Author Archives: admin

I Sing Your Anthem With Pride.

There is a chill, a feeling of the super-natural

when I hear your anthem being sang by the citizens

of the flag, resplendent in red and white, the colours

of victories past and battle hardened men,

of women, proud, noble and strong, perhaps by design

the strongest of them all, but the ones with rose-like cheekbones

standing to attention when something humorous happens,

the ones for whom the tears fall silently as justice is done.

 

The first stirrings of your anthem were audible on a Wednesday night

I Sing Your Anthem With Pride. full post

(463 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

Never Alone, (PS4). Game Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Never Alone is a puzzle platform adventure game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4. The game was developed in harmony with the Alaska Native community and is an historic collaboration as it delves deep into the traditions of the Iñupiat people of Alaska like no other game before it.

Never Alone, (PS4). Game Review. full post

(1207 words, estimated 4:50 mins reading time)

Little Devils, The Storm Inside. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The great Joe Cocker may no longer be with us but the woman who breaks as many hearts and sounds as outstanding as him, especially when in full flight, is very much becoming a huge part of the British Blues scene.

The Storm Inside, both as the artists playing the music and their new album itself, is so full of tension, the bleak look at loneliness juxtaposed with the yearning of sacrifice and the desire to be held close is so engrained into the Little Devils line up that the voice of Yoka resonates across each song as if Time itself is under pressure to acknowledge just how storming this woman is.

Little Devils, The Storm Inside. Album Review. full post

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

Annisokay, Enigmatic Smile. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is perhaps nothing more beguiling in the face of a stranger than an Enigmatic Smile. It is the combination of fascinating inquisitive allure shrouded in the dark and the beast of sex appeal that captures the imagination. It either can lead down a path of enlightenment or towards the sinister and threatening, in the case of German Metal band Annisokay, enlightenment and the mysterious go hand in hand.

Annisokay, Enigmatic Smile. Album Review. full post

(386 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Inspector George Gently: Breathe In The Air. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Martin Shaw, Lee Ingleby, Lisa McGrillis, Simon Hubbard, Nicholas Woodeson,  Lesley Nicol, Mark Aiken, Ashleigh Armstrong, Emily Atkinson, Bryony Corrigan, Jonathan Cullen, Jason Done, Ben Fiske, Suzy Kane, Patsy Lowe, Deidre Mullins, Georgia Nicholson, Derek Riddell, Annabel Scholey, Richard Shanks.

The stench of corporate corruption is not a new, it is perhaps not even fashionable to look to hard into it when thousands of jobs are stake; however not a single penny of hush money should ever be paid, to the even more corrupt or to the victims of the abuse perpetrated in the name of profit and business. For Inspector George Gently the 60s may be coming to a close but the chance to Breathe in the Air and bring the corrupted to book is never a closed chapter.

Inspector George Gently: Breathe In The Air. Television Review. full post

(514 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

The Missed Out Mid-Life Crisis.

So when does the mid-life crisis actually begin,

as I am sure that I am eligible to claim around now,

being too old to truly wear jeans

but wearing them just to rebel against

the condemnation of the teens

and the look of unruly disaffection of my grandfather’s

era who once married and with children of their own

reverted to looking as if they had stepped out of stage

managed Victorian costume drama and the stiff upper lip

kept the emotions in check.

 

I keep looking through the spyglass in my door

The Missed Out Mid-Life Crisis. full post

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

Jon Chi, Another Rising Sun. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The opening song of Jon Chi’s new album, Another Rising Sun, perhaps sums up the atmosphere and belief the listener experiences when listening to it. Words You Can Believe In as both a title and an adage has surely not been suggested with such accuracy in quite a while. It is to Jon Chi’s credit that such words are taken with such humility, sheer sincerity and abundance of faith, for faith is never displaced in the album and sincerity is what binds it together.

Jon Chi, Another Rising Sun. Album Review. full post

(449 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

The Names Never Faded.

There were many who I held a candle to

in a world full of chalk dust, well aimed projectiles

and the despair of being told that you

were not good enough to breathe the same air

as the teacher’s favourite Rottweiler,

snarling, punishing with savage artistry

and then finished off with the red pen death

of being

wrong, wrong, wrong.

 

There were many, my diary attests to this unhappy fact,

who in one way or another made my life more bearable

when not in English, History or the love of the drama

The Names Never Faded. full post

(422 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Fables: The Good Prince. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Never dismiss the caretaker or the janitor; they might be the only one who truly knows where all the bodies are buried.

The tenth instalment of Bill Willingham’s Fables, The Good Prince, is perhaps arguably the most fairylike tale of them all. A tale told of the valour of one man with more to lose than anyone in the whole of Fable Town, a man whose life throughout the previous nine books has been one of the utmost importance but who never realised what he was until his memory was forced to return as he thought of indiscretions with Red Riding Hood.

Fables: The Good Prince. Book Review. full post

(511 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

U Decide: Our Main Story Tonight, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Nick Walker, Hannah Barker.

Who decides what is newsworthy? Who sets the agenda for what the British people see on their television sets and delivered by journalists sometimes more concerned with their own image than what gets reported upon? In the week of the 2015 British General Election, news can often get misrepresented, especially in a media that is driven more and more by the projected image.

U Decide: Our Main Story Tonight, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(460 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)