Susanna Hoffs, Someday. Album Review.

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.

Susanna Hoffs, Someday. Album Review. full post

(393 words, 1 image, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Ned Evett. Treehouse. Album Review.

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.

Ned Evett. Treehouse. Album Review. full post

(393 words, 1 image, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

The Dark Knight Rises. Film Review.

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.

The Dark Knight Rises. Film Review. full post

(646 words, estimated 2:35 mins reading time)

Inside View. Let Go. Album Review.

Originally published on L.S. Media. July 23rd 2012.

Inside View, Let Go. Album Review.

L.S. Media Rating ****

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.

Inside View. Let Go. Album Review. full post

(326 words, 1 image, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, Protect And Survive. Big Finish Audio. Number 162. Review

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.

Doctor Who, Protect And Survive. Big Finish Audio. Number 162. Review full post

(508 words, 1 image, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

Bert And Dickie. B.B.C. Television. Television Review.

Originally published on L.S. Media. 26th July 2012.

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.

Bert And Dickie. B.B.C. Television. Television Review. full post

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

Blur, Leisure. 21st Anniversary Box-Set Editions. Album Review.

Originally Published On L.S. Media. 30th July 2012.
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.

Blur, Leisure. 21st Anniversary Box-Set Editions. Album Review. full post

(538 words, 1 image, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Blur, Modern Life Is Rubbish. 21st Anniversary Box-Set Editions. Album Review.

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.

Blur, Modern Life Is Rubbish. 21st Anniversary Box-Set Editions. Album Review. full post

(621 words, 1 image, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)

Blur, Parklife. 21st Anniversary Box-Set Editions. Album Review.

Originally Published on L.S. Media. 30th July 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

Parklife was Blur’s third studio album and from the moment the listener heard the now classic beginning, they realised that not only was it a winner, a piece of recoding history given to the fans by the musical equivalent of Prometheus, but that it also set the band finally on the road to being a class act. What nobody foresaw, no-one at all, was how it would go on to define a decade and a generation aching the get away from the pop driven banality of the last couple of years and endless soap opera stars turned singers.

Blur, Parklife. 21st Anniversary Box-Set Editions. Album Review. full post

(982 words, 1 image, estimated 3:56 mins reading time)

Blur, The Great Escape. 21st Anniversary Edition. Album Review.

Originally Published on L.S Media. 30th July 2012.

L.S. Media Rating *****

It may have led to the most over-hyped moment in music since the Beatles/Stones battle to win fans in the sixties but Blur’s The Great Escape, the fourth studio album to get the 21st Anniversary edition make over, stands out as possibly the most cohesive, most entertaining and slyest dig at British life that the band produced.

Blur, The Great Escape. 21st Anniversary Edition. Album Review. full post

(828 words, 1 image, estimated 3:19 mins reading time)