Category Archives: Music

Black Country Communion, Afterglow. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Black Country Communion, a supergroup so good they had to give the four members a third album just to satisfy the incredible clamour and deluge from their overwhelming number of fans.

The group certainly need no introduction, the music really does speak for itself, self assured, distinctive, mind blowing and with so much depth it practically carves out a 10 foot deep trench with ease; this is what makes Black Country Communion one of the best bands of the last two decades, and they seem to have managed this in less than three years.

Black Country Communion, Afterglow. Album Review. full post

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

Jonny Walker, This Is Not Me. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is an element of excitement, a shadow of lingering hopefulness that pervades the listener’s expectations when they hear a new artist for the first time. It can go disastrously wrong and the person who has invested their time and money may feel bitter about it for a while and then all things being equal move on to the next hopeful batch. There of course are the moments when an E.P. or an album just grabs them in a very unexpected and simple way, the joy of hearing something new is what makes it all worth-while.

Jonny Walker, This Is Not Me. E.P. Review. full post

(453 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Steve Hackett, Genesis Revisited II. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Since Genesis last took to the stage for their 2007 tour, the most productive two members of the stalwarts and guiding lights of Progressive Rock are the two that had left the band in the days before they become the corporate behemoth of the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Peter Gabriel has been busy giving his fans new looks of his back catalogue and inspired readings of other people’s works. Steve Hackett on the other hand has produced more solo work than any other member of one of the U.K.’s favourite Prog acts; he also seems to find time to keep the work of Genesis between 1970 and 1977 very much alive on his keenly anticipated touring schedule.

Steve Hackett, Genesis Revisited II. Album Review. full post

(507 words, 1 image, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

Peter Gabriel, So. 25th Anniversary Edition Release.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The irony will not be lost on the majority of Peter Gabriel’s fans that it is closer to the 26th anniversary of the release of his fifth studio album So than the 25th and they will also with no hesitation in their voices tell anyone that asks any type of awkward or disparaging question, that in the end it doesn’t matter. This is how Peter Gabriel does things and why he remains one of the most charismatic and unique figures in British music.

Peter Gabriel, So. 25th Anniversary Edition Release. full post

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

Meat Loaf, Bat Out Of Hell. 35th Anniversary Retrospective.

Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman, two artists whose contribution to the world of rock music should under no circumstances ever be dismissed to a mere foot note in the history of popular culture. In the autumn of 1977, they gave the world the first of three albums that were destined to shape a generation.

Meat Loaf’s career may have begun doing the rounds a few years earlier with performances in the musical Hair and with his first album released in 1971, the unremarkable Stoney and Meatloaf but it was his ground-breaking work with Jim Steinman that sent temperatures soaring in the October of the year when Punk was no longer a musical form of expression that could be contained and old Progressive Rock bands were feeling the force of musical rebellion.

Meat Loaf, Bat Out Of Hell. 35th Anniversary Retrospective. full post

(1080 words, 1 image, estimated 4:19 mins reading time)

Neal Schon, The Calling. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Over the last seven years, fans of Neal Schon’s electrifying guitar solos have had to contend themselves to an odd guest appearance with the legends Paul Rogers and Sammy Hagar and the resurgent power of his band, the American superheroes of Rock, Journey, if they have wanted to hear one of the greats in action. Now after a seven year absence, Neal Schon proves once again his standing in the pantheon of guitar heroes as he releases The Calling.

Neal Schon, The Calling. Album Review. full post

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

Tinlin, Shade Of The Shadows. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Take the vocal harmony of Scottish Del Amitri when they are at their soulful best, combine elements of America’s Simon and Garfunkel and add the passion that certain songwriters can bring to their audience and the result you have is a superb album by Tinlin titled Shade Of The Shadows.

Tinlin are brothers Rolf and Alex Tinlin, with their vocal harmonies and soft gentle refrains, they make a proposition worth listening to with some wide eyed and overwhelming abandonment. The sound they combine alongside Stephanie Blood on cello on the songs In These Arms and Don’t Want To Sleep Alone, Jack Carrack on percussion and Eleanor Tinlin on cor anglais and oboe make this an album worth seeping yourself into.

Tinlin, Shade Of The Shadows. Album Review. full post

(341 words, 1 image, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)

Beverly McClellan, Fear Nothing. Album Review.

Fear Nothing could just be an outstanding metaphor for Beverly McClellan’s life; the fact that she uses this inspiration as the title of her international debut album release shows not only how much she believes in her own mantra but also in the music that she has recorded.

American television programme The Voice may have given her national exposure but this is one woman whose work stretches back long before breaking a countrywide conscious with her very intelligent music and raw power in her sensual and honest bluesy voice.

Beverly McClellan, Fear Nothing. Album Review. full post

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

Kiss, Monster. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

No matter what, the story of Kiss keeps going. Nearly 40 years down the line Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons continue to let this gargantuan behemoth draw breathe and thrill their millions of fans. For their 20th album release Monster, the ingredients that made them absolute show stoppers and musical entertainers are still there and it seems as if this Monster will not be tamed.

Kiss, Monster. Album Review. full post

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

Beth Hart, Bang Bang Boom Boom. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It cannot just be by chance that music producer Kevin Shirley aligns himself with some of the most fascinating and brilliant people within modern blues and they don’t come much more fantastic than Beth Hart or her new album Bang Bang Boom Boom.

Following on from her collaboration with the man who makes blues seem effortless and instinctive, Joe Bonamassa, for the 2011 album Don’t Explain and her simply stunning album, 2010’s My California, Ms. Hart has once more come up with songs that are musically strong and reveal another layer to her virtuoso performances both as writer of intense feeling and also as a vocalist.  Her intonation and deep desire in her voice gets underneath your skin and tugs at every resistance you may possess until you give over to her demands.

Beth Hart, Bang Bang Boom Boom. Album Review. full post

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