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The Avengers: The Lost Episodes Volume 2. Ashes Of Roses. Audio Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Anthony Howell, Julian Wadham, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Terry Malloy, Rachel Atkins, Emily Woodward, Nicholas Briggs, Derek Carlyle, Anna Lukis, Penelope Rawlins, Richard Hope, Dan Starkey, Cameron Stewart, Francesca Hunt, Martin Hudson.

Who could ever foresee that hairdressing was such a risky business? The shampoo set that could go wrong, the gossip that turns to grudges being held, the heated dryer rigged to give a nasty surprise, arson! All these are par for the course as John Steed and Dr. David Keel return for the second set of classic The Avengers stories to be adapted by John Dorney and Big Finish starting with the tale, Ashes Of Roses.

The Avengers: The Lost Episodes Volume 2. Ashes Of Roses. Audio Review. Big Finish. full post

(620 words, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)

Pride, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Andrew Scott, Dominic West, George Mackay, Paddy Considine, Joseph Gilgun, Faye Marsey, Freddie Fox, Ben Schnetzer, Jessie Cave, Liz White, Sophie Evans, Monica Dolan, Jessica Gunning, Chis Overton. Russell Tovey.

America can provide you with the blockbuster, Europe the art, India the beauty but when it comes to truth, justice, the gritty political outpouring, nobody does it better than the British film industry. Blockbusters are all well and good, the stimulation the senses, they blow the mind. Art and beauty is needed to wrap up the human emotion and give it meaning, realism is what brings it together, what makes the cinema goer believe in and restores a balance in a world that is too eager to make sure that division is seen everywhere.

Pride, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

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

Before I Go To Sleep, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, Mark Strong, Anne-Marie Duff, Dean Charles Chapman, Adam Levy, Jing Lusi, Flynn MacArthur, Charlie Gardner, Llewella Gideon, Rosie MacPherson, Hannah Blamires, Chris Cowlin, Kevin Hudson, Nick Turner.

For Christine Lucas, every day is a fresh start. Where others might resolve to begin the day anew and go out of their way in which to make other’s lives better, for Christine Lucas, each day is a torture, a realisation that she has no idea who she is or why she looks older than her suggested mind age of in her 20s.

Before I Go To Sleep, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

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

Hohokum (PS4). Game Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Hohokum is an adventure title available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4, PS3 and PS Vita. The game is a creative collaboration between the developer Honeyslug and the artist Richard Hogg that seeks to provide a unique experience that is free of any enemies and is purely dedicated to non-linear exploration in a relaxing world.

Hohokum (PS4). Game Review. full post

(1921 words, estimated 7:41 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Robot Of Sherwood. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Colman, Tom Riley, Ben Miller, Roger Ashton, Ian Hallard, Rusty Goffe, Joseph Kennedy, Adam Jones, Sabrina Bartlett, David Benson, David Langham, Tim Baggaley, Richard Elfyn.

We are but stories in the completion of history’s guide book, some will have volumes written about them, some if they are lucky a rip-roaring novel, most a paragraph, for many just a sentence, however as long as we avoid being a footnote in the end then we should be satisfied.

Doctor Who: Robot Of Sherwood. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

(543 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

Dreaming Of Kate, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Maaike Breijman performing Kate Bush songs. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

When Kate Bush announced her first live shows for 35 years, there were bound to be a lot of people that were going to be left disappointed in being unable to see one of Britain’s perhaps most reclusive, certainly iconic, exceptionally gifted female artists of the last 50 years.

Dreaming Of Kate, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(657 words, 1 image, estimated 2:38 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Keddie Sutton And Gillian Hardie.

The Albert Dock is as important to Liverpool’s history as it is to its future. The images of vast sailing ships from across the globe relieving their important load into the waiting arms of many a stevedore is tinged with sepia romanticism that is hard to ignore or displace in time. Neither is the image of a bustling city, one that has retained its dignity when others set out to destroy it, either through lies, blatant and outrageous disgusting ones; or through a political dogma in which they sensed that the passion of its people could bring them and their misguided ideology down.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Keddie Sutton And Gillian Hardie. full post

(1628 words, estimated 6:31 mins reading time)

Danny Bryant, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If ever there was a moment to silence a Blues crowd into submission then to hear Danny Bryant tell a touching story about his mentor and friend Walter Trout and a request he made to hear Mr. Bryant perform one particular song would have been that moment. The haunting sound of a rich guitar, the lyrics of Walter Trout’s favourite song, Bob Dylan’s Girl From The North Country, floating through the air like wisps of articulate light dancing in the shaded memory of all in attendance and the far-away look in Danny Bryant’s eyes only served notice that the world of Blues has never been closer. It was a beautiful moment and one that fans of both Walter Trout and Danny Bryant will understand the brother-like love and admiration that runs through both men.

Danny Bryant, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens. full post

(489 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

The Mentulls, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are nights in which you can guess with a fairly decent degree of accuracy exactly what you are going to get from a band or artist that you have gone along to support, wallow in the sounds of nostalgia or be thrilled with the execution of a song you have loved for all your live being performed live and with passion.

The Mentulls, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens. full post

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

Rumours Of Fleetwood Mac Return To Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall In 2015.

Rumours of Fleetwood Mac. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Having performed 500 major concert shows to over a half a million fans around the world since they formed over a decade ago, Rumours of Fleetwood Mac return to the U.K. to present a spectacular new stage production celebrating the music of the legendary rock supergroup Fleetwood Mac.Their new show, which will come to the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on March 5^th 2015, will showcase and celebrate in meticulous note-for-note detail, all the classic hits from one of the most outstanding and enduring catalogues in the history of recorded music, and a legacy of blues, rock and pop classics that made Fleetwood Mac the icons of the music industry they are today.

Rumours Of Fleetwood Mac Return To Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall In 2015. full post

(311 words, 1 image, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)