Category Archives: Music

Ian Prowse, Who Loves Ya Baby? Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

In a city that has produced so many voices, so many ideas and whom all of which have added greatly to the cultural importance and passionate stand against conformity and the bland, Ian Prowse certainly stands out as late 20th and early 21st Century hero. His voice and hand on heart declarations has led to many following his footsteps and as he proves time and time every week at his the ever popular Monday Night Club, the voice cannot, nor will ever be, silenced.

Stark, Stories from the Underground. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The reminder of folly is never too far away from the people of the South coast town of Brighton minds as they are reminded each day of the beauty of the sea that washes over the pebbled beach and threatens on a bad day to take the boats moored up towards the wall that hugs the front and its sense of back alley history, the Pavilion that gives a sense of opulence to a place that is amongst the salt of the Earth and home to some great music.

Adrian Nation, Live At Crossroads. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The sense of wanting to belong to something hangs in the air like an unspoken memory, a thought of clarity and perspective comes through the speakers and dispels the confusion and bewilderment that comes with the fast living in which we have all become far too accustomed to, the brakes have been tampered with and each one of no longer it seems has the time to grasp the moment to breathe. Guitarist Adrian Nation winds the window down, hands you an oxygen mask and smiles as he plays and his new album Live at Crossroads is a timely reminder to see through the muck, the shattered glass and outward momentum and just take in a truth.

Paloma Faith, A Perfect Contradiction. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There should be no doubting the strength of the appeal of Paloma Faith. Like Holland’s Caro Emerald, Paloma Faith crosses the borders between the pop heart and the jazz soul with lots of room for the exuberance of discovery, that tingle you feel run up your spine as she starts to sing and the music that follows her every move, ever sanguine note is like a coiled cobra ready to strike out and bite you pleasantly till you submit to her whim.

The Twang, NEONTWANG. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

If there is one part of the country that can possibly rival Liverpool for its attitude to music then Birmingham waves a large flag proclaiming its music history and its adoration of those that made venues such as The Rainbow, the old now seemingly forgotten Hummingbird and the gig area of The Dubliner their home before finding the way to world-wide success.

Mike Oldfield, Man On The Rocks. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Like the well timed bus that comes just as the rain starts to pour down or the moment when they person you have harboured a crush on for years tells you that they have always been in love with you; Mike Oldfield’s latest album, Man On The Rocks, provides the little ray of sunshine in a day that can be filled with every aspect of grey imaginable.

Emily Smith, Echoes. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are very few things as stirring as someone who wears their Celtic heart firmly upon their tartan sleeve. The heartache and pride of a thousand and more years history, the memory of water being distilled and savoured as if the most precious thing on Earth and the sound of a fiddle being weaved gently into the still night air, only to be heard by the faithful like a rallying call to mourn those lost and celebrate life in the mist and midst of Brigadoon. Such is the power of Emily Smith’s latest album Echoes, that Brigadoon is only a memory away.

The Broux, The Green E.P. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

When Rose Greenwood first came into the thoughts and attentions of music lovers in Liverpool, the sound she created for her solo release was one that captivated the ears. Just a little while later, the solo artist has grown and become part of a band named The Broux. From solo artist to a member of a fully-fledged group of talented musicians and through this she will no doubt reap greater rewards, as will the three men who guide her voice on their debut release, The Green E.P.

Red Pine Timber Company, Different Lonesome. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There has always been an independent spirit that runs through Scotland, no matter the current discussions that are being fought over on the line that separates the Saltire and the cross of St. George, the music sits proudly in the veins of all who either live North of Carlisle or who have grown up admiring it, the thought of the Highland mist, the taste of Scotch whisky hanging round like the rallying call from the Clans. Add though the touch of the Americana to the music, the big band scene, the brandy cask with 40 year old Balvenie shaking hands and embracing its Bourbon cousin Jack Daniels and seeing the heady mix meld into a debut album by the Red Pine Timber Company that is as sturdy as Scottish hospitality and as creative as the carvings of Mount Rushmore seen in pure sunshine.

Behemoth, The Satanist. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 91/2/10

Like a monster rising out of the shadowy depths, the colossus and the titanic seem to feed on the range of emotions given off by all who come into contact with it. However there is one giant from behind the former Iron Curtain that could put The Green Knight of Arthurian legend or the flawed destroyer of Grendel to shame.