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Belinda Carlisle: Decades Volume 3: Cornucopia. Box Set Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

A missed opportunity or a solid finale to a series of re-releases, Decades Volume 3: Cornucopia treads a path for Belinda Carlisle in such a way that the chance to hear and reflect on songs that never made it to albums, to run through the songs released from the eight studio albums, a small set of new recordings, and live recordings that made it on to the B sides of seven inch singles is a perfect way to sign off on a project that details the entrancing career of the former Go Go’s vocalist; or in some eyes as a release too far, not enough emphasis on the live experience, perhaps even just one whole cd dedicated one of the concerts she gave at the height of her fame as a solo performer…unless that is the plan and a fourth release of her works is even now being planned.

Belinda Carlisle: Decades Volume 3: Cornucopia. Box Set Review. full post

(400 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

John Jenkins: I Don’t Want To Be That Guy Anymore. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Whilst nobody else watches us struggle with today’s angst and the shifting patterns of torment that comes from opening our heart to the world, we can take solace in that we ourselves believe our truth, that our cry, whether in silence and overwhelming tears, or in full throated declaration and an intent to shake the universe, the opportunity to change and be that man that says I Don’t Want To Be That Guy Anymore is one to be taken notice of, to be admired, to be respected.

John Jenkins: I Don’t Want To Be That Guy Anymore. Single Review. full post

(324 words, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

Professor T. Series Three. Television Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Ben Miller, Emma Naomi, Francis de la Tour, Barney White, Douglas Reith, Sarah Woodward, Andy Gathergood, Juliet Aubrey, Ben Onwukwe, Rupert Turnbull, Juliet Stevenson, Sunetra Sarker, Lee Ross, Jeany Spark, Richard Lintern, Roger Barclay.

Reason is the greatest weapon in any detective’s arsenal, the ability to see through the conflicting lies and deceit with just the use of the mind is enough to elevate any investigator in the eyes of the public. Surveillance, the reliance on electronic snooping on a suspect in any criminal case is all well and good to dot the I’s and cross the T’s in the courts of law, but it is the intuition, the logic and wit of those who devote themselves to the dogged truth that prove a lawbreaker can be caught with sound judgement at all times.

Professor T. Series Three. Television Series Review. full post

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

Tina Turner: What’s Love Got To Do With It. Box Set Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Love, Ms. Turner sings, is a second-hand emotion, which to her fans, supporters, and admirers, is arguably a redundant statement, but deep down as the soundtrack album that bears the name What’s Love Got To Do With It resonates through the earphones and the surrounding air, it is emotion of abuse, of mistreatment, survival, and eventual breakthrough that handles the heart, Love plays its part, but love can be blinded by mistreatment, it can wear you down as you attempt to find the pedestal that you were once held so upon, and in which neglect and violence exploited your value to the point where control is the only emotion left standing.

Tina Turner: What’s Love Got To Do With It. Box Set Review. full post

(455 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Adrian Edmondson: Beserker. Autobiography Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The reader will always understand that to read an autobiography at times will leave them curious as well as informed. The willingness to immerse yourself into another life through the painted verbal tales is one of sharing, of commitment, perhaps a smidgen of questioning interest at the beans they wish to spill on their time at top, but you never expect to be completely broken by a passage that becomes the backbone of the book.

Adrian Edmondson: Beserker. Autobiography Review. full post

(545 words, 1 image, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Blancmange: Everything Is Connected. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Longevity dictates either what you have done and continue to do resonates with a section of society that will love you no matter what, or that you maintain the ability to be chameleon like, that you can be all things to all people at some point or another. How you master such an issue of consequence is down to the ethic and strength you muster every day, how much the human spirit insists you create.

Blancmange: Everything Is Connected. Album Review. full post

(442 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Shogun. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Cosmo Jarvis, Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, Nestor Carbonell, Tadanobu Asano, Takehiro Hira, Tommy Bastow, Fumi Nikaido, Tokuma Nishioka, Hiroto Kanai, Yasunari Takeshima, Moeka Hoshi, Yuki Kura, Ako, Ned Dennehy, Hiromoto Ida, Toshi Toa, Takeshi Kurkawa.

James Clavell’s seminal novel Shogun is arguably one of the reasons that the West became more than enamoured with Japan’s almost secret history, that the role played by the country in World War Two could be, if not forgiven, then explained in a deeper context of a period of time in which its present was heavily dictated to, and inspired by its honour, as well as what could be seen as its brutality.

Shogun. Television Drama Review. full post

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

Beyond Paradise. Series Two. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kris Marshall, Zahra Ahmadi, Sally Bretton, Dylan Llewellyn, Felicity Montagu, Barbara Flynn, Melina Sinadinou, Jade Harrison, Peter Davison, Jeff Rawle, Joe Barnes, Paul Bradley, Danny Webb, Kevin Bishop, Nicholas Woodeson.

Whether Kris Marshall’s popularity as DI Humphrey Goodman in Death In Paradise was enough to see him take the lead in a spin off could be up for debate if it was completely obvious that the actor not only belongs on television, but his reading of the character of the loveable but often disorganised detective blends seamlessly into the south west way of life, the sense of calm meeting a warm chaos is roundly to be applauded, and with a great cast adding a measured approach to story-telling, it is with little wonder that the second series of Beyond Paradise is as equal to anything its parent show delivered.

Beyond Paradise. Series Two. Television Drama Review. full post

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

Ruth Moody: Wanderer. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

We may believe that our life has been journey-less just because we have not stepped a single foot upon the highway that leaves our home town behind, our presence a permanent reminder of what we believe to be an inertia, a static throw of the dice that lands inexplicably in zeros; and yet every day we are drawing breath we are living a life that allows us in some way to be  a wanderer, a seeker, an observer of the walk we have in our way taken, be it a caretaker of the space and time we inhabit, or maybe that of the caregiver to those we hope will shape the world in their image…for the Wanderer is the one who records all in the understanding it will be acknowledged by the nomad and the dweller alike.

Ruth Moody: Wanderer. Album Review. full post

(427 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Rum Ragged: Gone Jiggin’. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is always a surprise waiting around the corner where the traditional folk songs’ sources come from, we may have believed with certainty that we have come across every conceivable place on Earth where the sound of the people, driven by their environment can be heard, and yet out of the blue we are proved wonderfully wrong.

Rum Ragged: Gone Jiggin’. Album Review. full post

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