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The Wonder Stuff, Oh No It’s…The Wonder Stuff. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Sometimes people neglect or worse forget the music that calls The Midlands its home as if the area never produced anything of note. There is no rhyme or reason to this as whether it is the Black Country streets of Wolverhampton, the gentle market town of Stourbridge, the old industrial heartlands of Birmingham or to the East Coventry and every port of call in between, The Midlands is responsible for arguably the best popular music to come out of England that doesn’t have the Mersey River feeding its musical life blood. Whether it is E.L.O., Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, The Specials, Jeff Lynne, Duran Duran, Magnum, Black Sabbath or Dexy’s Midnight Runners, The Midlands has contributed so much to music and so have one of the finest out of the region, The Wonder Stuff.

The Wonder Stuff, Oh No It’s…The Wonder Stuff. Album Review. full post

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

Foyle’s War, The Eternity Ring. Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Michael Kitchen, Honeysuckle Weeks, Ken Bones, Stephen Boxer, Kate Duchene, Patrick Joseph Byrnes, Dylan Charles, Joe Duttine, Ellie Hadding, Nicholas Jones, Daniel Weyman, Jennifer Hennessy, Sam Clemmett, Gyuri Sarossy, Steve Wilson, Christopher Fulford, Nathan Gordon.

The Second World War maybe over, the Shadow of the Cold War to come may high in the minds of the officials at MI5 but for Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle the war never really ends. The war on crime isn’t allowed to finish for the honest and fiercely loyal former Hasting’s policeman, no matter how much he would like to or how much some television executives have tried to retire the programme.

Foyle’s War, The Eternity Ring. Television Review. I.T.V. full post

(520 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Wodehouse In Exile, Television Review. B.B.C.4.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tim Pigott-Smith, Zoe Wanamaker, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Curran McKay, Simon Coury, Robert Cooper, Paul Ritter, Flora Montgomery, Paul Mallon, Niall Cusack, Kevin Trainor, Conor Grimes, Richard Dormer, Ian McElhinney, Paul Kennedy.

Wodehouse In Exile, Television Review. B.B.C.4. full post

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

Broadchurch, Episode Four. Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: David Tennant, Olivia Coleman, Andrew Buchan, Jodie Whittaker, Will Mellor, Arthur Darvill, David Bradley, Jonathon Bailey, Vicky McClure, Charlotte Beaumont, Joe Simms, Carolyn Pickles, Pauline Quirke.

Broadchurch, Episode Four. Television Review. I.T.V. full post

(407 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

The Union, The World Is Yours. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Three albums down the line and The Union have hit a stride that will be difficult, if not impossible slow or indeed stop. As in the early days of the 70s a band has been given the time to develop their music and come up with a recording that sits comfortably in amongst some of the greats of the genre. In The World is Yours, The Union, comprising of Thunder stalwarts Luke Morley and Chris Childs stand aside Peter Shoulder and Dave McCluskey as they breathe new life into the harder edged side of Blues/Rock that seems to have vacated over the last few years.

The Union, The World Is Yours. Album Review. full post

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

The Union, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Even if you knew the fact, to hear Pete Shoulder say with more than a hint of apology in his voice that it was The Union’s first foray into the Liverpool’s music conscious was still more than a little surprising. With two members of arguably one of the great British Rock bands of the last 30 years, the soul affirming and musically forceful Thunder, in The Union, it seems almost remiss that the o2 Academy or any of the other vibrant venues in the city have not had the honour of hosting this exciting group.

The Union, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(408 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

BlackWolf, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Very few groups with the musical background of BlackWolf get the type of reception that this quality band received at their support slot to The Union at the o2 Academy. Liverpool rarely does the harder, more extreme side to rock, it is an area that usually gets left down the other end of the M6 Motorway in Birmingham and Wolverhampton or jets past and finds itself up in Scotland. So when the members of BlackWolf came on stage, it was with a gladdened heart that the crowd, still suffering with the cold that the Spring day had bought to them, took as readily as they did to the five piece and their blistering, head banging set.

BlackWolf, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

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

The Crucified Twins, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

There was an extra bonus for the fans that took a chance on turning up early for The Union’s debut gig in Liverpool on a very cold spring day and as bonus’ go they don’t come much better than The Wirral band The Crucified Twins.

The Crucified Twins, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

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

I, Davros. Audio Review. Big Finish Audio Drama.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Terry Molloy, Nicholas Briggs, Sean Connolly, Rita Davies, Richard Franklin, Richard Grieve, Scott Handcock, Lizzie Hopley, Rory Jennings, Carolyn Jones, Peter Sowerbutts, Jennifer Croxton, Gary Hopkins, Joseph Lidster, James Parsons, Gary Russell, John Stahl, Andrew Wisher, Lucy Beresford, David Bickerstaff, Sean Carlsen, Daniel Hogarth, Katarina Olsson, Lisa Bowerman, Peter Myles, Toby Robinson.

I, Davros. Audio Review. Big Finish Audio Drama. full post

(712 words, estimated 2:51 mins reading time)

Keith Elliot Greenberg, December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound And Vision Rating * * * * *

There are various moments in time, especially in the fast hard news dominated world of the 20th and 21st Century, where a single event can affect millions of people around the globe like a stone being dropped into water. Whether large or small, the person knows exactly where they were at the moment they heard the news and it is a memory that stays with them forever. In the case of the assassination of one of Liverpool’s, if not the world’s favourite musical sons, the day John Winston Ono Lennon was shot outside his apartment building in New York City on December 8th 1980 was a ricochet bursting through time, an event so huge and life changing that history itself could be seen to change that day.

Keith Elliot Greenberg, December 8, 1980: The Day John Lennon Died. Book Review. full post

(528 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)