Category Archives: Music

Shadowlight,Twilight Canvas. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The latest release by Hertfordshire band Shadowlight, the superb sounding Twilight Canvas, carries on in the same excellent form that James Hodkinson and Mark Wilson showed in the exceptional E.P. Winter.

Where the band have improved, if that is indeed possible with Shadowlight, is the addition of extra personnel in the form of Ed Williamson-Brown and Paul Collins on bass and drums respectively, the album oozes a quality that rarely gets heard on a debut album but then the foundations of the band were sown long ago with the musical partnership of James and Mark. It is perhaps a shame for any new fan coming into the band on the back of the E.P. or this new album that there isn’t a catalogue to explore. However the sounds they create on this debut signals the start of something very extraordinary.

Shadowlight,Twilight Canvas. Album Review. full post

(354 words, 1 image, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Michael Jackson, Thriller. 30th Anniversary Retrospective.

From child music sensation to world mega star, Michael Jackson epitomises the idea of seeing a musical legend growing up before your eyes and until his untimely passing seeming to be a legend that was indestructible.

Thriller, thirty years down the line still holds onto the record of being the best-selling album of all time and whilst perhaps not being in the same vein as its predecessor Off The Wall, it can be seen as the album that changed Michael Jackson from a boy to a man. The songs on the album still retained the core elements and critical awareness that producer Quincy Jones established in his working arrangement with the former child star on Off The Wall but with one key ingredient thrown into the mix that took Michael away the boy of the 1970’s to the sophisticated and international entertainer that would wow audiences till his death. Namely the song in which the album took its name from, Thriller!

Michael Jackson, Thriller. 30th Anniversary Retrospective. full post

(945 words, 1 image, estimated 3:47 mins reading time)

Science Of The Lamps, E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is something unerringly beautiful about the music of Science of the Lamps. Almost mythical in its presentation, stunning in its creation and just that pinch of Nordic noir/folk fairytale that filters through and gives the eponymous E.P. the type of storytelling and poetic mixture that craves attention.

Science Of The Lamps, E.P. Review. full post

(363 words, 1 image, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

KingBathmat, Truth Button. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The world of Progressive Rock has perhaps never been in a more healthy and thought-provoking state. The days of being labelled as dinosaurs and past it are long over, the new breed that fly the standard high, proud and youthful vigour such as Touchstone and The Reasoning sit alongside the giants of the genre and the old master who still show any aspiring musician just what is so cool about being able to thread together lengthy and intricate musical movements with a good lyric.

KingBathmat, Truth Button. Album Review. full post

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

Green Day, Dos!. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

How is it possible that one of the great American pseudo punk-rock bands of the last twenty years can deliver two wildly contrasting albums out to the masses in the matter of weeks?

If Uno! was the attempt to take back control of Green Day and take it away from the fan base that had held them in such high regard over two decades, then Dos!, its companion and much better sounding brother in a three course setting allows the fans to wrestle the idealism back and by everything that is considered musically holy, it can only be hoped that it stays there, or goes one better again for Tre! when it released soon.

Green Day, Dos!. Album Review. full post

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

The Popdogs, Cool Cats For Pop Dogs. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When pressed to name significant figures to have come out of Lincoln, the greater population of the U.K. may struggle before coming up with the fact that one of the nation’s favourite and experienced actors in the form of John Hurt was schooled there and for those more knowledgeable will be aware that Sir Isaac Newton was born in the same county but as for its music it has remained dangerously unexplored.

The Popdogs, Cool Cats For Pop Dogs. Album Review. full post

(368 words, 1 image, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Jessica’s Ghost, Losing Track Of Time. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

No matter what, 2012 could be the year that Jessica’s Ghost became a major force in the all-encompassing world of Liverpool music.

There have been some utterly absorbing albums to come from the region this year and rightly so as the city enjoys yet another renaissance in what people from London to New York to Sydney are expecting to hear from the place where the Mersey Beat first came of age, the eighties revival took hold and now the 21st century musical barometer is suggesting and predicting.

Jessica’s Ghost, Losing Track Of Time. Album Review. full post

(380 words, 1 image, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Simon McBride, Crossing the Line. Album Review.

This year has seen some incredible blues albums being released and the vast majority of them by women. This is not only great news to see the likes of Beverly McClellan, Beth Hart, Bonnie Raitt and Joanne Shaw Taylor take on the men at their own game but it also sees the new men of Blues raise their standards.

In a similar fashion the punk explosion of the 1970’s that musically threatened the old established figures , what is coming through is exciting and new and whilst led by Joe Bonamassa and some of the older guard like Robert Cray are still the Gods that every one aspires to become. This is no less true in the case of the exceptional Belfast Blues man Simon McBride.

Simon McBride, Crossing the Line. Album Review. full post

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

Adam Barnes, Blisters. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Oxford is known for its dreaming spires, its universities that are amongst the pinnacle of world education and thinking and one of the best cities to sit and have the occasional pint in one of its numerous and edifying public houses; what it’s not that well known for is for being a hotbed of young musical talent. Occasionally though a new musician will come through and whose voice breaks down barriers and wins fans in even the most music conscious places in the U.K., it won’t be long before Adam Barnes possibly becomes the most well-known musician to come out the city.

Adam Barnes, Blisters. Album Review. full post

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

Megadeth, Countdown To Extiction. 20th Anniversary Edition.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Following on from the 25th Anniversary release of the Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying album by Megadeth in 2011, the band have once again decided to give new life to an album that in all honesty doesn’t need to be tinkered with but is great fun to enjoy nonetheless.  Countdown to Extinction is one of the four great albums of Megadeth’s and Dave Mustaine’s early period and alongside Peace Sells…, So Far, So Good…So What! and Rust In Peace stand out as almost impossible to age and see decrease in stature, no matter how much the ravages of time may try.

Megadeth, Countdown To Extiction. 20th Anniversary Edition. full post

(474 words, 1 image, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)