The Gallows Pole. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Michael Socha, Sophie McShera, Nicole Barber-Lane, Stevie Binns, Emma Chadbourne, Samuel Edward-Cook, Adam Fogerty, Rob Galloway, Sharondeep Kaur, Seigfried Moorland, Soraya Jane Nabipour, Charlotte Ockelton, Dave Perkins, Jennifer Reid, Joe Sproulle, Thomas Turgoose, Yusra Warsama, Anthony Walsh, Stuart Zubrzycki, Fine Time Fontayne, Tai Mukome, Olivia Pentelow, Harv Sodhi, Thomas Taylor, Esmae Wilson, Ralph Ineson.

Every generation sees the world through essentially the same eyes, the politics may alter, the situation that creates the division may change, but the overriding thought of any person anywhere in the world is that of having enough money in order to survive.

The Gallows Pole. Television Review. full post

(630 words, estimated 2:31 mins reading time)

Yusef/Cat Stevens: King Of A Land. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

To draw upon a wide variety of images and give them life is a fundamental part of being human, it is the soul of creativity, it is the heart of storytelling; and as each drop of inspiration collects on the surface of those we wish to see illuminated by these tales of fantastic lives and hopes of a better tomorrow, so the King Of A Land is revealed, and it not one of wealth or supposed divine right, but the man or woman who lives to encourage his fellow traveller on this short voyage of life to be better, to do more for others, who lives with compassion in their hearts.

Yusef/Cat Stevens: King Of A Land. Album Review. full post

(378 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

The Alarm: Forward. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Courage is doing what you need to do despite all that life can throw against you.

Much has been written, proudly stated, said with concern for one of music’s true great icons and inspirations, a man of distinction, and those who hold him as dear as he holds them, and perhaps it is with most vocal of support that many openly declare that The Alarm, in which ever state of membership they are in, deserve to be listened to and taken note of.

The Alarm: Forward. Album Review. full post

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

John Jenkins: Tuebrook. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Under Milkwood is undeniably one of the great moments in literature, not just in the 20th Century, but across all the centuries in which the English language has played a part in delivering adaptions, translations, and unique voices to the passionate hearts of the nations and islands that make up ‘the sceptred isle”.

John Jenkins: Tuebrook. Album Review. full post

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

Jackson Williams: Live In Session. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Jackson Williams continue to impress. Five short words. Five words spoken in true honest praise. For in their latest release, Live In Session, the sense of purpose and charm they have always carried with them, is unrelenting and unashamedly cool, and so to carry the weight of expectation maybe a burden for some, but for Deborah Jackson and Skeet Williams, as well as fellow musicians, Andy Cooper and Sam Pritchard, it is a realistic set of measurable achievements.

Jackson Williams: Live In Session. Album Review. full post

(357 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Bella Gaffney: Reflections. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The reflections we see are often distorted by time and our own feelings of damnation that we carry through each day, the load becoming slightly heavier, slightly more cumbersome as time passes without us addressing the damage we may have caused, or the beauty we allowed to bypass us because we were too angry, too weak, too determined to miss it.

Bella Gaffney: Reflections. Album Review. full post

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

Call Jonathan Pie. Podcast Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Tom Walker, Lucy Pearman, Aqib Khan, Nick Revell, Daniel Abelson, Bob Sinfield, Rob Curling, Adam Byron, Bryony Corrigan, Emma Thornett, Liz White, Cole Anderson-James, Ellie Dobing, Sarah Gabriel, Ed Kear, Hope Leslie, Thanyia Moore, Jonathan Taffer, James O’Brien.

Think of how many great artistic creations come from the depths of the soul in which their opinions are more memorable than perhaps the face which delivered the immortal lines.

Call Jonathan Pie. Podcast Series Review. full post

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

Ellis Paul: 55. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Life begins…

…whenever you feel that you have found the one purpose in life that marks you out as unique, an individual, or as someone who has lived through adversity and complication and found a reason to give back to the world via art, artistry, and love.

It is easy to seek the validation of sympathy when you come through an ordeal, it is rarer to feel the warmth of empathy and the growl that accompanies the urging of continuance when you create an iconic moment for all to enjoy, to take heat with afterwards.

Ellis Paul: 55. Album Review. full post

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

Steve Hackett: Darktown. (2023 vinyl Re-issue: 2023.)

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is within us all, a darkness which we must allow breathing space, the excitement and temptation of a future life that comes from highlighting and the re-evaluation of the past. When that moment itself becomes part of history, the need for reconsideration can be a powerful tool of both regret and equal contentment, the dichotomy of reason is uncontained as once more you are compelled to revise your appreciation of the light, and the Darktown where you first unwrapped all your feelings.

Steve Hackett: Darktown. (2023 vinyl Re-issue: 2023.) full post

(504 words, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

Steve Hackett: Guitar Noir. 2023 Reissue. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Largely acknowledged as the quiet man of Genesis, without whom some of the most extraordinary of musical shapes and conquests would never have seen the band survive the initial days and albums when Peter Gabriel left, and which arguably propelled them onwards, and saw his own solo output take on a more adventurous and prolific dynamic which has seen him continually push the imagination and the themes of his music to places where assuredly they might never have been seen had he not, like his former bandmate, been bold and courageous and sought his own path to tread.

Steve Hackett: Guitar Noir. 2023 Reissue. Album Review. full post

(447 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)