Category Archives: Music

David Neville King, Black And Blue. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We are urged to ride the punches doled out by life, gas-lighters, and psychopaths alike out as a mark of growth, of tolerance, that turning the other cheek is a noble expression of understanding, but sometimes what is frustratingly endured only leads to us being beaten Black And Blue, that the bruises of the experience never truly disappear, they just fade until we are only reminded of them when we next receive a knock on the same spot and despite the bandages we place upon them, the prayers and sympathies alike, it is inevitable that we will always find those bruises catching us unawares, that they are there as a permanent reminder of what we endured.

David Neville King, Black And Blue. Single Review. full post

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

Bryan Adams, So Happy It Hurts. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Happiness is a state of mind, in much the same way that others urge others to smile more and frown less, perhaps out of concern, more likely out of control, to see the world as a place where all you can do is be happy is to arguably lower one’s guard, to feel secure when the truth is at any given moment life can give way to grief, to feel the kind of syndrome where it causes one to ponder that the measure of survival like any creature has been replaced with unnatural continual contentment.

Bryan Adams, So Happy It Hurts. Album Review. full post

(484 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

John Chi, River Of Marigolds. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is time that we admitted it to ourselves and the wider world, that everyone has only the vaguest understanding of what is happening, that the vast majority are guessing what comes next, and that it takes a hardy and unblinkered soul to assess any truth in such a way that their art speaks volumes and eases its way into the soul of anyone whose mind is not for rent, but who can see through the bleak misgivings of unfolding events and offer in return a sense of awareness and hope through persuasive means.

John Chi, River Of Marigolds. Album Review. full post

(477 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Michael Weston King, The Struggle. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The hardest thing of all is to admit that The Struggle is real, that each step we take can feel, on the worst of days, as if we are treading with slow grind consistency in a swimming pool covered in solidifying lava and without a hope of finding a way to be released from our torment…and yet, if we reach out, if we find the trust in the hand offered, and the honesty within to show our understanding then time finds a way to make the demand on soul something to sing about, to make the fight worthwhile.

Michael Weston King, The Struggle. Album Review. full post

(537 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Stella Diana, Nothing To Expect. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

We might as well all face the facts that we are drawn inexplicably to the enigmatic darkness, to the shadow that refuses to bend to the light but which entices upon the same energy, which acts as a black hole on the emotions, extracting and enticing the soul to love the poster “bad boy”, the “femme fatale”, to rage alongside the music that makes the heart beat faster rather than the type that soothes and places the muscle under a texture of forgiveness and satisfied regulation…we love the darkness, we crave for it in moments of happiness, we embrace it when the wind turns and we feel the chill of another life impinge upon our own; darkness is what we demand when there is Nothing To Expect.

Stella Diana, Nothing To Expect. Album Review. full post

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

Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate, HELL CA. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Love and Hate, two sides of a coin that both require clear heads and nothing landing on its sides, and whilst in respects those clear heads can lead to a possible Heaven, or at least a pleasurable amount of bliss on Earth, love also has the capacity to share Hell upon the recipient’s patch of ground that they have over eagerly prepared in the expectation that it would be smooth and offer an unshakable belief in the future.

Jizzy Pearl’s Love/Hate, HELL CA. Album Review. full post

(486 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Serious Black, Vengeance Is Mine. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Vengeance is mine…the cry and the anger filled release of those who cannot wait for karma to finish the job, who seek providence and fortune in taking the fight directly to the source and punishing the guilty with their own two hands. It is the reprisal of the self, the moment when the settling of scores can only be undertaken by the one whose heart has been riled enough to sing from the rooftops and into the limelight and spotlight glare, that the lyrics are so personal and responsive that they become the weapons of choice for the one who exclaims loudly… “Vengeance Is Mine, indeed.”

Serious Black, Vengeance Is Mine. Album Review. full post

(488 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Kevin Buckley, Big Spring. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

What’s in a name…as the poets may enquire as they work behind the scenes with the patience of a saint and the nimble fingers of a competitive sewer, revelling in the admiration of the scene they have created but never displaying for public consumption the tied knots and criss-crossed stitches that bleed into each other on the rear; for in this the name is only partially revealed, and as the gaze of appreciation focuses on the symbol of designation and label on the front, it is in the fluidity of the unseen that the name takes hold, and for Kevin Buckley that stitched scene takes on greater resonance and positivity than ever.

Kevin Buckley, Big Spring. Album Review. full post

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

Ghosts Of Sunset, No Saints In The City. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Immersed in the Noir, a focus of the black and white, a soft lingering shot on the femme fatale, the streets full of people, unwavering in their direction, unaware of what is about to hit them; and all the while the camera keeps turning, the film keeps playing, and the heroes prove that whilst there are No Saints In The City, there angels who know how drive the music home.

Ghosts Of Sunset, No Saints In The City. Album Review. full post

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

Marillion: An Hour Before It’s Dark. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

What kind of world are we leaving for our children, what madness have we exposed our fragile souls and precariously balanced minds to, for we have become overwhelmed with the unpicking of the detail that we have either, through neglect or apathy, maybe even self-preservation and wilful ignorance, the big picture!

Marillion: An Hour Before It’s Dark. Album Review. full post

(649 words, 1 image, estimated 2:36 mins reading time)