Author Archives: admin

Michael Rattray, Human Life. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 71/2/10

Human Life, so breakable, so unstable and at times the mental and physical can be held in uncertain terms, so much so to talk of the condition, to place the frailty out in the open can make people turn away through embarrassment, mainly as they struggle to understand why anyone would want to push the human thought that far, or because they feel threatened by someone reaching out to them. Whatever the reason, Michael Rattray captures the emotion of tender Humanity wonderfully in Human Life.

Michael Rattray, Human Life. Album Review. full post

(397 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

An Extraordinary Light, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Katherine Godfrey

An Extraordinary Light is amongst one of the rare moments in theatre, an excellently written monologue for a female performer by a male writer and one which smacks completely of teaching an audience something that they possibly didn’t know was important to understand. For without An Extraordinary Light, what people might know about one of the most important discoveries in the history of humanity, the construction of the D.N.A. Double Helix, could be clouded by the thoughts of those who shouted loudest.

An Extraordinary Light, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Willie Campbell, Dalma, Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The call for independent Scotland may be raging around the U.K. press during this period of 2014 but for one man calling the Isle of Lewis his home, independence has come very early as he prepares to release his new album Dalma. For Willie Campbell, once of Scottish Indie act Astrid and now enjoying life as part of The Open Day Rotation, the chance to show the Gaelic heart that beats gently but fiercely proud within him to an audience must be seen as a brave and valiant step.

Willie Campbell, Dalma, Album Review. full post

(357 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Marvel Comics: Civil War. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

What would you do if you had a super power so great that you were able to help many thousands of people survive the everyday viciousness, cruelty and the malevolent? To be able to walk the streets in safety with no fear attached to their daily routine knowing that there was a hero out there looking out for them. This power is so great though that it frightens others and forces you to come clean, to reveal who you are and there by jeopardising your own safety as the criminals and the ones with evil intent come after you and those that you love. Would you, could you, sign up to act that required you to disclose your true identity?

Marvel Comics: Civil War. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(767 words, estimated 3:04 mins reading time)

Morton Harket, Brother. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Perhaps male pop heart throbs are hard to find. The teenage crush of many a young girl can disappear in the blink of an eye, they dissolve into the background and what was once fashionable and alluring is unrecognisable, both visually and aurally, in the years ahead. Such is the life of a teenage heart throb.

Following on from Out of My Hands, Morton Harket shows with his latest album Brother, that some 80s pop stars have and will fare better than many of the almost non-descript popular male acts and so called Boy-bands of the current generation will be able to claim.

Morton Harket, Brother. Album Review. full post

(439 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Shetland: Blue Lightning. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Douglas Henshall, Alison O’ Donnell, Bill Paterson, Anthony Howell, David Annen, Erin Armstrong, Leigh Biagi, David Ireland, John Lynch, Lorne MacFadyen, Michael Nardone, Stewart Porter, Keith Ramsey, Steven Robertson, Annie Louise Ross, Paksie Vernon, Susan Vidler.

The question hanging on the lips of the residents of Fair Isle was just how long can it take to find a killer on an island? It all boils down to a matter of scale for D.I. Jimmy Perez as he is bought back to his home island to find the murderer of noted scientist Anna Blake and the confrontation of ghosts from his past that may have been better left to haunt the lonely isles alone.

Shetland: Blue Lightning. Television Review. full post

(412 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

Angela Douglas, Swings And Roundabouts. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Angela Douglas is one of Britain’s much loved actors. Married to one of British cinema’s legendary performers, she made a mark in both theatre and films, notably perhaps the four Carry On Films she appeared in as the romantic female lead, Carry On Sreaming, Cowboy, Follow That Camel, On Up The Khyber and in films such as The Comedy Man and The Gentle Terror. Her life is one that unfortunately seen under the gaze of a British public that was under such moral sexual introspection, a hangover from the so called Victorian values that dominated society until the 1970s and the perhaps phony tides in which people judged other lives.

Angela Douglas, Swings And Roundabouts. Book Review. full post

(650 words, estimated 2:36 mins reading time)

The Basin Street Brawlers, It’s Tight Like That. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Jazz and swing can so easily mocked by some but at times providing the link between good music and an enjoyable time. It cannot be a coincidence that the increase in popularity over the last few years is more akin to the times we find ourselves in, the untold parallels that don’t get talked about in the hushed rooms of Westminster to those that afflicted Europe in the 1920s and 30s. Between Jazz and Blues the music certainly kept up the spirits of many of those under fire during that time and now The Basin Street Brawlers are putting up an excellent fight to keep the music flowing in the 21st Century with their new album, It’s Tight Like That.

The Basin Street Brawlers, It’s Tight Like That. Album Review. full post

(416 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Ian Anderson, Homo Erraticus. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Jethro Tull or Ian Anderson? To be fair it makes no difference what name the man who bought Gerald Bostock into the world and gave prominence to the flute being front and centre of the stage of any gig or album. He could call himself after any inventor of 17th Century or 21st Century gardening implement or seed drill as long as he continues to make outstanding albums such as Homo Erraticus and given the man’s unerring and unwavering contribution to British music in the last 45 years, that doesn’t seem to be an issue that will ever come up in polite conversation.

Ian Anderson, Homo Erraticus. Album Review. full post

(551 words, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Endeavour: Sway. Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Anton Lesser, Jack Laskey, Sean Rigby, James Bradshaw, Joe Bannister, Jack Bannon, Gina Bramhill, Rob Compton, James Doherty, Rob Jarvis, Brian Lipson, Shvorne Marks, Tim McMullan, Caroline O’Neill,  Cécile Paoli, Adrian Schiller, Michael Thomas, Sara Vickers, Matthew Wilson, Max Wrottesley.

Morse may have been living life a bit more inside the box in recent months but as he relaxes more into a life with purpose after being shot in the last series, Oxford has a serial killer on the loose, one who is acting out of fanatical zeal and the foggy streets of the University city have become a dangerous place for women.

Endeavour: Sway. Television Review. I.T.V. full post

(432 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)