Category Archives: Music

Peggy James: Till I Turn Blue. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Confidence in the right hands is never an illusion, it is never based on a false premise that is employed by the nature of the complacent, the smug or overly satisfied, it is based in a truth that a confident person offers a 100 percent of themselves, building from nothing, taking time to reach their potential and showing the world that they planned it all meticulously, took the chances but also measured it so much that the self-satisfied will argue until they become cold and unfeeling to the beauty shown.

Peggy James: Till I Turn Blue. Album Review. full post

(345 words, 1 image, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)

Joanne Shaw Taylor: Black & Gold. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When the annals of 21st Century Blues are written there will be names that are assured to note only feature heavily within the factually written pages but will be seen as true luminaries and icons of the genre; those that arguably saved the music from dying a death that had been telegraphed since the mid-1980s.

Chiefly amongst them will be the undoubted Queen of British Blues, one who has herself been influenced and aided by the likes of Joe Bonamassa, but has forged her own indomitable style and taken all in her path from the Midland’s heartlands of her birth to the wilds of America and back, the creator of all that is Black & Gold, Joanne Shaw Taylor.

Joanne Shaw Taylor: Black & Gold. Album Review. full post

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

Bruce Springsteen: Land Of Hope & Dreams. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The music fan is used to hearing that their favoured band has found a way to enter the studio during a tour, the seizing of the moment as they are gripped by inspiration is an age-old tale that almost every group or solo performer has found in their time on the road.

What is surprising to find is a single, even an E.P. that is released during a tour, it is an act of supreme confidence that the possible spoiler for the fan of what they might expect on the night they enter the arena or venue, is in effect a trophy of aural greatness, a highlight given its own space and time.

Bruce Springsteen: Land Of Hope & Dreams. E.P. Review. full post

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

Pavlov’s Dog: Has Anyone Here Seen Siegfried?. (The Lost Third Pavlov’s Dog Album). Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is one of the great tragedies of life that not all that is created by an artist sees the light of day, some of it is binned by the creator, discarded, burned symbolically, and turned to ash, other times it is lost, falling through the cracks due to outside forces or internal pressures. However, not everything in time is lost to the world, not all that was considered ash is blown to the wind, there is always a remanent, a chance that the original spark could once again fulfil what was.

Pavlov’s Dog: Has Anyone Here Seen Siegfried?. (The Lost Third Pavlov’s Dog Album). Album Review. full post

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

It’s Karma It’s Cool: Crashability. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision 8.5/10

We have become desensitised to the idea of someone being delicate, lauding their best life when they open up, but ignoring the signs of what causes them to withdraw. We have called such people by names verging on the cruel and ignorant, decrying the thoughtful and sensitive with disdain, abusing them with tactless remarks and even going as far as to ridicule those to who are fragile in the face of beauty and distressing times.

It’s Karma It’s Cool: Crashability. Single Review. full post

(322 words, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

Kate Rusby: When They All Looked Up. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Encouragement that comes from art is an enlightening act of respect of those in a position of what might be considered power gifting reassurance, boosting the mind and soul of those damned by society’s passion for kicking downwards, for staring almost with a contempt bordering on hatred, for when reinforced praise and hope are displayed with generous intentions, the understanding becomes clear, When They All Looked Up, when all are treated with support, then the skies become so much clearer and the faith in the heavens becomes apparent.

Kate Rusby: When They All Looked Up. Album Review. full post

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

Pink Floyd: At Pompeii. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

There are places on Earth which hold a solemnity of silence, a regard for the fallen which cannot, and perhaps should not, entertain the idea of any type of entertainment or jaw dropping sound of human expression; it feels disrespectful to the memory; and yet we must also acknowledge just what art can achieve in some places where the dead and lost souls can achieve in terms of atmospheric fanfare and the passion of connection of human spirit and the living.

Pink Floyd: At Pompeii. Album Review. full post

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

Neil Campbell: The Turnaround. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

One of Liverpool’s most endearing and enduring talents is a force of nature that resides in the humility of acceptance and vision, and to hear the music and imaginative insights of Neil Campbell as he offers his latest album, The Turnaround, to an audience well versed in his application, but who still find the beauty of surprise awaiting them with heartfelt adoration.

The composer and the player, a fulfilment of the harnessing energy at the will of the elemental originality that is focused on each form and collective gathering that the music requires, and whether on his own or in an ensemble, the pieces are brought together with precision and an attitude of dramatic peace and generosity.

Neil Campbell: The Turnaround. Album Review. full post

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

Sabeth Pérez: Searching For Beauty. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Though we might deny it, though we may be tempted to embrace the darkness and the often ugly rituals of humanity’s excess, to pour and scroll over the doom mongering that comes with our obsessions with social media worst scenarios, the way we linger in the presence of that which blooms, which grows with abundant colour and determination; for we cannot help but admire that which goes Searching For Beauty as it eases the tempest of the soul.  

Sabeth Pérez: Searching For Beauty. Album Review. full post

(370 words, 1 image, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Spear Of Destiny: Janus. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

How often are we afforded, granted the opportunity to look upon our work and think that it could be seen in a different light, given a fresh look with modern introspection and a familiarity which gathers pleasure along the way.

Named after the Roman God, Janus regales in that sense of exactness as it showcases re-recorded and revitalised tracks from the period of 1987’s Outland, and 1988’s The Price You Pay, Janus is an album of transition in Time, it doubles down on expectation, it alludes and then insists on a greater sense of purpose as one does when looking back with renewed vigour.

Spear Of Destiny: Janus. Album Review. full post

(395 words, 1 image, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)