Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There is no need to visually imagine how glorious sound is, to think of it as an experience that only the eyes can feast upon, that witnessing something magical is reserved just for a single sense to covet as a dragon might upon a pile of gold, all that is required in the willingness to confront and embrace clarity, to prepare the soul for every audible moment that may come your way.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
After Hours, is that time of the night when a few select friends and unobtrusive onlookers find themselves in the company of the artist at play, comfortable in their surroundings, not being scrutinised by the rabid and the feverishly inclined who pay their money and leave with a little part of the inner soul of those who they have demanded in return for their time.
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Dark humour and pain are often seen as disturbed cousins, sharing a bond that is born out of discomfort and a psychological ache that refuses to beat in a way that would imply expired confidence, a sadness that is overwhelming. There is no avoiding this special connection in life, the only option is to embrace it, to feed the soul with all that comes in the forms of loss, the failure of errant communication, loneliness, broken faith, and even feeling ill at ease when the world is content and your body has no reason to squirm; and like mastering sarcasm, the need for dark humour even in the most trying of times is of paramount necessity.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Atmosphere is important when life holds the opportunity to hear a version of majesty that comes from a language other than your own. Grandeur is always welcome, but it should always be presented in such a way that it holds sincerity, not just a flash of inspiration dressed in the clothes of modesty, but full on application of audible prosperity, it should leave the listener with an impression of explosions at the edge of the stratosphere and the feeling of energy at is heart.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
We search for the light that will guide us, for the lamp that warns, and our eyes are irrevocably focused on the darkness for the beacon that offers us hope, the substantial fire in the distance that calls for aid, that signals the moment to return home and leave the broken soul that you carry with heavy heart behind.
In the modern world we are summoned to ride the distance by the incessant ping of the artificial, the buzz of electronic, and unlike the beacon that grows steadily, and which asks your mind to fully accept that which glows, the damnation of the synthetic growls like a cornered wolf, offering urgency instead of warmth and heart.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
In a fair and just world Ian Dury would have been more than just a working class hero, he would have risen above the status of informed commentator, he would have surely been an assured laureate, esteemed in high circles, venerated as one of Britain’s finest poets…but then he would have been pressured to conform, to be seen as a voice of those that bore no consequence to how they took delight on keeping the lower classes in order; he would have had to show a kind of normalcy that was less about vision but of compliance, and the master word builder of his generation would never have allowed that.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Of all the albums that Pink Floyd produced perhaps none come close to exploring melancholy, ghosts of the past and bitterness, despair and anger in equal measure than the 1975 release of Wish You Were Here.
Much has been written of the album’s mythos, the strangeness of seeing an old friend and leader of the Progressive Rock group standing in close proximity, staring meaningfully as the songs came to life, as they seemed to echo the disconnect that had been suffered with a sense of drama and distress; yet interestingly not with any kind of disruption to the machine, to the Pink Floyd story.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
We think we deserve to be in the light, to be the sunshine of everybody’s life, to be seen as so bright that in our company wearing shades becomes obligatory and without causing anything but smiles and hearing the hearty words of congratulations. That is the modern effect of belief, installed into us that we can be all things to all people and they will thank us for the barest effort we show.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The 80s was a time of obvious change, a period which the everyday that had been hanging in the air without recognition suddenly shifted, the momentum quickened, the hangovers of previous generation became polarised and the passion of anger was relit, reawakened from the early days of Punk and instead utilised with force and beauty a different kind of music scene, one that made pop be more than just bubblegum and teenage dreams, and actually not just make a point, but hammer it home with aggression and a vibe of consistency.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Class is permanent, as they rightly say, and technical mastery of an instrument lives long into legendary status, as Dutch supremo Jan Akkerman, the guitarist who successfully challenged the notion of dominance of British/American virtuosity that had had arisen, returns to the ears of the listener in a brand new live recording, My Focus – Live Under The Rainbow