Category Archives: Music

Rusty Shackle, The Raven, The Thief & The Hangman. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Stories are important, vital, central to the idea of what we are, the ability to weave a tale and have it last for generations is perhaps the reason why there is some approximate truth in the myths and legends that have given us a basis in which our lives have been built upon. Whilst dragons are not visible to our eyes, while the lost island of Atlantis evokes memories but no shred of final resting place, and the resting place of King Arthur remains a shrouded mystery, it is not to say that the folk legends that have grown up around them are any less intriguing than they were at the time of their first mentions by our ancestor’s tongues.

Rusty Shackle, The Raven, The Thief & The Hangman. Album Review. full post

(472 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Calva Louise, Rhinoceros. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision * * * *

You may never have stepped into a boxing ring, you might find that pugilism is something you shy away from or even actively discourage your offspring from taking up as a sport but unless you have strapped on a pair of gloves and looked into your opponent’s eyes as the bell rings, then perhaps you will not recognise the pummelling that you are about to receive, and with thanks, from newcomers, Calva Louise.

Calva Louise, Rhinoceros. Album Review. full post

(389 words, 1 image, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Simon Thacker, Trikala. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

“The trouble is, you think you have time”, the occasion is such that few of us truly take the positive step to go out into the world and create something insanely beautiful that it will actively unite people from different countries and who will undoubtedly have different ways of expressing their thoughts. We all want a place in the future, the recognition for being active in the present and yet we are hampered with almost unbearable crushing pessimism that our past will get in the way, that it will stop us from enjoying the sense of Trikala, the sense of humanity’s relationship with those three ghostly shades of Time.

Simon Thacker, Trikala. Album Review. full post

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

Katarina Pejak, Roads That Cross. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are many rivers to navigate but the road is the one that perhaps gives a greater sense of broken-down romance, the ambling or the raging waterway will still be surrounded by the deft touch of nature on either side of the steep banks, but the highway holds dark secrets, many intersections that criss-cross, the one dirt track of a decision that leads inevitably  to heartbreak and nightmares. The unavoidable meetings with the one who calls the toll; all in all the river of life is a walk in the park compared to those who don’t heed the emotional warnings of the Roads That Cross our path.

Katarina Pejak, Roads That Cross. Album Review. full post

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

Electric Mary, Mother. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Quite often in life the recommendations of others are to be taken with even the smallest pinch of salt, the sense of different taste is to be acknowledged, recognised, celebrated for all it is worth, and yet it must still be admitted. The only words of wisdom that you should ever trust apart from your own, is that of the one you call Mother, be it a physical person who has steered you right each time, or that of the symbolic, the one beneath our feet and the one that is all around, the icon of Mother Nature, the one that gives the planet the electric character of renewal and rebirth.

Electric Mary, Mother. Album Review. full post

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

Aaron Buchanan And The Cult Classics, The Man With Stars On His Knees. Special Edition, Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Never feel the pangs of jealousy as you find yourself spying on those who look to the heavens with glee on their faces, they may be dreaming of touching the stars, but they never imagine themselves being The Man With Stars On His Knees, they see the glory available to them, but they cannot fathom that beyond that there is the question of care, that we are part of a Universe and as such are required to give all that we can to see what we love, grow.

Aaron Buchanan And The Cult Classics, The Man With Stars On His Knees. Special Edition, Album Review. full post

(449 words, 1 image, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Gary Innes, Imminent. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Those who only witness life as if being shown the world through the short peek of an ajar door have no concept that somewhere in the vicinity will be a series of open windows, curtains drawn back, the welcoming wave of visitors and other on lookers already enjoying the fact they have been privileged to see into that realm at that time.

Gary Innes, Imminent. Album Review. full post

(420 words, 1 image, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Steve Hackett, At The Edge Of Light. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

At The Edge Of Light there is reason and there is the shadow, the light focusing on what gives us imagination and purpose, the shadows hiding for now the imperative of intention, the judgement of others in which the continuous rock face of their lies, their superficial engagement with our own lives, is lit up by the spark of realisation that we have to conquer the fear of the unknown first and then see the cliff and the rock face for what it is, the higher ground, the conviction of your own journey.

Steve Hackett, At The Edge Of Light. Album Review. full post

(492 words, 1 image, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

The Cardigans, Super Extra Gravity. Vinyl Album Re-issue Review. (2019).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is when the unknown becomes clear that we can feel like we have lost a friend, the moment may take months, years even, before the realisation kicks in that an artist or group may never take to the hunting ground of the studio again, and what you have left is to be cherished, to be seen as the reminder of a relationship that once was.

The Cardigans, Super Extra Gravity. Vinyl Album Re-issue Review. (2019). full post

(561 words, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

The Cardigans, Life. Vinyl Album Re-issue. (2019).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The 1990s are as far away now as the late 60s and early 70s were when that insistent decade began, a decade that was bookended by the gesture of hope as the aftermath of the Berlin Wall finally came tumbling down just a few short months before, and the finality of the party realised as the insanity of the Y2K bug bore down like a spectre, driving everybody to distraction and chaos.

The Cardigans, Life. Vinyl Album Re-issue. (2019). full post

(654 words, 1 image, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)