Category Archives: Music

Inspiral Carpets: The Complete Singles. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is a train of thought that suggests without a sense of irony that in music’s place in British geographical history, Manchester and its local area, with a few exceptions, is the poor relation of inspiring and successful bands when compared to places such as Birmingham, Glasgow, London, and of course Liverpool.

There is a physical injustice to that belief, one that does rankle even those that were not enamoured by the sound of a generation that defined the 1990s, and one that certainly should be dropped when you have the opportunity to listen to a work drenched in guilt free sublime introspection.

Inspiral Carpets: The Complete Singles. Album Review. full post

(436 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Milton Hide: The Holloway. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The temperature rose, the emotions were felt and left to simmer, and it is only right that now Milton Hide’s husband and wife duo, Jim and Josie Tipler, return to the scene of their creative outlet and serve a second helping of their inspiring music, one of the same aural values, but one cut from a different and more varied recipe.

Milton Hide: The Holloway. Album Review. full post

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

Ally Venable: Real Gone. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The real of our lives is in danger of being forced out by the damage and instability sought by those that practise chaos; normally shrouded in suits and flattering salaries, as they offer sounds that can’t be heard, as they sign off on a lie of art which insults rather than edifies.

The Real Gone kids to whom expressions are found in the beauty of emotional truth are forever being told they have to adhere to a fashion that is neither desirable, nor satisfying; and those suits, they don’t care because they will always find one to whom the nation will be told to swoon at for the sake of publicity and fortune.

Ally Venable: Real Gone. Album Review. full post

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

Gareth Heesom: She Doesn’t Want You. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

To bring art via a medium that you aren’t necessarily associated with to the fore is to be acknowledged as a success, as an achievement, and yet there will be those who suggest with jealous feelings barely hidden, that to have a skill is to be a master of all; for they will infer that no one is concerned, no friend is bothered, and that the person you want to impress, well She Don’t Want You at all.

Gareth Heesom: She Doesn’t Want You. Single Review. full post

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

O’Hooley & Tidow: Cloudheads. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

It is better to have your head in the clouds than to see the depths of Hell that others will sink to as they chase dreams that are to be acknowledged as misaligned to humanity’s best interests.

O’Hooley & Tidow: Cloudheads. Album Review. full post

(481 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Murph Bower: Juniper. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The cleansing rituals of old have largely been forgotten as we move away from ancestral paths that once guided us, the rites and blessing that once offered us protection as we inhaled its smoke, has now been replaced by a chemical imbalance. We are healthier perhaps, but our souls have become tainted, trapped in a smog not of nature’s power and ritual, the smell of Juniper berries is no longer in the air, it is the taste of compliance and regret.

Murph Bower: Juniper. E.P. Review. full post

(357 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

The Far North: Songs For Gentle Souls. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

What lays beyond the outer reaches could be considered sanctuary, but it is only in The Far North that truth reveals the extent of Songs For Gentle Souls and those that wish to see them succeed.

From the ashes of The Fireflys, Lee Wylding has stepped out of the embers and taken on the solo persona of The Far North, a name, a title, a declaration spoken as to the hardiness and world wise effect that the album has on the listener as the music and the soul of the performer combine with ease, sensitivity and fierce tradition.

The Far North: Songs For Gentle Souls. Album Review. full post

(356 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

C.A.L.I.E: Let Go. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Let Go of the belief that Jazz is not cool.

Whilst the genre didn’t find itself struggling with its identity in much the way that Blues faced as the last century closed its doors on the pre-World War Two musical expressions, Jazz nevertheless did find its way obscured from digging down into a new generations conscious, as other modes of musical transportation took the eyes and ears off the focus of what can be arguably spoken of in positive terms, the true form of free form available to the listener.

C.A.L.I.E: Let Go. Single Review. full post

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

Genesis: B.B.C Broadcasts. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

An almost unrivalled collection, whether from these shores, or even on the other side of the pond that separates common listenership, the B.B.C.’s back catalogue of live recorded music is one to behold. Millions of hours of concert reels from every conceivable artist, and despite its faults, the indiscretions, the fall outs from flaws and blame, the criticism and inconvenient truths, the fact remains there is a repository of live music just waiting to be rereleased and given a fresh appraisal.

Genesis: B.B.C Broadcasts. Album Review. full post

(458 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Madness: The Liberty Of Norton Folgate. (2023 Album Re-issue). Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

One Step Beyond…for a group as universally beloved as Madness, whose record, so to speak, needs no explanation, just enough to know that in our lifetimes they appeared and blew people’s minds with their infectious music and consummate wit.

There has never really been a band such as Madness, and likely the fact is that there will never be again, and that in a way is good, because it means in the decades to come, those men of humour, insight, style, and songs that prick the conscious of the listener will be truly respected as one of the pioneers of their craft from the late 20th Century.

Madness: The Liberty Of Norton Folgate. (2023 Album Re-issue). Album Review. full post

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