Category Archives: Music

The Stranglers: Norfolk Coast. Album Review. (2023 Vinyl Issue Release).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The world is a very different place to yesterday, so imagine how dissimilar it must feel to February 2004 on the eve of The Stranglers making a dramatic statement as they returned after six years away from the studio with the incredibly direct and musically thrilling Norfolk Coast.

If yesterday was different, then imagine how tomorrow must look, and that is the point of being able to finally hear the band as they release the album on vinyl for the first time; for whilst times change and alter in out perception, a moment of elegance and class is timeless.

The Stranglers: Norfolk Coast. Album Review. (2023 Vinyl Issue Release). full post

(591 words, estimated 2:22 mins reading time)

Sebastian And The Poor Valley Marauders: Live Vol: 2. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Some will never know the sheer thrill of walking through a venue’s door and being greeted by a fanfare of noise emanating from an excited audience already in the firm grip of the reveal that is about to take place on stage.

Some will feel the tension and the love but never truly understand the belief that entangles the heart and the soul as they watch with closed senses the spectacle and drive…and then there are those who will feel the weakness in their knees, the strength in their very being, and the beauty of the experience, close up and personal, the heady aroma of silk music and playful performance which is akin to a night of heavy drama in a theatre, and be forever captured by love.

Sebastian And The Poor Valley Marauders: Live Vol: 2. E.P. Review. full post

(361 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Jethro Tull: RökFlöte. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Music should find a way to always surprise you, even if it by the margin of a raised eyebrow rather than the full overblown slap of connectivity that you hope for.

There is a lot to take in when confronted by the appearance of Jethro Tull’s latest album, RökFlöte, so much to unpack that whilst the idea should come as no surprise, the delivery is one of quietly drawn respect and admiration for pulling off the spectacle. Not only is it the shortest turn around in between albums, coming hot on the heels of 2022’s The Zealot Gene, for 40 years, its central device is that which keenly involves itself in ways that hark back to the band’s early concept albums to which they made, in their own surprised way, a huge impression on the Progressive genre.

Jethro Tull: RökFlöte. Album Review. full post

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

The Selecter: Human Algebra. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

We are taught, quite rightly, as a child to not judge a book by its cover, but as we get older, more in tune to the universe, we cannot help in the field of art to gaze upon an album, a novel, a painting, and define it to our aesthetic enjoyment and be more likely to purchase the offering by the creative because of the way the cover stands out.

The Selecter: Human Algebra. Album Review. full post

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

Neil Campbell: Journey Into Space. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If we are to endure and thrive as a species, we must look further than our own home as a means of survival, we must continue to stride onwards, to take that often secluded Journey Into Space and seek out companionship in the darkness, in the void of that which surrounds us.

To ignore the beauty of what is directly above, to not want to see what lays beyond the clouds and reflective blue, is to not feel the inspiration that the heavens create with a sense of majesty and mystery. That inspiration is always there, it is deeply embedded within us, and to take that step is to understand that we are captivated by endearing magnificence and the persistence of Time itself.

Neil Campbell: Journey Into Space. Album Review. full post

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

Dean Johnson: Hip Shrapnel. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Loss is a great leveller, and a source of untold inspiration.

It may not feel like it at the time, but those personal bullet marks, the shrapnel that breaks our heart from the moment we learn of a life of a friend, a lover, a parent, has been taken by Time, give us a reason, should we wish to observe it, to honour the person that was. Be it a stranger, a fantasy figure, a respected artist, or any other soul that has in one way or another touched us, blessed our mind as well as our heart, we take that shrapnel and mould into a finer piece of reflection…no longer able to hurt us, it serves as an aide- memoire of the divine and the beautiful.

Dean Johnson: Hip Shrapnel. Album Review. full post

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

Metallica: 72 Seasons. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Almost forty years from the point of studio album introduction and the colossus and near unstoppable juggernaut that appeared in the hearts of Heavy and Thrash Metal fans, Metallica have encompassed almost every sphere at their disposal, and still the fans keep coming back, year after year, season after season.

Metallica: 72 Seasons. Album Review. full post

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

George Sansome & Matt Quinn: Sheffield Park. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The prospect of union is always exciting, it proves that we can combine with another to realise a dream that could take place anywhere from a studio in South Wales, to a plush apartment that overlooks the Hudson Bay, and to the soul and folk gathering place of a Sheffield Park with little distraction and a mountain of energy urging us onwards.

That is the point of combining forces of wot and candour, of like with like, and with the sheer industry that sometimes comes with opposing sides; for even those armies of declared intent gather together, the world can still find harmony in their unlikely connection.

George Sansome & Matt Quinn: Sheffield Park. Album Review. full post

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

Everything But The Girl: Fuse. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The meeting of minds is more than just connection and agreement, it is trust commended and followed through upon, even when a number of years have passed you can still find the moment where trust, commitment, and honour bound you together, then what follows was always meant to be, and to be certain.

Everything But The Girl: Fuse. Album Review. full post

(462 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

Thomas Charlie Pedersen: Employees Must Wash Their Hands. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Not all instructions are taken lightly, some are full of their own perverse excess, some revel in their perceived importance, and others are so full of drama that they almost border on hate speech, implying that if we don’t follow them blindly then we are guilty of many sins, of being out of the circle drawn, essentially in the dirt with our thoughts and ideas.

Thomas Charlie Pedersen: Employees Must Wash Their Hands. Album Review. full post

(383 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)