Paul Carrack & The SWR Big Band: Don’t Wait Too Long. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Timing is everything in life; you can be the finest example of what you do, but if you mistime the moment then it is to be argued that the opportunity to leave your name etched in stone will be lost, and sand might be the only place in which your epitaph will appear.

Knowing the right moment is key, Don’t Wait Too Long to show the world just exactly how your thoughts, imagination and dreams have combined to spark something beautiful, something everlasting, a piece of art that is not only cool, but considered, full of emotional drama, a moment of fierce belief wrapped in the calm understanding of having struck a home run in front of a cheering crowd when the chips looked down.

Paul Carrack & The SWR Big Band: Don’t Wait Too Long. Album Review. full post

(428 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Elijah James And The Nightmares: Man In The Diner. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The Nighthawks await, silent, unmoving, an Edward Hopper painting capturing the solitude of modern life in the twilight and given a 21st Century aural theme, that is the sheer depth of illumination to be found as the listener is introduced to the Man In The Diner by Elijah James And The Nightmares; the difference being as Hopper’s painting has gained importance for its stagnation in the past, whilst still being hugely relevant, what the band implores is life, existence beyond the one dimensional, and in full glorious colour the man alone in the diner becomes all too real – he becomes the embodiment of us.

Elijah James And The Nightmares: Man In The Diner. Single Review. full post

(383 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

UFO: No Heavy Petting. Album Review. (Reissue 2023).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

No Heavy Petting, but surely a deep embrace for old times, a sweeping kiss gently placed on the brow, and the firm handshake of recognition that accompanies the hearty grin; a rerelease, expanded, given even more oomph, and one that places UFO in the realm of best heavy rock/ proto metal bands of all time.

UFO: No Heavy Petting. Album Review. (Reissue 2023). full post

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

Sam Brown: Number 8. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When a voice goes, we perhaps dismiss the person to whom it belongs. We might not purposely ignore the human being to whom the words have failed, but we certainly find a way to cast their whole being into a kind of purgatory, a lost and found for the once held in virtue.

Such an action says more about us as a society than it will ever do about the individual; we are not only quick to judge, but we are complicit in keeping the person, the artist, the voice lacking strength but not integrity, quiet.

Sam Brown: Number 8. Album Review. full post

(571 words, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

Gareth Heesom: Ever See. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

All that you ever saw, all that was lost to time as memories jostle for attention like moths dancing awkwardly around an orange light, some who have their wings singed as they fluttered greedily towards the light, some that find they can only catch the light on occasion as they slowly begin to fade and become forgotten in the dark…all that you will Ever See, is what remains when love and time collide to create the art we hold close to our hearts.

Gareth Heesom: Ever See. Single Review. full post

(365 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

The Classic Rock Show. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. Gig Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

For many the sound of various anthems, hits, and obscurities that came their way via the beauty and inner workings of the local pub juke box, was an introduction to a memory that would inspire, stimulate, move and arouse in equal measure, and be the backdrop to the days when the world was cast in shadow; it only takes a line, a moment on the drums, a scintillating vocal, that guitar – that instrument of expression which to many a rock sound would simply not exist, for the world to make sense.

The Classic Rock Show. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. Gig Review. full post

(542 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

Quarry: Positioning The Sun. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

No matter where we find the best place to be seen Positioning The Sun, we must make sure that the no shadows can be observed spoiling the view; they can enhance it, add a flavour, texture, a sense of the dramatic and illusion, but the view must never be soiled for the want of darkness in the wrong and unwanted place.

Quarry: Positioning The Sun. Album Review. full post

(407 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

John Jenkins And The James Street Band, Trying My Best (To Get Away From You). Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

When we find that moment of pure genius, we should embrace it fully and without reservation.

We can fully understand what it is like to be on the cusp of outrageous brilliance, and even seeing genius in someone else is never beyond our grasp; but when it comes our own way, when the parade of virtuoso performance is acknowledged as coming from our own endeavours, we may be reluctant to nod in approval for fear of being appraised as arrogant, over confident that the feeling captured will last an eternity; instead we should thank the stars and shout with damnation at the negative emotions, “Trying My Best (To Get Away From You)”.

John Jenkins And The James Street Band, Trying My Best (To Get Away From You). Single Review. full post

(363 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Romantic Getaway. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Romesh Ranganathan, Katherine Ryan, Johnny Vegas, Harrie Hayes, Phaldut Sharma, Neil D’Souza, Julie Legrand, Jordan Coulson, Mensah Bediako, Jackie Morrison, Stephen Samson, Jerry-Jane Pears, Chris Aukett, Charlie Brook, Alwyne Taylor, Charles Baker, Martin Buchanan, Mara Allen, Billy Clements, Alexandr Delamere, Tom Davis, Lila Garrad, Jules Brown, Adam Young, Melissa Phillips, David Bresnahan, Farshid Rokey, Steven Jeram, Simon DeSilva, Chris Robb, Lindsay Townley.

What could be the most desired event in your life you could make happen without stepping across a moral line.

Romantic Getaway. Television Review. full post

(559 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

John Blek: Until The Rivers Run Dry. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is a certain kind of loyalty which makes itself known when an artist can finish a project within a timeframe that to some may appear quick, but to others who understand fully that the dedication observed is one that has come from having, in essence, everything almost worked out before you even step inside a studio.

Whilst there is a commendable Avent Garde spirit to be found in going with the flow, the sense of structure could be found to be missing, or at least unseen by the naked emotion of those in the vicinity of the process and those to who will hear, sense, dream, or touch the result with adoration.

John Blek: Until The Rivers Run Dry. Album Review. full post

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