Author Archives: admin

Joe Symes & the Loving Kind, Things Get Better. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is not against the law to have conflicting emotions when listening to a new song by a band of great repute, to understand those conflictions though when they are born out of knowing that whether past offerings were of very good quality and the immediate impact that a new sound, a solid state of reflection and increased buoyancy, somehow surpasses it; it only goes to show the heart that Things Get Better, no matter how much the past influences the present.

Joe Symes & the Loving Kind, Things Get Better. Single Review. full post

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

Donnie Monro, Sweet Surrender- Live Acoustic. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Memories are stirred with equal measure when hearing a album recorded live; passion, regret, the mourning of a long forgotten time and person who shared a moment with you, the extremes of life which culminate in a series of vivid, fleeting recollections and stark reminisce. For the former voice of Runrig and very much his own man, Donnie Munro, memories must surely be held out as if living the moment again and again whilst always striving ever onward, a Sweet Surrender, both to the past and the endless possibilities the future provides.

Donnie Monro, Sweet Surrender- Live Acoustic. Album Review. full post

(392 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Sticks And Stones.

Would I dare believe they would contemplate

this cul de sac once more?

That I would be looking over my shoulder and listening on edge

for the sound of an alarm

and fear the general panic

of a population gripped in ice stone terror

and wondering just who

they would protect and survive.

 

Of course the idea the propagated

of hiding under doors is absurd,

it was only a practical way of burying the dead

and now they want us to learn D.I.Y. again

Sticks And Stones. full post

(320 words, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

Vinny Peculiar, Down The Bright Stream. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The art of the confessional poem may be steeped in American post-war history but it takes a suitably British voice, one steeped in the absurdities of the over-flowing English eccentricity and way of life, to truly bring past declarations of admission seem suitably cool and full of understanding.

Not for Vinny Peculiar will you find the hidden message laden, the daring concealed communication that Sylvia Plath employed in Daddy, or the wasted and admirable qualities that Anne Sexton brought to mind, all Vinny Peculiar needs is the distant memory we all acquire, startling observational skills and the gift of putting exquisite poetry to song, all of which comes to fruition in the album Down The Bright Stream.

Vinny Peculiar, Down The Bright Stream. Album Review. full post

(483 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Paul Straws.

The Unity Theatre in Liverpool isn’t just a creative space for the use of local and touring theatre companies. Within its walls is another heartbeat, a twin spirit of occupation, a breathing fortitude of echoing guitar sounds, exotic drum and cello performed always by a commander of the bow, resides and has firmly taken root over the last few years.  A gig here and there throughout the year, bookended by the abundance of theatre, but nevertheless important and the acoustic evenings they put on are fully looked forward to.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Paul Straws. full post

(1424 words, estimated 5:42 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Karmamoi’s Joline Forshaw.

 

Arguably the centre of the Universe has to pass through Liverpool at some juncture; nothing else really can ever explain the abundance of musical talent that comes out of the city. Even those that have to live away from their beloved home still find that the passion for bringing new music into the world an overriding and natural part of the laws of attraction. Even for those based outside the sphere of arts in their daily life seek solace in it and for Karmamoi’s Joline Forshaw this is especially true.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Karmamoi’s Joline Forshaw. full post

(2047 words, estimated 8:11 mins reading time)

If He Is Not Yet Dead…

If he is not yet dead

then perhaps he might be better off being so,

for the passage of time ticks slowly in his direction.

Comforting words as the fate of his future is decided

in crumbling office blocks and in the same dusty relics

of men who plot and call coup

in a world of insane potential

and irrational market forces deliverance.

 

These same market forces that made him God,

now turn and bite their master of illusion

hard and nip, drawing blood, it dribbles waywardly

If He Is Not Yet Dead… full post

(349 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Twopence To Cross The Mersey, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jake Abraham, Eithne Browne, Roy Carruthers, Daniel Davies, Emma Dears, Brian Dodd, Christopher Jordan, Maria Lovelady.

There is a horrible sense of deja vu as one looks around closely in hidden doors and hears the sounds of families at war with themselves that the period known as the Great Depression, the 1930s stumbling block to world peace has been making itself at home for the last few years and nobody has truly noticed. Thankfully the true depths that the world groped around in the dark with during that time has not materialised again but only perhaps good fortune, rather than political reckoning has saved the type of scenes witnessed by the writer Helen Forrester as she grew up impoverished in a city that was fighting for grim survival and without even Twopence To Cross The Mersey.

Twopence To Cross The Mersey, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(517 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Suite Française, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Michelle Williams, Kristin Scott Thomas, Matthais Schoenaerts, Sam Riley, Ruth Wilson, Margot Robbie, Harriet Walter, Eileen Atkins, Lambert Wilson, Tom Schilling, Clare Holman, Deborah Findlay, Eric Godon, Simon Dutton, Diana Kent, Juliet Howland, Nicholas Chagrin.

 

As the 21st Century grumbles on and the further we move away from the period of time in which our grandparents gave up on almost everything except hope, the more the apathy to maintaining the struggle against oppression grows more weary. In some cases it is possible to hear some people state out loud, “Shouldn’t we forget all this now?” Yet stories from the Second World War continue to surface and perhaps none more startling in recent years than that of Irène Némirovsky and her posthumously published unfinished novel Suite Française.

Suite Française, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(688 words, estimated 2:45 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With John Young From Lifesigns.

With the odd exception, the world of Progressive Rock doesn’t feature too highly in the realms of Liverpool’s astonishing contribution to the world of music. There are elements, bands, even albums that go down that road, notably and arguably The Beatles opus Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is a tremendous foray into the genre but it still doesn’t get the airplay it deserves. There may be many reasons for it, but it doesn’t disguise the fact that there are many thousands of fans who clamber for any type of band delving into the unknown from Aigburth to Bootle and the surrounding, ever growing enclave that is Merseyside.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With John Young From Lifesigns. full post

(1661 words, estimated 6:39 mins reading time)