The Waterboys: All Souls Hill. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The strongly denied words of those that insist that poetry is meaningless often stings in the ears of those who arguably understand the world in greater depth, it happens more than some may think, and yet poetry, perhaps simpler to construct than a novel or most other art forms, but no less devastating when the soul and heart, and the mind connect with it, when it offers a path to vivid imagination, a realm of personal enlightenment, and the chance to feel the universe within the pulse of your fingers, is a truth that is found all around.

The Waterboys: All Souls Hill. Album Review. full post

(411 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

Graham Nash: Live – Songs For Beginners -Wild Tales. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are names within the 20th Century that have transcended their time, that have not only etched their name in a period that they are associated with, but have carved, scored a deep groove across its neighbouring century that they tip the metal scales in favour of continuance, of being an extension of angels and sirens that gathered listeners around them as they told Wild Tales and sang the melody of Songs For Beginners.

Graham Nash: Live – Songs For Beginners -Wild Tales. Album Review. full post

(546 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Ronald MacDonald: Time Stands Still. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

No matter what we do to keep ourselves in a manner of which we have become accustomed, sooner or later the itch of denial becomes too hard to ignore, and that which first illuminated our souls, soon comes back to call the tunes and light the path ahead.

Ronald MacDonald: Time Stands Still. Album Review. full post

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

Kate Rusby: 30: Happy Returns. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

A hook comes later, but art should at first surprise and gratify, not perhaps having to explain its existence, but certainly living up to the bill as an element of persuasion, a seeker no doubt of a universal truth, a beating heart which pulls others into its sphere of influence, and which wishes the heartfelt love for those who find themselves captivated by its shining example.

Kate Rusby: 30: Happy Returns. Album Review. full post

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

Macca & Beth, Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. Theatre Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Emma Bispham, Gordon Kane, Andrea Miller, Jerome Ngonadi, Danny O’Brien, Jamie Smelt, Karen Young.

“No legacy is so rich as honesty”, as the bard of Stratford noted in All’s Well That End’s Well, or if trust in honour isn’t the bag you entertain when thinking of wills, then to think of theatre as a plaything to be held at arm’s length is a foolish notion that we must discard quickly and efficiently if we are to continue thinking that society is an inheritance that we must preserve at all costs.

Macca & Beth, Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. Theatre Review. full post

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

Kenny Neal: Straight From The Heart. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When we look to America for inspiration, we tend to look to the East and West Coasts, it may be natural too certain eyes to do so, after all it is the purpose of trade to navigate the oceans between lands and to only seek what is within when the deep sea has been navigated, when the water that separates us has been tamed enough for a single crossing in which ideas and philosophies can be exchanged.

Kenny Neal: Straight From The Heart. Album Review. full post

(576 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Steven Casper & Cowboy Angst: Hey! Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Uniqueness is often greeted with either a sense of cosmic adoration, or more than likely in a world that thinks nothing of claiming that jealousy is a virtue, with suspicion and fear. How often did we as children hear the adult demand, “Why can’t you be more like…”? How often do we allow others who have no inkling of what we have gone through to become the person we are, change us without a single proclamation of refusal, without a single uttered Hey! in annoyance at their lack of boundary acceptance.

Steven Casper & Cowboy Angst: Hey! Album Review. full post

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

Brigitte Beraha: Blink. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

To understand that music is more than just a simple melody or even just a tune that catches your ear is to know deep down that experimentation is at the heart of the matter, it is its core, the belief in not playing it safe for the crowd and the bank balance is something to salute, to resolutely admire; and whilst it is not to everyone’s taste, the listener who embarks upon the lucid dream of investigation is justly rewarded for their time and confidence in the artist who dares imagine.

Brigitte Beraha: Blink. Album Review. full post

(313 words, estimated 1:15 mins reading time)

Boo Hewerdine: Understudy. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The words of the Understudy are forever poised to be spoken, and if we dare allow someone else to declare our own intentions, their voice, our sentence and our version of the truth, then we deserve to never be the main player in the telling of our own story.

Boo Hewerdine: Understudy. Album Review. full post

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

Bowling For Soup: Pop Drunk Snot Bread. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

You can try, but you can’t keep the willing and able down for too long, and whilst Bowling For Soup may have found themselves unwittingly pursuing Frank Sinatra’s comeback number, to disclaim their popularity, to suggest anything other than the band know how to get the juices of the audience and the public going with their memorable, almost infectious lyrics and untamed pleasurable spirit, is to place a mark against a whole sub-genre of Punk-Pop-Rock, and one that would be unfair, and grossly undermining the appeal of a group that has humour as a major weapon in their musical arsenal.

Bowling For Soup: Pop Drunk Snot Bread. Album Review. full post

(436 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)