Category Archives: Music

Michael McGovern, Highfield Suite. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Necessity is the mother of invention…if that is the case, then what comes forth out of oppression, of the requirement to take stock of the world and create something which sits inside, and beyond, the realm of imposed isolation.

Perhaps it is the obligation to make sure your words, your vision and dreams live on if the situation becomes clear that the world might tumble into chaos, whether of human making, or of nature inducing, that it might move on without you having committed yourself to the future betterment of humanity; an obligation to show that you were here at this time and place.

Michael McGovern, Highfield Suite. Album Review. full post

(381 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Jonathon Long, Parables Of A Southern Man. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

If everything has been done before, then why do we as a species continue and persevere to attain a new high in the application of performance art and bringing stories to life in every form possible? The answer is arguably astonishingly simple, it only appears as though everything has been accomplished, for whilst humanity has the ability to imagine and to experience the world in different ways, there will always be a call to hear the life story of the northern woman, and the Parables of a Southern Man. 

Jonathon Long, Parables Of A Southern Man. Album Review. full post

(454 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Joana Serrat, Hardcore From The Heart. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To subvert the narrative is an act of rebellion to which many cannot find within themselves to understand. To know that the lie of advertising is aimed squarely at the emotional pull of guilt, of envy, of possession, is to understand that you cannot have it all because something must always give, that the ideal is an illusion, and the perfect is unobtainable.

Joana Serrat, Hardcore From The Heart. Album Review. full post

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

John Jenkins, If You Can’t Forgive You Can’t Love. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

To apologise is hard, to forgive is challenging, and yet we are urged from early in life to see forgiveness as a way of promoting love for one’s self, to be able to move on from the perceived sleight, the moment of indiscretion, of the falling foul to all that makes us human; yet forgiving seems to be the hardest emotion to conquer, it would seem for many the easier option is make life intolerable for someone, to put them down, to find ways in which to destroy another human being just because they made a mistake.

John Jenkins, If You Can’t Forgive You Can’t Love. Album Review. full post

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

Mark Harrison, The Road To Liberty. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

To live at liberty is perhaps the aim of us all, to live without authority or control, to observe freely, have the right of self-determination, and above all to have our stories told without prejudice or the judgement of intolerance rearing its ugly head as the world listens to a thousand souls yearning to be heard.

Mark Harrison, The Road To Liberty. Album Review. full post

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

Matthew Robb, War Without Witness. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

To be as uncompromising as you can be in a world that dictates subservience is an act of rebellion against a state that perceives a War Without Witness as power’s greatest achievement; it is a non-negotiable undertaking that we must fight power by always bearing witness, we must observe and report, never once being marginalised by those with agendas that seek the continued stance of servility.

Matthew Robb, War Without Witness. Album Review. full post

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

Jez Hellard & The Djukella Orchestra, The Fruitful Fells. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The fertile rich spirit which inside all who come into this world is rarely exercised to its full potential due to circumstance beyond their control, outside influences, like apples on a tree are subject to the varying changes in the weather, the soil, and the nutrition, are always eating away at the soul of the human and dictating just how they can reach out to the sun without allowing the worms of discontent to eat their way through the skin and through to its very core.

Jez Hellard & The Djukella Orchestra, The Fruitful Fells. Album Review. full post

(373 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Roger Chapman, Life In The Pond. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There was once a school of thought, typified by the reaction of the old-fashioned critic, that those who are prolific in their writing are not as dedicated to their craft as those who can take years to produce a single piece of art. It is of course rubbish, a nonsense that is insult to the creativity of a human being when they are touched by the continued navigation of the Muse.

Roger Chapman, Life In The Pond. Album Review. full post

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

Gentle Giant, Free Hand. Steven Wilson Re-Mix. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Enigmas are there to remind us how not everything in life can either make sense or be pushed back into the limelight if the originators don’t wish to reunite and tread upon the same road once more.

Where other Progressive behemoths have reunified, have continued with a change in personnel, made documentaries together and pulled back the velvet curtain as Dorothy’s loyal dog, Toto, did when presented with the smoke and mirrors of Oz, Gentle Giant remind us that you may have been amongst the biggest in the world, but you can also take a step away from the ones pulling the lever, creating the illumination, and leave the production of the perplexing mystery to another’s Free Hand.

Gentle Giant, Free Hand. Steven Wilson Re-Mix. Album Review. full post

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

Toto, With A Little Help From My Friends. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

2020 will always be with us, it will be impossible to look back upon our lives in the future and not think of it, to focus on an area of loss, on a moment of pain, but in this respect, we must also think on those who helped, who aided us during a collective era of uncertainty, and when we remember that we made it when we can say with love and honour, With A Little Help From My Friends we survived and found reasons to live, laugh and remain positive.

Toto, With A Little Help From My Friends. Album Review. full post

(437 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)