Category Archives: Music

Dan Brooklyn: The Great Beast. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Of all the concepts in which to put to an audience, the life, the mythos, the story of Aleister Crowley is one perhaps that many would shy away from, after all his legend precedes him, the celebrity, the icon, all the facets associated with the self-proclaimed Great Beast, they still manage to loom large over the practices of black magic and spirituality with an effect of storm clouds that could have been conjured by the critic’s favourite personification of evil.

Dan Brooklyn: The Great Beast. Album Review. full post

(519 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Professor T. Series Two. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ben Miller, Emma Naomi, Barney White, Andy Gathergood, Juliet Aubrey, Frances de la Tour, Sarah Woodward, Douglas Reith, Ben Onwukwe, Rupert Turnbull, Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong, Keith Dunphy, Juliet Stevenson, Lucy Anna Richardson, Barbara Verbergt, Tom De Beckker, Phil McKee, Sara Vertongen, Gaetan Winders, Alannah de Loor, Leo Long, Muna Otaru, Miles Jupp, Clare Perkins.

A television detective must have a flaw to convey a sense of security with the viewer, and in a period when flaws are accurately shown as a different kind of strength, the connection between viewer and the solving of a complex crime has perhaps never been keener.

Professor T. Series Two. Television Review. full post

(527 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

Simon Cousins: Myriad Of Colour. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Even in a world which swears undying adoration to the supposed truth of black and white, there is always room for a Myriad Of Colour to infiltrate the monochrome existence that we have been pushed, shoved into, as if we were incapable of seeing the beauty of a rose or the gentleness of grass without being instructed that it was there, that without the help of the over involved, we would be blind to the depth of shades and flush available.

Simon Cousins: Myriad Of Colour. Album Review. full post

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

The Bangles: Ladies And Gentleman. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

By way of introduction and welcoming to the show that is about to unfold, to return to the foundation of a story that went onto captivate and charm, thrill and not without the inevitable sense of distraction and sadness that comes as equal partners in a tale of the undaunted heroism that is performance…Ladies And Gentlemen, let the women speak for themselves as they take you back to the very beginning of The Bangles.

The Bangles: Ladies And Gentleman. Album Review. full post

(490 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

The Swan Chorus. The Swan Chorus. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Progressive rock never became unpopular, it was just misunderstood and shouted over by the angry two-minute epic rant; and in the same way that a novel offering guidance and invaluable reasoning will never be replaced by a well versed tweet, so art will never be found wanting for the album that transcends the earthly and routine in favour of the larger than life classic which struts with grandness, with purpose, and with an ambition to reach more than just a moment of recognition, it requires the humility of the soul to be grabbed as well.

The Swan Chorus. The Swan Chorus. Album Review. full post

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

It’s Karma It’s Cool: Old Bones. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Pop, it was once insisted, would eat itself.

For some the flesh of the genre might have been stripped down to the core, the power pop of generations past having lost its elasticity fighting for breath in a sea of consumption and want; and then there are those who have defied the argument, and for them it is more than just Old Bones keeping the genre together, it is the soul of appreciation that makes the body full, conversant with the sentiment of the day, and a full formed human observance that makes the songs dance with joy and spirit.

It’s Karma It’s Cool: Old Bones. Single Review. full post

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

Royzy Rothchild (ft: Emily Callacher) : Lonely Road. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is a Lonely Road we walk upon, and if we are fortunate enough to even find company for part of the journey in which to talk, to hold a hand when the going gets tough, or even just to contemplate silence and to enjoy the moment of having a comrade for the duration, then the lonely road is one that can still have songs accompany the time, the pace, and the meaning of travelling a distance with nothing but your own thoughts.

Royzy Rothchild (ft: Emily Callacher) : Lonely Road. Single Review. full post

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

Joanne Shaw Taylor: Nobody’s Fool. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The same fierceness, the utmost resolution in performing, a will and determination that has seen her become the undisputed queen of modern British Blues, and one to whom the listener at large falls for as they regale in the memory of songs she has placed before them; a modern British sensation on the world stage, a woman of substance, Joanne Shaw Taylor is Nobody’s Fool.

Joanne Shaw Taylor: Nobody’s Fool. Album Review. full post

(440 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Mike Ryan: Back Where We Are. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The sound of music is rarely anything but generous, if it is given permission to slide into the soul like first teenage love into the mind, it can be both pure, and exotic, the harvest it offers is enough to have you reminiscing at all times on its influence, how it makes you choose sides, how it ails you, how it lifts you to places that you never would imagine existing; and all that comes between is proof that it’s emotional resonance is all that is required to take you back…Back Where We Are, back to belief.

Mike Ryan: Back Where We Are. Album Review. full post

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

a-ha: True North. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Admiration of longevity normally comes with a price, the understanding that a particular artist, a group, a collection of like-minded performers has been around as long as you can remember, ones that may have formed your early appreciation for the genre, can lead to feelings of buoyancy, and that of regret.

The upheaval of the heart is such that the memory is subject to a bout of melancholy, the soul searches for a True North, and the mind will wander, flicking from celebration of past works to the commemoration that like life itself, such things must eventually end.

a-ha: True North. Album Review. full post

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