Brothers ‘N’ Bandits, Gig Review. o2 Academy, Liverpool.

Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 16th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

If you are going to do a cover version of a song in your set as a young and up-coming band, make it a good one, preferably a hit record, and then stomp all over it in size ten shoes and take an eight pound mallet to it to tenderise and finally hold it up to the watching audience and say, “look this is how it should be done.” This is how Brothers ‘N’ Bandits treated the crowd at the o2 Academy to their version of Coldplay’s Yellow and it was magnificent to witness.

Brothers ‘N’ Bandits, Gig Review. o2 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(417 words, 1 image, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, A Town Called Mercy. Television Review.

Pcture from RadioTimes.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating *****

Cast: Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill, Ben Browder, Adrian Scarborough, Dominic Kemp, Rob Cavazos, Joanne McQuinn, Andrew Brooks, Garrick Hogan, Byrd Wilkins, Sean Benedict.

Time is running short for Amy Pond/Williams and her husband Rory, there is a reckoning coming and it seems that time for the Doctor is fraught with perceived future knowledge of Amy’s demise and this knowledge is changing the Doctor in ways not really seen in on television.

Doctor Who, A Town Called Mercy. Television Review. full post

(489 words, 1 image, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Marillion, Gig Review. Corporation, Sheffield.

Steve Hogarth and Pete Trewavas in Sheffield. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 15th 2012.

It might not go down as the best gig in the world but for the 800 souls who packed themselves into the Corporation Club in Sheffield it was a night where the latest Marillion tour rolled into town. It was one that would have been on many calendars for months on end, carefully crossed off with diligent care until the last few days where the excitement would have got too much and the diligent x became a hurried scrawl.

Marillion, Gig Review. Corporation, Sheffield. full post

(594 words, 1 image, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)

T’Pau, Bridge Of Spies. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 13th 2012.

T’ Pau’s Bridge of Spies is a classic example of the changing nature of music taste that was taking effect in the late 1980’s. An album that was both well recorded and well received but which couldn’t unfortunately sustain the band indefinitely and although the 1988 follow up Rage saw the band reach another top five position, the music scene was changing, edgier, angrier and more derivative pop was taking hold. The bands that had substance to them such as T’Pau and the likes of Belinda Carlisle would fall by the way sides as casualties of pop stardom.

T’Pau, Bridge Of Spies. 25th Anniversary Retrospective. full post

(1007 words, 1 image, estimated 4:02 mins reading time)

Joanne Shaw Taylor, Almost Always Never. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 14th 2012.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

If any proof were needed that you don’t have to have been born in America, be past the age of 30, nor have been born male to understand or more importantly feel how the blues can be played, audiences need look no further than Midlands raised Joanne Shaw Taylor and her incredible new album, Almost Always Never.

Joanne Shaw Taylor, Almost Always Never. Album Review. full post

(466 words, 1 image, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Dirty Dating.Com, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 14th 2012.

Cast: Nicki French, Grace Bishop, Phil Hearne, Jo Mousley, Jess Schofield, Craig Chalmers, Alan Stocks.

The world of dating has never had so many options, mates dates, internet dating, blind dates, work dates, and now thrown heartily into the mix comes Pauline Fleming’s well observed look at the rights of passage involved in the world of speed dating.

Dirty Dating.Com, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(499 words, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

Neal Morse, Momentum. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 13th 2012.

The question that some people who follow these type of things closely will be asking, is Momentumpossibly the best thing that Progressive Rock stalwart Neal Morse has ever given to the world? The follow up will no doubt be “why the long wait?”

The new album is arguably one of the finest albums that Neal has ever had a part in, the best though? Perhaps with the exception of The Whirlwind by Transatlantic and the 2002 album by Spock’s Beard Snow, then undoubtedly it is pretty darn close. It takes time to feel comfortable, to be in a space where you are not just going through the day to day motions or perceived monotony in which to produce an album which stands out, especially in the world of Progressive Rock.

Neal Morse, Momentum. Album Review. full post

(513 words, 1 image, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Hugh Cornwell, Totem And Taboo. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S.Media. September 12th 2012.

Whatever accusation you throw at Hugh Cornwell, boring and banal are the superlatives that should not ever be amongst them.

Since leaving The Stranglers in 1990, Hugh’s song-writing has stretched people’s intellectual knowledge and meant the freedom to enjoy a good song for what it is worth. He has produced albums that the listener either will adore and the songs much called for during his live set or frustrate with their alleged simplicity and lyrical content. Such is life and Hugh more than likely won’t care which camp you end up in. The same will be felt for Hugh’s new album Totem and Taboo. It will frustrate and please in equal measure and even though Hugh’s back catalogue reflects his time in the profession with a smile, there are times when even a fan will shudder. Totem and Taboo somehow manages to still have the raw inner anger in his compositions that endears him to a certain section of music lovers.

Hugh Cornwell, Totem And Taboo. Album Review. full post

(441 words, 1 image, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Kate Bush, The Dreaming. 30th Anniversary Retrospective.

First published by L.S. Media. September 12th 2012.

It might not have the distinctive feel of her earlier albums such as The Kick Inside or Never For Ever or even the later album released in 1985, the sensational Hounds of Love but The Dreamingdeserves to be recognised as album of sheer incredible artistry by the elusive Kate Bush.

Kate Bush, The Dreaming. 30th Anniversary Retrospective. full post

(1035 words, 1 image, estimated 4:08 mins reading time)

James Herbert, Ash. Book Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 10th 2012.

James Herbert has been the undisputed master of British Horror for the last 40 years. His books have thrilled millions and his writing has been loved all over. Aside from Stephen King, he is the very embodiment of spine-chilling terror.

In his first book for six years he re-visits an old character in David Ash, last seen in The Ghosts of Sleath in 1994. Whilst it is plain for his legion of fans to acknowledge that he still has the command to influence your darkest thoughts, to terrify the reader into a unconscious state of trepidation and despair, his books have become staid in parts, overblown and disturbingly grandiose which is not the reason the public fell in love him.

James Herbert, Ash. Book Review. full post

(498 words, 1 image, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)