Category Archives: Music

Porcupine Tree: Closure/Continuation. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Wait enough time for something to return and there is a chance that it could prove to be a disappointment. The strength of the eagerly awaited is only underpinned by the result matching the expectancy, and at times the result can feel undervalued, under performed, and perhaps even limp, as the wrestle between anticipation and actuality becomes blurred and distorted in the eyes and soul of the one who killed time in the presence of the shadow of projected results.

Porcupine Tree: Closure/Continuation. Album Review. full post

(455 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Christine McVie: Songbird: A Solo Collection. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

We must remove the earphones from their fleshy sockets and truly acknowledge the sound of the Songbird whilst we can. To wander in nature and feel the unblemished and resolute call to the early morning sun or the final song of rest as the day comes to its conclusion, is freedom that resonates unflinchingly, the adaption of the songbird’s voice, its pleasure, its pain, the very being that its soul is urging all around the hear, that is the liberty of expression that comes with opening ourselves up to the beauty of the voice.

Christine McVie: Songbird: A Solo Collection. Album Review. full post

(400 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Roxanne de Bastion, You & Me, We Are The Same. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Hearsay is all well and good, but if you want the truth, you go directly to the source.

The debut album is always one that captures the spirit of what went before, the old adage of it being a reflection of your life up until the moment it is released, no matter how old the artist, or even what genre they put their thoughts out into the world from, the debut is important, it is the standard bearer for what is come. 

Roxanne de Bastion, You & Me, We Are The Same. Album Review. full post

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

Bella Hardy: Love Songs. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Love is complicated, if only it were a flawless, if only it was not so fragile, if it were robust and able to heal rather than fracture so easily when the slightest pressure was applied; if only love was tolerant, if it did more than leave you vulnerable and elated at the same time…but then we would have no need for Love Songs, we would have no need for the melancholia, we would have no need for sentimental beauty, the passion of regret, the joy of reconnection.

Bella Hardy: Love Songs. Album Review. full post

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

Larkhall: Say You’re With Me. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Words are meaningless when all you require is understanding, the acknowledgement that someone else is willing to walk beside you in the dark, to have your back when the world turns on you, and to nod solemnly and then, only then do words matter, for in the question posed from your lips, Say You’re With Me, only yes or no will mean the difference between faith and conviction, and only then will you know for sure someone is truly listening.

Larkhall: Say You’re With Me. Album Review. full post

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

Chastity Brown: Sing To The Walls. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Perhaps of all the genres of music out there not to suffer a downward sense of appeal in its long and fruitful past across the whole spectrum of lovers of the art, Soul still finds new ways in which to enrapture the feelings of the individual, the ones who listen comfortably for the thousandth time of asking, and those who rarely dip their toe in the waters of anything other than their chosen musical love.

Chastity Brown: Sing To The Walls. Album Review. full post

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

Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler: For All Our Days That Tear Our Heart. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

If you are fortunate enough in life, occasionally you might come across a piece of art that sends delightful and meaningful chills down your spine, the sensation that you are in the presence of a moment that will haunt you, that will leave you scarred, drained of reason, that will push your emotions to the brink of letting go, and then with passion, with sheer will, pull you back, will gladden your soul, and make you understand the intensity, the affection that has swelled the belief that For All Our Days That Tear Our Heart we are left with having lived as all humans should, with truth never have been withheld from us.

Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler: For All Our Days That Tear Our Heart. Album Review. full post

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

Kim Carnie: And So We Gather. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

A soul that’s driven, cannot be tamed.

We have lived, and continue to do so, through times that the once thought Chinese proverb would impel fear into those that were said to be cursed by its very utterance; and yet without those interesting times, how do people become inflamed, inspired, by events so that they may add to the world a beautiful sense of balance. The soul that’s driven to explore, who is not put off or swayed by the prospect of interesting times, pulls the crowds and the belief with them; And So We Gather at the alters and the sanctuaries on offer to praise them.

Kim Carnie: And So We Gather. Album Review. full post

(451 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Rusty Tinder: Alchemy Road. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The struggle, though denied by those with an agenda that borders on narcissism and selfish need, is real. Only the self-absorbed or the ego-driven would look at another’s struggle and be satisfied at the pain etched on the person’s face, only those that cannot understand empathy seek to kick another human being when at their lowest, only those who see nothing wrong with dancing with indifference would deny someone the opportunity to walk along the Alchemy Road and see their life transformed.

Rusty Tinder: Alchemy Road. Album Review. full post

(431 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Paul Dunbar & The Black Winter Band: Changing Faces. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Faces, like attitudes, like opinions, like life, can change in a heartbeat, we don’t always know what’s coming, what lays in front of us, all we can hope for is that the potholes are avoided, that if the wind alters direction we are not cursed with an expression that can be considered to have turned on the crowd, and instead is open, passionate, fruitful, and above all, ready to offer something of ourselves that is unique, cool, and is utterly, devastatingly, incredible.

Paul Dunbar & The Black Winter Band: Changing Faces. Album Review. full post

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