Category Archives: Music

Richard Haswell, With The Changing Light. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

With The Changing Light, we see things in a way that either more appealing, or at least different, our perspective altered to the point where the dusk is illuminating, where the ruby brightness is blinding, where the transformation is to embraced.

Following up from his 2017 album Lamp Black, the Edinburgh based musician Richard Haswell returns to the fore to deliver an album that, whilst written and recorded during the ensuing social health storm of 2020, actually finds the space to ensue and proactively promote a sense of freedom, an embracing of frank expression. It is to this beauty in which the sound encompasses with inquisitive non-conformity, a burst of energy full of candour and colour.

Richard Haswell, With The Changing Light. Album Review. full post

(368 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Peach & Quiet, Just Beyond The Shine. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Even in the midst of dark times, it seems that poetry and poetic feeling are easy targets for others to decry, to shame it somehow as an expression of the uncomplicated and the effortless, to suggest that the tones meant to deliver comfort in extraordinary times are shallow, eager to please and drowning in their own contented juices. Such talk is not just a heresy against communication, it is an illustration of contempt for anyone daring to think of anything other toeing the perceived line, that the artist means nothing in a world of sour grapes and misinformation.

Peach & Quiet, Just Beyond The Shine. Album Review. full post

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

David Neville King, Childhood Soul. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The yearning to be our own master is such that we look forward to the day when we become able to make our own decisions without considering other people’s opinions or advice; and yet we lose something vitally important in our rush to leave behind our Childhood Soul, we losethe belief in the small details, we forgo the chance to revel in having nothing more complex to choose than what breakfast cereal we wish to delve into or what superhero we want to wear on our underwear.

David Neville King, Childhood Soul. Single Review. full post

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

Peggy James, Guardian Angel. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The paint laid down during 2020 may have begun to dry, but that doesn’t mean the building work is finished, if anything 2021 will see the Wisconsin born and southwest raised Peggy James take further action in her affirming project, in building another story to which her house of ideas and music can be sheltered from the storms, and to which can be seen as a positive influence by all who venture through her front door, who seek change and positivity in a world Hell-bent on self-destruction.

Peggy James, Guardian Angel. Single Review. full post

(397 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Hegarty, The Cloudwalker. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

We live in interesting times, that perhaps is a curse, a sign that we have taken so much for granted, that we have forgotten that hope is there to provide comfort, not illusion, not the sense of seeing life as a desire to have it all, but to be content with what we have, and learn that what walks away was perhaps never meant to be.

Hegarty, The Cloudwalker. Single Review. full post

(418 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Paul McCartney, McCartney III. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The pedestal to which one of the Godfathers of British Pop has always been levered up to a point where he has become, not through his own design, a musical idol that is untouchable, a human being to whom the narrative has often been inscribed by others that he cannot do wrong, that all he put before the audience works. It is upon this grand pedestal that Paul McCartney has been put, the humble drive and beautiful spark of musicianship and humanity has almost, like the other members of The Beatles, been encased in gold, not allowed to corrode, to show fragility or the odd blemish in the studio.

Paul McCartney, McCartney III. Album Review. full post

(467 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Simon Mayone, Mayone. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Respect and reverence are two states of mind, of attitudes of grace that for some reason in the 21st Century have become emotions to be sneered at, the case for individualism without tribute or honour seems to have dissolved, dissipated into the ether like mist burnt away by the Sun. Even in the art of a cover or an homage, a section of an audience will either punish the artist for having the temerity to tackle what they see as a sacred idol, an untouchable symbol of their youth or their love, or declare without praising the original author of the piece as they fawn over the latest star to come their way.

Simon Mayone, Mayone. Album Review. full post

(588 words, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)

Iron Mask, Master Of Masters. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Two trains of thought arise when humanity is faced with interesting times, that of seclusion, argumentative fear and dominance on one hand, and on the other the backdrop to the epic, the inbuilt memory of tales handed down throughout spoken and written history, the fine line drawn between heroism and cravenness, the Master of Masters and the individuality we seek.

Iron Mask, Master Of Masters. Album Review. full post

(415 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Johnny Coppin, Midwinter/Live In Concert. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

In the bleak midwinter…we can either count our blessings or drown our sorrows to the point where we become numb to the pain we have suffered during the year, or to the thought of what is to come. Even if we don’t look upon the ritual of Christmas as anything other than exploitive, there are moments in which the cold or untrusting heart can be swayed into accepting that the year’s end does not mean finality, but the prelude to new beginnings, to accepting change with a song in your heart and with passion to see you through the darkest days.

Johnny Coppin, Midwinter/Live In Concert. Album Review. full post

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

The Suns, Serve 9. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

In a time when to serve more than just a bubble is a political no-no, to find a thrill in the distribution of one willing, able, passionate enough to Serve 9, then the year with all its faults and Loki like mayhem, is one to be grateful for.

The Suns, Serve 9. Album Review. full post

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