Author Archives: admin

Ian Prowse, Who Loves Ya Baby? Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

In a city that has produced so many voices, so many ideas and whom all of which have added greatly to the cultural importance and passionate stand against conformity and the bland, Ian Prowse certainly stands out as late 20th and early 21st Century hero. His voice and hand on heart declarations has led to many following his footsteps and as he proves time and time every week at his the ever popular Monday Night Club, the voice cannot, nor will ever be, silenced.

Ian Prowse, Who Loves Ya Baby? Album Review. full post

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

Jessicas Ghost, Gig Review. Zanzibar Club, Liverpool.

Jessicas Ghost, Liverpool 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Jessicas Ghost, Liverpool 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

No matter how hard you try, you cannot achieve the goal of seeing all the great bands to come your way in your life time. To try would perhaps be folly, the madness of a person bereft of the need to do anything else and who finds sleep just an irrational pastime.

Jessicas Ghost, Gig Review. Zanzibar Club, Liverpool. full post

(473 words, 1 image, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

James Michael, Gig Review. Zanzibar Club, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 71/2/10

For many, St. Patricks Day, usually with the celebrations spread over a long weekend, is the chance to party for the first time in the year. Nobody would blame a single person for wanting to get rid of the worst winter blues and weather hangover for perhaps decades by going out on the town and taking in the Saturday night shindigs and social gatherings.

In the Zanzibar Club, something was unfolding as James Michael, a previous X-Factor contestant, made his way to the stage and gave a great account of himself with some well written tunes and some inspired lyrics.

James Michael, Gig Review. Zanzibar Club, Liverpool. full post

(422 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Finding Joy, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre Liverpool (2014).

Liverpool Sound & Vision rating * * * * *

Cast: James Greaves, Richard J Fletcher, Nanou Harry, Sarah Hawkins

Finding Joy is a beautiful story about one woman’s decline into dementia and the people left behind to care for her. Created by Vamos Theatre, the story is inspired by true events and the show focuses on the relationship between Joy and her grandson. Vamos is unique as there is no script, rather all the drama is told through masks. For those who have never really seen this in a show before (it was a first time experience for me) it took only a few moments for the expressive masks and the physicality of the actors to work their magic and any doubt as to how this could work soon melted away.

Finding Joy, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre Liverpool (2014). full post

(337 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

Under The Skin, Film Review. FACT Cinema, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Paul Brannigan, Jessica Mance, Krystof Hádek, Scott Dymond, Michael Moreland, Joe Szula, Adam Pearson, Lee Fanning, Alison Chand, Lynsey Taylor Mackay, Jeremy McWilliams, Steve Keys, Andrew Gorman, Gerry Goodfellow.

Under The Skin will take thought and immense concentration to sit through but the result will be worth it as Director Jonathan Glazer leads a relatively unknown cast, bar of course the major star in the room, through a message laden era adaption of Michael Faber’s novel.

Under The Skin, Film Review. FACT Cinema, Liverpool. full post

(570 words, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

Batman: The Long Halloween: Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Alongside Wonder Woman and Superman, Batman is perhaps arguably D.C. Comics’ greatest hero and certainly lucrative money spinner in an ever increasing market for film adaptations. The films, especially the darker and grittier Dark Knight series starring Christian Bale were mesmerising and brutal and aside from perhaps the first two Batman films of the 1980s with the excellent Michael Keaton in the role, were the epitome of graphic novel/adaptions from the D.C. universe.

Batman: The Long Halloween: Graphic Novel Review. full post

(638 words, estimated 2:33 mins reading time)

You’ll Never Walk Alone: The Official History Of Liverpool Football Club. Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision 9/10

Cast: Jake Abraham, Lindzi Germain, Howard Gray, Emily Linden, Mark Moraghan, Stephen Pallister, Rachael Rae, Daniel Ross, Francis Tucker, Lenny Wood.

The gentle voice of match day D.J. George Sephton greets the audience to the Royal Court as if he was welcoming all to a day on which Championships were being decided, trophies were being collected and the memory of a thousand greats were going to line up alongside the pitch and show the reason why Nicky Allt’s You’ll Never Walk Alone is one of the most important plays you will ever see performed in Liverpool.

You’ll Never Walk Alone: The Official History Of Liverpool Football Club. Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Stark, Stories from the Underground. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The reminder of folly is never too far away from the people of the South coast town of Brighton minds as they are reminded each day of the beauty of the sea that washes over the pebbled beach and threatens on a bad day to take the boats moored up towards the wall that hugs the front and its sense of back alley history, the Pavilion that gives a sense of opulence to a place that is amongst the salt of the Earth and home to some great music.

Stark, Stories from the Underground. Album Review. full post

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

Adrian Nation, Live At Crossroads. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The sense of wanting to belong to something hangs in the air like an unspoken memory, a thought of clarity and perspective comes through the speakers and dispels the confusion and bewilderment that comes with the fast living in which we have all become far too accustomed to, the brakes have been tampered with and each one of no longer it seems has the time to grasp the moment to breathe. Guitarist Adrian Nation winds the window down, hands you an oxygen mask and smiles as he plays and his new album Live at Crossroads is a timely reminder to see through the muck, the shattered glass and outward momentum and just take in a truth.

Adrian Nation, Live At Crossroads. Album Review. full post

(385 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

Twelfth Night, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Neil Caple, Pauline Daniels, Natalie Dew, Paul Duckworth, Luke Jerdy, Adam Keast, Matthew Kelly, Adam Levy, Jodie McNee, Robin Morrissey, David Rubin, Alan Stocks, Nicholas Woodeson.

If…The stage and greasepaint, the drama and the laughter, the sorrow and the exceptional mirth bring you joy then let the theatre forever live on.

Twelfth Night, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(559 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)