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The Musketeers, The Return. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Tom Burke, Santiago Cabrera, Howard Charles, Luke Pasqualino, Hugo Speer, Maimie McCoy, Linzie Cocker, Steve Evets, Alan Rothwell, Barney White, Miles Anderson, Marianne Oldham.

As history has proved time and time again, when the Musketeers are in a fight, it is all for one and one for all. Thankfully in the modern retelling of the classic story and arguably the best in over a hundred and ten years of film and television portrayals, it’s not every episode that has the clichéd signal of derring-do attached to it, the near fatalistic but ultimately triumphant cheer of the Musketeer’s motto shouted across the television as if the viewer would ever forget.

The Musketeers, The Return. Television Review. full post

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

The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season (PS4), Game Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating: 9.5 out of 10

The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season is a third-person episodic adventure game available from retail stores and for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4, PS3 and PS Vita. The makers, Telltale Games, have gradually become more popular with every game having developed the cult classic Sam and Max seasons to episodic games based upon such well known licensed properties as Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us with Telltale’s star rising upon every release which has led to Tales from the Borderlands, Minecraft: Story Mode and even Game of Thrones with certainly a bright future ahead.

The Walking Dead: The Complete Second Season (PS4), Game Review. full post

(3014 words, estimated 12:03 mins reading time)

Simon Armitage, Poetry Evening Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Some poets you don’t see on stage in Liverpool from one year to the next. You know they exist by the volume of work they put out, but they somehow get tangled in the poetic mist that separates the city by the Mersey from the rest of the country as they criss-cross placing the truth of a rhythmical full stop in full reach of their fans, but not quite making all the way down to the birthplace of the Mersey Beat Poets.

Simon Armitage, Poetry Evening Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(488 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

When The Poet From Marsden Spoke, I Thought Of You.

As I watched the youthful sounding Yorkshire Poet

on stage in the furthest outpost that Lancashire once provided

but its self the gateway to boundless enthusiasm

and the cradle of civilisation in the wild, tempting lands,

I thought of you.

My stirred thoughts crammed with metaphor, with simile and symbolism,

the passion of friendship that flowed in the duck shaped earphones you

handed over with smiling mocking bow on my fortieth birthday

and the thank you that passes between us when needing

to crib from each other’s notes.

When The Poet From Marsden Spoke, I Thought Of You. full post

(268 words, estimated 1:04 mins reading time)

Fables: Wolves. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

After the fairly disappointing previous title in the collection of Bill Willingham’s otherwise entertaining Fables, the otherwise forgettable Arabian Nights (And Days), Wolves brings back one of the most interesting of characters to stride through the mythic streets and overwhelming wilderness, the previous Sheriff of Fable Town, Bigby Wolf.

The theme of solitude and repentance lives long in the minds of many fables as it does in the eyes of humanity. The long road to freedom, to shake of the chains of dishonour is a road that many don’t realise they have to take when dealing in a modern world. It is a tricky one to master but it must be taken with every step accounted for and it is one in which Bigby Wolf has endured.

Fables: Wolves. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(406 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Dan Webster, The Tin Man. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

We have roads to travel upon; it’s how we explain the stories to those we meet along the way that is the key. One man’s pleasant trip down a leafy lane in the middle of spring with the sun at his back is another’s trudge through winter’s terminal grasp with nothing but the eyes of desperate and ravenous wolves reflecting the light of the dwindling fiery torch.

Dan Webster, The Tin Man. Album Review. full post

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

The Fog Of Silk.

She exhaled her smooth silk smoke over me and I lost my way

in a fog, a haze of riches of electric touch upon

the one crumpled silk stocking she was wearing and I remained

there for several nights.

The distant sound of a saxophone beating against the lips of a master

as she asked me time and time again, whether sugar, was I alright?

I told her she was fine, it was me I worried about and the stinking sleepness

I felt as the bed heaved and swallowed and caught my breath and

The Fog Of Silk. full post

(562 words, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

Midsomer Murders: The Ballad Of Midsomer County. Television Review.

MLivepool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Gwilym Lee, Fiona Dolman, Tamzin Malleson, Dean Andrews, Rakie Ayola, Lucie Jones, Claudie Blakley, Clarke Peters, Therese Bradley, Daniel Brocklebank, Chris Cartwright, Anthony Farrelly, Sean Gilder, Stephen Hagan, John W. G, Harley, Michael Haydon, , Richard Banks, Rosalind March, Stuart St. Paul, Ricky Raipal, Mick Slaney, Anick Wiget.

Death always needs a great theme tune. It is the signifier to a very good film or television detective series that an oncoming loss of life by nefarious means is accompanied by a memorable song or instrumental piece. If The Omen had a soundtrack, that say for example, was light and pithy would it have made young Damien seem more brutal or somehow as cuddly as a panda with an overbearing affection disorder?

Midsomer Murders: The Ballad Of Midsomer County. Television Review. full post

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

Educating Rita, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Educatibg Rita at the Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. Photograph by Stephen Vaughan.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Leanne Best, Con O’Neill.

The further we move away from a time in history, the more it seems to resonate with us in the present. In 1979 the social climate of the country changed, events and news from around the world started to mould Britain in a way not seen since the start of the Second World War and the pace of life altered, stagnation, alienation and guilt in some quarters, not enough in others, became a new breeding ground to hit people with a terrifying new stick with. Yet somehow, as if in rebellion to this flowering want, great music started to reflect the times once more and the mood of education was to be heard in many a great rock and pop song and into this world Willy Russell’s Educating Rita was born.

Educating Rita, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(656 words, 1 image, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

Sundowners, Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

When waiting for an album to come out by a band that you know deep down could have been the talk of the town and the greater music world in any of the decades since Liverpool gave birth to popular music culture in Britain, caution can seep in. It can mess with expectancy, it can gnaw at the promise you have made to yourself that it surely must be good because the gigs and the songs have suggested nothing but a wonderful sense of timing and delivery. Caution is good, it keeps both the listener and musicians grounded but it can also feed on you like a Succubus caught in the middle of a midday snack asking for extra bread rolls.

Sundowners, Album Review. full post

(500 words, estimated 2:00 mins reading time)