rings more true of the human need for the unexplained to hold significance than that which came before in the 1843 story, A Christmas Carol.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
How do we know for certain what is The Medicine and what is the placebo, only by trial and error, by cause and control, and by taking notice of the effect the practise of listening to the mind and the soul has when taken with invited dose administered; this is the difference between that which makes you a truly better person rather than just being one who believes they are because they have been used as a sample.