An Upside Down Tree: Sunshine at the Café Ridard. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Where you eat and drink is as important as what you consume, what you munch down upon, what tickles your fancy, or even consoles you, whilst you are at the bar, whilst you dine in company, or alone.

The Café Terrace at Night invites Nighthawks drinking coffee, tasting wine, or open air fresco declaring the savagery of a culture best left in the dark surrounding the patrons and drunks of Gin Lane, these are the habits of the evening songbirds as they imbibe, tell tall tales to awaiting ears, and leave the morning to those who wish to talk with passion of change as they witness Sunshine at the Café Ridard come pouring through the clear windows.

An Upside Down Tree: Sunshine at the Café Ridard. Album Review. full post

(388 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Connor Selby. (Self-Titled) Album Review. Deluxe Edition.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

What makes a self-titled release at times have more impact than almost any other record and album, almost nowhere else in the field of art has such influence or impression of name, and in even an autobiography there is always a tag line a : or – separating the appellation from its subject; but in music the impact is clear, this is a statement beyond reproach, this is a declaration of effect and power. For Connor Selby, the deluxe edition of the album bearing is name is unabashed, inspiration, and stimulating authority…why would you not insist on having your name on the sleeve when something so incredible has your heart and soul deep within its very existence.

Connor Selby. (Self-Titled) Album Review. Deluxe Edition. full post

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

Flitcraft: House At The Centre Of The Universe. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We may be the stars of our own film, the ones who write our own biography, but we must always ensure that we never believe for single minute that our souls are the focus of the galaxy, we can visit and enjoy the company of the House At The Centre Of The Universe, but we must understand that we are guests, never the owners.

Flitcraft: House At The Centre Of The Universe. Album Review. full post

(416 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Redlight King: In Our Blood. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

What flows through our veins is not just a physical aspect of life, but there is also the conscious, the drive, it is In Our Blood, it is the essence of all we wish to achieve and create; and whether we do it all under our own given name or reveal more of our nature by appointing the by-line to an alter-ego, in our blood it exists…every drop of pain, of pleasure, of melancholic wanderings, of the exuberance felt as inspiration strikes as you watch the dawn rise from the safety of The Gown And Gavel, as another goal is awarded to the Bulldogs in downtown Hamilton.

Redlight King: In Our Blood. Album Review. full post

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

Jackson Williams: Remember To Buy Yourself Flowers. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Self-care maybe a modern train of thought, but it is one that is vitality important; for even at a basic level, if you can’t love yourself, then how can you love another.

We are caught in a dichotomy, a gulf of contradiction. There will be those that insist on informing you that you are being selfish for even thinking of yourself before others, even when you are at the point of exhaustion, of falling down, they will point the finger and swear to Heaven and Earth are self-serving and egotistical.

Jackson Williams: Remember To Buy Yourself Flowers. Single Review. full post

(423 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Transatlantic: The Final Flight: Live At L’Olympia. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If you know its final then you make a conscious effort to enjoy the maximum effort you can in the wake of the mighty ship of emotions you will be faced with; and even if there is no announcement of the end, you can often tell that the chances are that what you hear, what you experience has a ring of certainty about it. The final flight of a beautiful, impressive machine, one that has taken to the skies and been lauded for its creative posture, is always one covered in glory, and the melancholy of its place in the hearts of those touched by her.

Transatlantic: The Final Flight: Live At L’Olympia. Album Review. full post

(518 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Robert Palmer: The Island Record Years. Album Box Set Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

In September 2003, a small corner of Paris announced the news that Robert Palmer, vocalist of Vinegar Joe, an enigmatic solo performer, who had fronted the supergroup The Power Station, the Yorkshire born star, had passed away at the age of only 54.

Robert Palmer: The Island Record Years. Album Box Set Review. full post

(433 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

The Christians: Gig Review. Usher Hall, Edinburgh.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is a calming effect on the audience to which takes a sense of the pure soul in which to capture when they are on stage. Many have this quality, but it is in tandem with the exuberance of the immense, the industrial like performance which whips up a frenzy in the aisles and leaves the heart thumping, sometimes out of time with the message in the set.

The Christians: Gig Review. Usher Hall, Edinburgh. full post

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

Marauder: Metal Construction VII. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Never demolish or tear apart what others have spent a lifetime building, only they have the right to look upon their creation and deem it a construction not worthy of their time…all we have the right to do is either keep our council, or praise in such a way that is truthful, that is honest.

Critically such an approach does not nobody favours, least of all the intricacy of the artist who places their work before a crowd and requires feedback in order to grow, to respond in kind when the Muse rears their head once more and shows a shapely aptitude to an novel idea.

Marauder: Metal Construction VII. Album Review. full post

(451 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

The Hound Of The Baskervilles. Audio Drama/Orchestration Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Mark Gatiss, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Sam Dale, Ean Bailey, Clare Corbett, Carl Prekopp, Ryan Early.

You would be forgiven for thinking that Arthur Conan Doyle’s seminal gothic tale, The Hound of The Baskervilles, could not be adapted in any shape or form more than what has gone before; you would be forgiven, but as with anything that has history nipping at its ankles, the reality is that as long as the human mind can imagine it, then that beast, that means of murder and intrigue can be shown to continue to haunt the dreams of all who dare try to solve the mystery taking place in the lonely, haunting, dangerous moors of south west England.

The Hound Of The Baskervilles. Audio Drama/Orchestration Review. full post

(423 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)