Author Archives: admin

The Scouse Christmas Carol. Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: John-Paul Birss, Helen Carter, Paul Duckworth, Lindzi Germain, Adam McCoy, Lydia Rosa Morales-Scully, Keddy Sutton, Jhanaica Van Mook, Lenny Wood.

Band: James Breckon, Greg Joy, Chris Nicholls, Mike Woodvine.

It’s Karma Its Cool: One Million Suburban Sunsets. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The suburbs, a place once where aspiration meant social prosperity, a status and condition of overcoming what was perhaps intended and which became the abiding sanctuary for the dreams to unfold, for the belief that we might witness the event of One Million Suburban Sunsets take hold and see the stars reflected in our eyes.

Lincoln’s own stars shine ever brightly, a pace where four sons outperform the heat from those million sunsets, and dazzle with life in a way that the evensong of the celestials cannot touch; for in human endeavour the heavens may rise, but creativity and imagination trumps all.

Only Murders In The Building: Series Five. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez, Michael Cyril Crieghton, Meryl Streep, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Téa Leoni, Bobby Cannavale, Dianne Wiest, Renée Zellweger, Christoph Waltz, Logan Lerman, Jackie Hoffman, Beanie Feldstein, Keegan-Michael Key, Jermaine Fowler, Shea Buckner, Dame DiLiegro, Aaron Dean Eisenberg, Cory Jeacoma, Evan Mulrooney, Vanessa Aspillaga, Dane DiLiegro, Russell G. Jones, Emory Cohen, Julian Cihi, Siobhan Fallon Hogan, Nathan Lane, Jayne Houdyshell, Adriane Lenox, Tony Plana, Madison Wray, Jane Lynch, Richard Kind, Paul Rudd, David Patrick Kelly, Theo Stockman, Becky Ann Baker, Dylan Baker, James Caverly, Tina Fey.

Lester Young: Lester Leaps In : Live At Birdland 1951-52. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It has always been as such that legends of yesteryear become myths in the end, or if the worst-case scenario be realised, they become phantoms, beings of skill and devotion who are forgotten by later generations, ignored as time’s sweeping hand saves but a few for permanent recognition.

The modern music fan may be consumed with striking their own clear path, lauding some, denigrating others, discounting the immensity of those that went before them, perhaps even declaring that noting that came before has any relevance to their life today; this is not only disingenuous, but also a dangerous belief to uphold.

Anthony Ruptak: Tourist. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

We are, by and large, a species that documents everything, from the smallest detail to the earth-shattering reveals that have shaped and formed our perceptions of the world, a moment’s certification of recorded thought in print or online can reveal much about the fractured notion of society, the modern world we inhabit, often scarily not participating in, but simply existing within.

Kyle Carey: The Last Bough. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The sound of strings has its own mystic, it is almost universal, and yet played by a unique heart it can convey every emotion from melancholic to the reflection of joy when the crescendo is reached, as profound emptiness is replaced with the miracle of birth; it is as if those scientists with theories of the structure of our existence have the notion of concept completely nailed down, that string theory is in essence the very fabric of music.

The Substance. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Dennis Quaid, Edward Hamilton-Clark, Gore Abrams, Oscar Lesage, Christian Erikson, Robin Greer, Tom Morton, Hugo Diego Garcia, Yann Bean, Daniel Knight, Jonathan Carley, Akil Wingate.

Satire does not have to leave the audience with laughter echoing around them, thighs slapped raw, grins as wide as they are knowingly wise, sometimes it comes with the firm slap of recognition, it comes with anger attached, it displays unknown emotions to the very fore and each time the effect of mockery hits home so hard, with venom, that we are allowing others to live in a world filled with delusion, with image that is unsubstantial, and the guilt of it all is reflected in the awful truth, we believe that we are too old, and too ugly, to be of any use to the world.

Luvcat: Vicious Delicious. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision 8.5/10

Liverpool doesn’t have the same access to the late great Victorian/Edwardian music halls that London has, but it is possible as the listener takes in the debut album from Luvcat, the vaudeville like demonstration of power and feverish exoticism that exists in worlds perhaps that linger more in the imagination, of old romantic theatres that were found in the East End of London as they were shrouded by mists, legends, and attitudes of the playful and the vaguely disconcerting; this is where

David Gilmour: The Luck And Strange Concerts. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The rarity of transition in a live album is rarely found in time, the sense of movement not coming from the players on stage, or the expression of sound, it comes from showcasing songs from different venues, different performances, alternative views from audience’s perspectives across time itself; this is an almost unique situation from one of Britain’s most celebrated musicians, and with his new album The Luck And Strange Concerts expertly melding his own colourful career with songs from Pink Floyd, what becomes evident is the proof of how music travels with a gift of perfection; a gift of unison unspoiled.

Sabaton: Legends. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There are few groups like Sabaton, ones to whom are willing, or indeed able to look at history’s most decisive moments, those that submit a kind of behind the scenes sense of delivery of the people at the heart of any struggle for freedom, or perhaps those whose sense of destiny was that of conquest wrapped in the false paint of glory and the desperation of subterfuge and reckoning, and in all fairness the group do it with extreme cool and a style that holds the world of power metal enthralled.