Category Archives: Music

John Jenkins And The James Street Band, Trying My Best (To Get Away From You). Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

When we find that moment of pure genius, we should embrace it fully and without reservation.

We can fully understand what it is like to be on the cusp of outrageous brilliance, and even seeing genius in someone else is never beyond our grasp; but when it comes our own way, when the parade of virtuoso performance is acknowledged as coming from our own endeavours, we may be reluctant to nod in approval for fear of being appraised as arrogant, over confident that the feeling captured will last an eternity; instead we should thank the stars and shout with damnation at the negative emotions, “Trying My Best (To Get Away From You)”.

John Jenkins And The James Street Band, Trying My Best (To Get Away From You). Single Review. full post

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

John Blek: Until The Rivers Run Dry. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is a certain kind of loyalty which makes itself known when an artist can finish a project within a timeframe that to some may appear quick, but to others who understand fully that the dedication observed is one that has come from having, in essence, everything almost worked out before you even step inside a studio.

Whilst there is a commendable Avent Garde spirit to be found in going with the flow, the sense of structure could be found to be missing, or at least unseen by the naked emotion of those in the vicinity of the process and those to who will hear, sense, dream, or touch the result with adoration.

John Blek: Until The Rivers Run Dry. Album Review. full post

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

Gloria Taylor: Sun. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Make hay whilst the Sun shines, or take the inspiration of the view that you behold when the clouds have been bested, when the darkened skies of misfortune and ill ease have been banished, and allow the healthy benefits of a clear mind to take you to a place that you might have sighted on occasion, but never been permitted to experience, that of peace, of tranquil repose, and the cease-fire of all hostilities imposed by others.

Gloria Taylor: Sun. E.P. Review. full post

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

Harrison Tonks: In The Middle Of The Night. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Play me a memory that I haven’t got to yet…

Life will always surprise you, if you allow yourself to wade in waters that you don’t know. The guidebooks may hint at the discovery and delight to be found in strange depths of human experience, the pictures and small descriptions might urge you to dip your toe, but until you do so In The Middle Of The Night and away from the glaring daylight, the experience, the joy, will remain truly out of sight, unknown.

Harrison Tonks: In The Middle Of The Night. Single Review. full post

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

Kelly Bayfield: Wave Machine. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Music is the Wave Machine to which our minds respond in peaks and troughs.

Our hearts may melt at the spoken gesture of a Shakespearean Sonnett, our eyes may mist at the sight of a Constable’s Haywain or grow inclined to embrace a surreal portion of Dali’s expression, we can even wax lyrical ourselves when describing a momentous piece of architecture to a person who cannot see, but music, the sound and emotion that accompanies a human voice as it seeks to address the joy, the love, the fear, the hatred and damage, of the grief caused by existing in the now, that is the sheer drive that causes the Wave Machine to be our constant friend and guide.

Kelly Bayfield: Wave Machine. Album Review. full post

(425 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Fe Salomon: Living Rooms. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

For some the idea of a large built-up city is one caught up in a nightmare of conformity and tight-fitting constriction, claustrophobic and oppressive suffocation. They see the lights of Living Rooms that hang implausibly in the sky, and they feel trapped by the knowledge that the metropolitan urban landscape does not offer the wide spaces of imagination that the forests and the fields outside their doors in which they need to feel secure, in which their stories can roam free.

Fe Salomon: Living Rooms. Album Review. full post

(472 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Eamonn McCormack. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Of kings and queens, of dukes, noble people and their trades, and the low born risen to greatness through determination, skill, and endurance, we can see ourselves at some point as all of these when we produce something quite extraordinary, and on the midst of brilliance it has to be acknowledged that conducting the drama of 2023 music release, creating a symphony of his own, Eamonn McCormack stands tall and proud as his self-titled new release sweeps the senses into a collective and watches them coalesce, blend together in one riveting musical experience.

Eamonn McCormack. Album Review. full post

(365 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Jonathan Markwood’s Hoo-Hah Conspiracy: Television For Trees. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The creation of a jungle stems from life being born alongside a river and seeing the shrubs and grasses unveil something quite astonishing and beautiful, a large impressive swathe of land turned into a landscape of biodiversity, of variety, and of stunning discovery…the creation of television might be one of the single reasons in which the human race, although improved by the flow of information, has been suckered into focusing on the flammable toxic that is programming, the allusion of education in the form of indoctrination.

Jonathan Markwood’s Hoo-Hah Conspiracy: Television For Trees. Album Review. full post

(404 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Thomas Truax (With Budgie And Mother Superior): Dream Catching Songs. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Many will declare when asked that their dreams are always forgotten the moment they wake up, some will linger beyond the first drowsy shake of the head and the casual swipe of rheum from the eye, but the dream, unless absolutely memorable for its content, will fade into dust like much of history.

Thomas Truax (With Budgie And Mother Superior): Dream Catching Songs. Album Review. full post

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

JW Francis: Dream House. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Love is in the air, unsurprisingly perhaps, for following Christmas and New Year, the holiday that celebrates new hope in the eyes of those seeking amorous connection, those who wish to have a sparkle in their lives following the darkness of long winter nights and little comfort, who can blame any soul wishing to be the subject who lives in a Dream House, who can for a time feel the emotion of a serenade created especially for them.

JW Francis: Dream House. Album Review. full post

(395 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)