Our Flag Means Death. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Rhys Darby, Taika Waititi, Con O’Neill, Joel Fry, Samson Kayo, Nathan Foad, Matthew Maher, Kristian Nairn, Samba Schutte, Ewen Bremner, Vico Ortiz, Nat Faxon, Rory Kinnear, Guz Khan, David Fane, Eden Grace Redfield, William Barber-Holler, Leslie Jones, Connor Barrett, Boris McGiver, Fred Armisen, Michael Crane, Theo Darby, Angus Sampson, Nick Kroll, Simone Kessell, Kristen Schaal, Kristen Johnston, Mateo Gallegos, Damien Gerard, Carlos Areliano, Ashna Sharan, Christian Lagadec, Jeff Lorch, Cornelius Peter.

History is but a consecutive set of lies passed off as fact and written down in accordance by historians to dispute at leisure.

Our Flag Means Death. Television Review. full post

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

Endeavour: Uniform. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Sean Rigby, Anton Lesser, Caroline O’Neill, James Bradshaw, Sara Vickers, Abigail Thaw, Kevin McNally, Leo Starr, Richard Hope, Jake Kenny-Byrne, Bill Skinner, Todd Bell, Milo Mackenzie, Shaheen Khan, Ayesha Antoine, Jack Bannon, Michael Keane, Paul Bazely, Simon Harrison, Laurence Spellman, Jack Laskey.

The pieces are coming together, but even when the puzzle is complete, the chances are that the revealed picture will be one that still won’t give all the answers that are being sought by the armchair detective and sofa sleuth alike.

Endeavour: Uniform. Television Review. full post

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

Elvis. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thompson, Richard Roxburgh, Kelvin Harrison Jr., David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Luke Bracey, Dacre Montgomery, Leon Ford, Gary Clark Jr., Yola, Natasha Bassett, Xavier Samuel, Adam Dunn, Alton Mason, Shonka Dukureh, David Gannon, Shannon Sanders, Charles Grounds, Gareth Davies, Chaydon Jay, Nicholas Bell, Josh McConville, Cie Morgan, Charles Allen.

The public face of an enigma is one in which all who profess they knew the figure well, actually understood him even less than the occasional fan.

Elvis. Film Review. full post

(592 words, estimated 2:22 mins reading time)

Genesis: B.B.C Broadcasts. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

An almost unrivalled collection, whether from these shores, or even on the other side of the pond that separates common listenership, the B.B.C.’s back catalogue of live recorded music is one to behold. Millions of hours of concert reels from every conceivable artist, and despite its faults, the indiscretions, the fall outs from flaws and blame, the criticism and inconvenient truths, the fact remains there is a repository of live music just waiting to be rereleased and given a fresh appraisal.

Genesis: B.B.C Broadcasts. Album Review. full post

(458 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Bullet Train. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Brad Pitt, Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon, Benito A. Martinez, Sandra Bullock, Zazie Beetz, Logan Lerman, Masi Oka, Karen Fukuhara, Kevin Akiyoshi Ching, Minchi Murakami, Kaori Takentani, Toshitaka Katsumi, Jim Garrity, Emalina Adams, Jenson Cheng, Nobuaki Shimamoto, Yoshi Sudarso, Johanna Watts, Ian Gabriel Martinez, Tania Verafield, Pancho Cardena, Julio Gbaey, Andrea Munoz, Nancy Daly, Arnold Chum, Naomi Matsuda, Benmio McCrea, Pasha D. Lychnikoff, Primus Johnson, Miles Marz, Michelle Lee, Parker Lin, Garland Scott, Jason Matthew Smith, Zooey Miyoshi, Kamil Aydin, David Leitch.

Bullet Train. Film Review. full post

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

Madness: The Liberty Of Norton Folgate. (2023 Album Re-issue). Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

One Step Beyond…for a group as universally beloved as Madness, whose record, so to speak, needs no explanation, just enough to know that in our lifetimes they appeared and blew people’s minds with their infectious music and consummate wit.

There has never really been a band such as Madness, and likely the fact is that there will never be again, and that in a way is good, because it means in the decades to come, those men of humour, insight, style, and songs that prick the conscious of the listener will be truly respected as one of the pioneers of their craft from the late 20th Century.

Madness: The Liberty Of Norton Folgate. (2023 Album Re-issue). Album Review. full post

(419 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Brian Bordello: Songs For Cilla To Sing. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Who truly remembers what they have kept under wraps, locked away in a dusty cupboard, in an attic that has lain unvisited, a damp and prone to pestilent basement, or the memory remaining dormant, of all they have ever wanted to show the world.

These thoughts, musings, reflections on times when a different kind of breed of star was all the rage in the pop charts, who appealed to a kind of instant hit maker, who were famous for who they knew rather than just being considered great for the talent discovered, are such that they play in the mind when revealed; when that dusty box gives up its long held secret, when the attic becomes a treasure trove of illumination, who knows if they Songs For Cilla To Sing, or for Brian to savour

Brian Bordello: Songs For Cilla To Sing. Album Review. full post

(396 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

James Bauld: Where I Belong. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Home may be where the heart lays, but the soul is not content until it has the music in which fills every room, every emotion, only then does it allow the human machine with all its nooks, crannies, desires and wants to declare, this is Where I Belong.

It takes time to understand that self-declaration, and even then, we can be wrong, we can be found defending our position when the truth is we haven’t yet heard the right song or combination of tracks in which to truly feel at home.

James Bauld: Where I Belong. Album Review. full post

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

Endeavour: Prelude. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Sean Rigby, Anton Lesser, Caroline O’Neill, James Bradshaw, Sara Vickers, Abigail Thaw, Nicholas Farrell, James Anderson, Nicholas Boulton, Rob Ostlere, Leaphia Darko, Imogen Daines, Tamsin Newlands, Kirsten Louie, Jane Lapotaire, James Doherty, Simon Harrison, Jack Bannon, Jenny Galloway, Jason Lines.

What was that single moment in your life where everything you did after was just a continuation, the first touch of the Prelude of temptation which led you on the path in which your actions affected everything you did and all those around you.

Endeavour: Prelude. Television Review. full post

(494 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

The Answer: Sundowners. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Taking time away from what you love is not an act of sabotage or surrender, it is chance to reacquaint yourself with the feeling before the beauty was initially gazed upon, as the sun rises and falls so we must find ways of seeing the new opportunity to explore as one of increasing our depth of knowledge, so that when we do return to that which gives is meaning, we have something fresh and different to talk about.

The Answer: Sundowners. Album Review. full post

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