Thom Morecroft may not be a Scouser but the passion he wears on his sleeve for his adopted home of the last few years is plain enough to see. His relaxed style makes swans seem fidgety and yet he has blown away audience after audience with his music and is looked upon as one of Liverpool’s great successes. The Everyman Theatre, newly reopened hides us away as we talk about music, including his love of the Progressive giants Genesis. With a new night of music opening up and a gig to look forward to you might think Thom Morecroft had enough on his plate to deal with but music calls all the time and there is always plenty to discuss.
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Suggs, My Life in Words and Music, Review. The Atkinson, Southport.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
To a generation and beyond Suggs is a man who has been with them probably throughout their entire lives. He and Madness are so entwined as part of the very fabric of the U.K’s glowing music history that to dismiss him would be reckless, even a crass thoughtless statement.
For all those that made their way to Southport’s Atkinson Theatre to listen to him relate, admittedly in a condensed form, moments of his lifetime from his best-selling autobiography in the two hour My Life in Words and Music, were left thrilled, amused, slightly stunned at the candour and the utter excitement of a man who has lived and been admired.
The Double, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Mia Wasikowska, Wallace Shawn, Noah Taylor, Rade Serbedzija, Yasmin Paige, James Fox, Phyllis Somerville, J. Mascis, Sally Hawkins, Cathy Moriarty, Chris O’Dowd, Paddy Considine, Chris Morris, Georgie-May Tearle, Craig Roberts.
What happens when your worst enemy is you? Not psychologically, at least not in the beginning but you, your face is their face, your life is slowly becoming their life and no matter what you do, your existence is being erased, you become even more of a non-entity, a being of such unimportance that people forget your name when they shake your hand, would you fight back to restore your individuality and own self-worth? This is the problem facing the superb Jesse Eisenberg in Richard Ayoade’s dark, almost 1984 like black comedy The Double.
Noah, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Anthony Hopkins, Douglas Booth, Leo McHugh Carroll, Frank Langella, Dakota Goyo, Marton Csokas, Madison Davenport, Nick Nolte, Mark Margolis, Kevin Durand, Nolan Gross, Adam Griffith, Gavin Casalegno, Skylar Burke
It seems odd that it has taken this long to make a film about one of patriarchs and prophets of Judaism and Christianity when so many others have been touched upon in one way or another since the early days of cinema. For a film titled Noah it is going to be hard for many to get past the big elephant in the ark, as well as all the snakes and the odd Silverback Gorilla. It’s going to take willpower for some not to let a great story get in the way of something so old and too some so sacred.
Kalandra, Gig Review. L.I.P.A, Liverpool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision 9/10
Whether you like your music to be organic, to have flowed from the streets that straddle the River Mersey in some age old ritual acknowledgement to the flower and testimony of Liverpool upbringing or to have had the chance to have been guided and nurtured to hone the craft of writing, what you cannot fail to miss is the passion that flows through each tempting note of either camp.
All Change.
Reminding me
of temptation accompanying the draught of a
Trans-Pennine non-stop
through Stalybridge Station, she drifted
past.
I stood still, watching the clock
taunt my expected departure time;
standing in line for a seat on the next one,
haunted by the
last.
Ian Miller 2014
Molotov Jukebox, Gig Review. The Kazimier, Liverpool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
The Kazimier could not have anticipated what lay in store. Elements of Gypsy Jazz and Swing backed by Latin beats with a thundering bass, Ska influenced guitar, Samba and Mariachi style trumpeting and what can only be describes as shredding violin combined to produce an awe inspiring sound that shook the rafters and the audience in equal measure. Molotov Jukebox’s long awaited L.P. Carnival Flower was released in the last week and if the second gig following the release at Liverpool’s Kazimier was anything to go by it will see the band soar to the heights they truly deserve. The album speaks for itself but where Molotov Jukebox shines is in the vibrant and electric energy they bring to their live performance ensuring fans will leave the venue short of breath and grinning from ear to ear.
After What Comes Before. Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Cast: David Cartwright, Sam Berrill, Alex Monk.
Not many evenings starts with three scientists arguing over the relative value of being able to extract the thought processes and the sometimes synaptic misfires in which hold the key to every person’s desires and ills. However Manic Chord Theatre, by intelligent word play and the same insane careful design attributed to the formation of random events that make life in the Universe possible, are able to show in 55 minutes just exactly what happens when you begin to think outside of the box in their play After What Comes Before.
Batman: Haunted Knight, Graphic Novel Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It’s hard to imagine any superhero in the Marvel Universe having the same type of intrigue and fascination with Halloween as D.C. Comic’s biggest hero Batman does. Indeed across every spectrum and genre no other title perhaps lends itself more to the crazy upside world of the night than the Dark Knight. In a collection of three different one shot Halloween special stories by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, under the one title of Batman: Haunted Knight, the complicated relationship he has with the day is one that captures the imagination but also the fixation, the near fixation he has in dealing with those who bring harm to Gotham City is at near psychosis levels.
John Bassett, Unearth. Album Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
For a musician who creates the most beautiful sounding compositions with KingBathmat, the chance to really let go and release an album of his own work must have always been nagging at the back of his head and now John Bassett has the chance to impress completely with his debut album Unearth.
Impressed might be too strong a word to bandy around, it gives rise to the thought of confetti being thrown at a wedding or celebration or the first sight of fireworks that cling to the midnight sky high above Sydney as the clocks click over into a new year, perhaps captivated and enthralled would be better, for that is the feeling you get when listening to Unearth for the first and subsequent times.