Category Archives: Music

Queensrÿche, Empire. (2021 Box Set). Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

How do you top an epic; to be frank it is virtually impossible, not unfeasible, but practically gruelling, an act that test the fortitude of even the greatest artists of all time.

If you look at some of the great Rock and Prog bands of all time, the action of producing what is in effect a masterpiece can have serious effects on the dynamic, can lead to serios questions being asked of the long-term direction of the group. Disaffection muddies still waters, and leads to break-ups, to the closing down of communication, and to the sore eyes of jealousy being opened and the terrible urge to destroy something beautiful becomes overwhelming.

Queensrÿche, Empire. (2021 Box Set). Album Review. full post

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

Helloween (2021). Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The enormity of a return can never be taken for granted, nor should it be expected that the moment of greatest possible success can be replicated to the exact and defining point. However, the excitement of such a homecoming, the restoration of a valued enterprise and line up should be heralded with a certain amount of glee and trumpets that are strong enough to bring down the fabled walls of Jericho.

Helloween (2021). Album Review. full post

(475 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Brian May, Back To The Light: (2021 Deluxe Re-issue.) Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There should be no doubt that the period between the recording of the album Innuendo, and the passing of Freddie Mercury in the autumn of 1991, was for the three other members of Queen, tumultuous to say the least, unrestrained, a peaceful sense of chaos and satisfaction rolled up into one heavy ball that could not be allowed to settle until the exact moment when all three felt comfortable to do so.

Brian May, Back To The Light: (2021 Deluxe Re-issue.) Album Review. full post

(610 words, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)

Dean Johnson, Cut The Air. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is perhaps nothing more noble than the artist who understands that life in their chosen field is not all wine and roses, no storming of crowds ready to chant their name on mass at the back stage door, no sense of emotional discordance when a song flies to no.1 in the charts and then replaced three weeks later by a novelty act with a suspect accent and repetitive strains of chorus that are more catching than chicken pox, and just as likely to leave a lasting itch.

Dean Johnson, Cut The Air. Album Review. full post

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

Ben Bostick, Grown Up Love. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Everybody imagines at one time or another that they would have had this great love affair in the youth that was on the same dramatic scale as Romeo and Juliet, later perhaps they realise that the emotions that come with such teenage fancy are not only insecure but add nothing to the future but maybe embarrassment and the pain of regret.

Ben Bostick, Grown Up Love. Album Review. full post

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

Brooks Williams & Aaron Catlow, Ghost Owl. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is said that the more you learn, the more you understand how little you actually know. However, it is also true to state that the more you are inspired to learn, the more your creativity can burst from its containment and cage and can soar higher, can perceive movement in the dark, and with sharpened talons seize the moment of opportunity when it is presented.

Brooks Williams & Aaron Catlow, Ghost Owl. Album Review. full post

(405 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Bigflower And Brian Bordello, The Onion King. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Art is about capturing the moment, the zeitgeist, the point where quite often the voyeur and the eternal note keeper don’t quite understand where the Muse is coming from, perhaps not even speaking the same language, but understanding that what is being translated across is just as valuable to the exercise of free rein within art as it is to the experiment of collaboration.

Bigflower And Brian Bordello, The Onion King. Single Review. full post

(388 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Paul Holden, Say It To The Sun. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Whisper to the trees, tell your story to the winds, and don’t let the words fall on barren unsympathetic lands; but most of all if you have a tale to share or to resonate in harmony, then have the courage to Say It To The Sun and let the continually of the burning sky heed and spread your words, let the seeds of your truth be sown in a manner befitting the world at large.

Paul Holden, Say It To The Sun. E.P. Review. full post

(445 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Troy Redfern, The Fire Cosmic. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The Cosmos is on fire, and somewhere on Earth there are those that can hear the heartbeat of the Universe crying out to be noticed, to take heed of the charm and the rhythm provided by the fireworks of inspiration that come when we see stars explode and the heavens show us signs and portents.

The Fire Cosmic, the appreciation that the universe holds more than we can imagine, is the way the artist shows that they have been listening, taking heed of the winds that blow through the strains of creation, and if the fan or the potential recipient of the muse driven music can also be inspired, then the Cosmos has done its work, with majesty, with chaos turned to beauty.

Troy Redfern, The Fire Cosmic. Album Review. full post

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

Electronomicon, The Age Of Lies. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

For a concept album to exist, let alone grab you and take you on seismic journey which transgresses time and the human experience, it must have insight, it should make the listener believe in the event, the longing, perhaps the sense of hopelessness and rage that is examined in others that have paved the way, and above all, it has no choice but to be truthful to the universal suffering it is examining.

Electronomicon, The Age Of Lies. Album Review. full post

(458 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)