Dave O’ Grady at The Lomax. Photograph by Ian D. Hall
Originally published by L.S. Media. July 16th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ****
Would you fly back home from foreign fields and the same night perform to a room full of people? More than likely not; even if doing your own job, no matter how important, normally takes a back seat after an arduous journey in the air. Not for Dave O’Grady.
Originally published on L.S. Media. July 18th 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ***
There is a moment on Serj Tankian’s new release, Harakiri, where you think, finally this is what I know he was trying to get across in the first few songs, and then just as fleetingly the moment is lost. Somewhere in between the tracks on the album it becomes sort of messy combination, a mish-mash of towering ideas that obviously started out with such creative, noble and honest intentions but may leave some fans feeling a little cold, not just with overwhelming subject matter but with the great man himself.
Originally published in L.S. Media. July 18th 2012
L.S. Media Rating ****
Susanna Hoffs, lead singer of The Bangles, comes back to recording music with the exceptional new album Someday.
There has always been something very West-Coast America about Ms. Hoffs’ music, even the very heavily Liverpool vibe that rolls through some of some of the early Bangles tunes has a tremendous 60’s Californian hippy vibe that is not only engaging but puts the listener at ease and makes them think of less hectic times.
Originally published in L.S.Media. July 21st 2012
L.S. Media Rating *****
The first time you hear Treehouse by Ned Evett you might wonder what makes his album so special. If you have to ask that then it’s time to give up listening to music and perhaps find yourself a safer more mundane hobby such as collecting stamps.
For anyone growing up in the 1980’s and seeing the cover of the Dire Straits album, Brothers In Arms, one of the most vivid and iconic images is that of a steel cased guitar that adorns the sleeve. It’s stunning and beautiful. Keep that image, magnify it by about a hundred and you are close to what Ned Evett has managed to achieve on Treehouse.
Originally published on L.S. Media. 23rd July 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ****
Cast: Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Cillian Murphy, Josh Pence, Liam Neeson, Nestor Carbonell, Alon Abutbul, Juno Temple, Matthew Modine, Ben Mendelsohn, Tom Conti, Burn Gorman.
The arc is complete, the third and (supposed) final Batman film starring Christian Bale as The Dark Knight gets underneath the skin of the man and the protector of Gotham City and leaves in its wake all other versions of Bob Kane’s greatest creation.
Originally published on L.S. Media. July 23rd 2012.
Inside View, Let Go. Album Review.
There is something rather deliciously and creatively cool about Inside View’s full debut album Let Go. After a few years of releasing the obligatory e.p’s it was perhaps time that the band consisting of Anthony O’Brien on vocals and guitar, Danny Heaton on guitar and vocals, Johnny Waring on bass and vocals and Sean Murphy on drums, released an album to an awaiting world and the result is a record of some magnificence and beauty.
Originally published on L.S. Media. Friday Aust 3rd 2012.
L.S. Media Rating * * * *
Cast: Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Philip Olvier, Ian Hogg, Elizabeth Bennett, Peter Egan.
For anyone who lived during the cold war period and especially during the dark days of the threat of possible nuclear war, then Jonathon Morris’ latest play for Big Finish, Protect and Survive, will give chills of the everyday terror once more. To those that listen to Doctor Who audio plays and only know of the dread that was nuclear obliteration, it offers an insight into a world that dominated by fear, mistrust and the ever-increasing spectre of terror.
L.S. Media Rating * * * *
Cast: Matt Smith, Sam Hoare, Geoffrey Palmer, Douglas Hodge, Thomas Arnold, Matt Barber, John Bird, Ron Cook, James Frain, Clive Merrison, Clive Russell, Sarah Vickers.
There will always be one story to come out of an Olympic Games that is ripe many years later to get a writer of quality excited and in turn the creative juices will bring about a script that is both touching and passionate and yet reveals the hidden anguish behind some of the great Olympians.
L.S. Media Rating **And so the story begins…
As 21st birthdays go, this isn’t a bad reflection of one of the seminal and iconic bands of the 1990’s. These days Blur can do no wrong, they are ingrained and established in the British psyche, they have grown up with the generation they inspired and where once they typified a whole sub genre of music, these days they can be considered cool enough to be, if not the elder statesmen of the British music industry then the bizarre uncle who once got down with the teenagers and who now can still be looked upon with much fondness.
Originally Published on L.S. Media. 30th July 2012.
L.S. Media Rating ***
If you are going to redefine yourself, whether as a human being or even that special breed that is at best casually derived and described as artistic and often much worse, then its best to do it before audiences put you in the box marked interesting in small doses but ultimately no future.