Category Archives: Music

Bruce Hornsby, Absolute Zero. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The minimum value is not an accusation or deriding comment one can place at the door of Bruce Hornsby, quite the opposite in face, his energy and perspective across the decades has endeared him to more than one genre of fans, the melodic Rock, film score, musical and the cool sensation of sincere Jazz effect, all have rippled under the weight of dynamic prose and observance of life through the speciality of piano and keys, of lofty ideals and the slow dance with the eagerly devoured, Absolute Zero is a place that is the complete opposite to which the music provided in Bruce Hornsby’s latest solo album regales itself upon the hearts of the listener.

Bruce Hornsby, Absolute Zero. Album Review. full post

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

John Jenkins And The James Street Band, Looking For That American Dream. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating 9/10

Growing up in the shadow and aftermath of World War Two, especially in a period dominated by what can only be described as endless beige and cultural desolation, it is no small wonder that most people in Britain looked across the Atlantic and fantasised about a better life; bombarded by the latest films, television programmes, advertising and consumerism, a place in which the skies seemed endless blue, in which the mantra of being anything you want to be is achievable caught the imagination and made arguably the vast majority understand that they were Looking For That American Dream.

John Jenkins And The James Street Band, Looking For That American Dream. Single Review. full post

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

Manfred Mann Radio Days Vol 2: The Mike D’Abo Era, Live At The BBC 66-69. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating 8.5/10

We cannot but help but make comparisons, it is a natural urge to contrast the differences in style between one person and the next, it is perhaps a gauge in which we feel entitled to do so, from our prospective partners, to films and their re-imaginations, through to artistic works and into the realm of music.

Manfred Mann Radio Days Vol 2: The Mike D’Abo Era, Live At The BBC 66-69. Album Review. full post

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

The Bordellos, Crabs. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Silently or with fanfare, you cannot but help fight the urge to scratch the lethargy and monotony of the usual suspects finding a way to get into every pore of your life; the usual grinning faces that look down upon you as if all you are is a social disease that is ripe for boiling and taking for all that you are worth, the meat devoured and the shell of your life discarded as if nothing good can come from hiding within your skin of armour.

The Bordellos, Crabs. E.P. Review. full post

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

The Drystones, Apparitions. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating * * * *

“Ghosts don’t haunt us…They’re present among us because we won’t let go of them”, wrote Sue Grafton with more than a touch of Earthy wisdom. It is perhaps a sentence that carries much weight when viewed from the spectre of how the arts can infect us mind, body and soul, and one that is particularly telling when we realise just how impossible it is to remove ourselves from the fragile beauty of the Apparitions that surround us and which give is great joy and the feeling of incorruptible melancholy at the same time.

The Drystones, Apparitions. Album Review. full post

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

Manfred Mann Radio Days Volume 1: The Paul Jones Era. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating 8.5/10

It is perhaps easy to forget that the music of the 1960s were more than just four lads from Liverpool, easy and honest, after all, wherever you go in the world, wherever you may travel, a common unifying bond can be easily brought to any conversation by humming a few bars of any number of songs created by The Beatles; it is a truism that defies any other comparison, it also neglects the same adulation that should be placed at the door of bands such as The Who, The Small Faces, the early laid back beauty of Blues infused Fleetwood Mac and of course Manfred Mann.

Manfred Mann Radio Days Volume 1: The Paul Jones Era. Album Review. full post

(571 words, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

The Askew Sisters, Enclosure. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating 9/10

The world around us is not an illusion, but it can be described as fake, a sense of the limitation and imitation which we believe we require to breathe within, a shell which has hardened our souls and keeps us captive, a place where we become ever more disconnected from because we believe that the true face of humanity and its place on Earth is one of ugly thoughts and actions. We have become happy in our Enclosure, and the circle keeps on getting smaller, our pen more restricted.

The Askew Sisters, Enclosure. Album Review. full post

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

Katie Spencer, Weather Beaten. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating 8.5/10

Poetry is not a thing, it is not unobtainable or accessible, it is the bed rock and foundation of everything that you observe, it frames your vision, and whether you find solace in its meaning or simply get agitated because of the supposed rules of engagement, it cannot, and will not, be denied its place in your heart.

Katie Spencer, Weather Beaten. Album Review. full post

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

Greg Antista And The Lonely Streets, Shake, Stomp And Stumble. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating * * * *

Billy Joel perhaps said it best when he observed that, “You could dance and still look tough”, for nothing gets in the way of a community when the music starts, when the three minute jive insists that you join in and take in the mean streets but the tender hearted with the same glorious breath. For the world may seem like a collection of bones being rattled in a tin, the noise loud and frightening but instead it is the sweet serenade of flexed muscles sweating out a tune in which the audience has no choice but to observe and to take part in, the Shake, Stomp And Stumble of unrestricted melody.

Greg Antista And The Lonely Streets, Shake, Stomp And Stumble. Album Review. full post

(471 words, 1 image, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Andy Quick, Diamond Sounds. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision rating * * * *

A marriage that is of different persuasions quite often fail to ignite serious passions, one side pulling in one direction, the other finding their needs overturned in favour of compromise, of wanting the very best that can be achieved, but knowing deep down that the mine they want to dig in search of Diamond Sounds is one that might forever elude them.

Andy Quick, Diamond Sounds. E.P. Review. full post

(337 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)