Category Archives: Music

The Love Dimension, Create And Consume. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

In the blink of an eye a life can change. In the time it takes to hear an album by a band foraging their way carefully through the Californian minefield of abundant music, you are already finding your thoughts focused on making sure you get on a plane sometime soon, taking a trundle down any of the side streets of San Francisco and hoping that you will bump into a band member or two and clasping them firmly by the hand and without a second thought for so called British reserve; telling them that you love them so much that you want to re-start the psychedelic revolution with them.

The Love Dimension, Create And Consume. Album Review. full post

(442 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Cousin Jac, Believe Me To Remain. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are those who are quick to judge without considering exactly what it is that makes an artist tick. The spark of idea, the small germ of a notion that takes root and multiplies until it cannot be contained, a concept that takes over every waking moment; all are seen to some as just an impulse in which to suggest that an artist and their work is of less value to society than almost anyone else, that what they do is too easy, perhaps a cop-out from doing something else. Nothing in this world is further from the truth and for Jez Wing’s Cousin Jac, he is to be believed with every fibre of his being.

Cousin Jac, Believe Me To Remain. Album Review. full post

(446 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

AC/DC, Rock Or Bust. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Empires pass, they have to for the next stage of evolution and growth to begin, some spectacularly, some with a whimper and some…well some just turn to stone and meld into the background and always acknowledged and remembered with fondness for what they delivered in their lifetimes. Empires pass, and so do legends and for AC/DC, the time to perhaps gather dust is upon one of the greatest Rock bands to ever grace a stage and tear seven bells of Hell out of a studio.

AC/DC, Rock Or Bust. Album Review. full post

(483 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Ten, Albion. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Albion is a name that conjures up a different time, a place in which few would even think about now but for the odd semi-muted mutterings of a dusty academic or a fan of West Brom or Brighton after a win at home. The act of a union of a long gone age but which was forged in fire, diplomacy and the blood of many a soul. The coming together of the mythical Albion is entrenched though in some thoughts as the long established Manchester Rock band Ten is in others, and for them Albion is a by-word for an alliance of closely themed songs which can set the pulse racing just that little quicker.

Ten, Albion. Album Review. full post

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

Dirt, Bonds. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It takes a Doctor who normally knows you well to prescribe you something extra that will get you out of a slump, the timely injection of the touch of prospective future genius in which to immerse yourself into. That Doctor will not leave you floundering like a salmon gasping for oxygen on the banks of raging river and with a bear looking hungrily on, he will not leave you in the dust, but he will prescribe you Dirt and the boost to the musical eardrums is opportune and sensible.

Dirt, Bonds. Single Review. full post

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

Kevin Critchley, As I Disappear. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In all of us there are times in which the urge to disappear, to walk away from all that surrounds and consumes us, when its either overwhelming to the point where one day your best friend suddenly finds you have left the country and are now contemplating eating lentils and enjoying a spiritual uplifting moment in Tibet or at the very least your loved one might come across a journal in which you have kept with an eye on the future in which cutting logs outside of a wooden cabin in the depths of the Canadian wilderness.

Kevin Critchley, As I Disappear. Album Review. full post

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

Mellowtone, Ten Years. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The name alone evokes images of nights in the more entertaining and laid back venues in Liverpool, the relaxed atmosphere of the afterglow of an easy afternoon turning its hands to the time of the extraordinary and the anxious furtive glances of a night in which elegance and style are only part of the running order. For Liverpool’s Mellowtone, the homes have been many, the acts numerous and always welcome but there is really is only one Dave McTague.

Mellowtone, Ten Years. Album Review. full post

(483 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Thom Morecroft, On All Night. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Ultimately all that can matter from a single release is whether it grabs you first time round and playfully suggests that you go and investigate the hopefully inevitable album or E.P. that comes a few weeks after. In the end the complete work is where the reveal into an artist’s soul and thoughts lay. Like a Shakespeare sonnet being read aloud in an English class and discussing it with knowledge without having read any of the others, the whole body of work is where the real insight comes into play.

Thom Morecroft, On All Night. Single Review. full post

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

Emigrate, Silent So Long. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Perhaps more than any other art form, the wheels that turn band memberships and the off shoots that see music evolve and prosper is a by-product of the artistic and perhaps more combustible association of having so many diverse personalities within a tight and fruitful combination. Fallings out, bust ups, natural progression or just the urge to do something new away from the people that you have fought alongside is enough to spark the motor of creativity and force a long dead sense of freedom from out of exile.

Emigrate, Silent So Long. Album Review. full post

(422 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Spiders, Shake Electric. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

If you ever needed more substantial proof that the lands that make up Scandinavia are the rightful kings and queens of Metal in the last few years, then you need look no further than the excellent Swedish group, Spiders and their latest album Shake Electric.

The tangled, layered web of Ann-Sofie Hoyles dominating vocals playfully tease the listener with a fascinating intrigue, a perspective and a look into the world in which for many have left behind by the time they hit their 30s or when the fickle finger of parental responsibility comes crashing into view like a ten tonne truck out of control on the M6.

Spiders, Shake Electric. Album Review. full post

(349 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)