Margo Cilker, Pohorylle. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

If the road is straight and long, then no matter the view that accompanies it, it will seem as though there is nothing to do but cruise along and be taken on a long instructional ride and become bored by the endless direction being offered. Deviation and change, the odd bump, the swerve to avoid the oncoming obstacle, the sense of delivery at taking a corner a bit sharper than you might have otherwise considered, these are the things that make life, the journey of interesting perception, truly worthwhile.

Margo Cilker, Pohorylle. Album Review. full post

(443 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Freya Beer, Beast. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Art inspires art, the very reason it exists is to bring joy and reflection to those that suffer and to stimulate the mind for others to feel the arousal of the written word, the provocation of the aural inducements, and the eyes wide open motivation of sincere urging to create; art is to the world as flirting is to the dance of love, one cannot exist without the other.

Freya Beer, Beast. Album Review. full post

(381 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Louis de Bernières, Despatches. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is a tendency to forget that song writing, is in effect poetry in motion, it is a building block, a foundation of description, a release of the inner most feelings, and no matter the style, no matter the voice, the poetry, and by virtue of its delivery, stand out as perhaps one of the most expressive forms of heroics we can muster about ourselves; for in that moment of reveal we are exposing our naked soul, we are allowing the relief of humanity to carry us onwards.

Louis de Bernières, Despatches. Album Review. full post

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

Joe Bonamassa, Time Clocks. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Time was when the word progressive was considered a death knell to an artist who believed they were anything but. To be mentioned in the same fair as the Blues would have been suggestible of heresy, you might as well have walked into the Tower of London, stolen the crown jewels, and then set up a pitch in Peckham market and give them away with a packet of washing up powder.

Joe Bonamassa, Time Clocks. Album Review. full post

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

Saskia, Where Are We Heading. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

If there is a plan, a grand overarching scheme, a blueprint with the answers placed with pain staking precision, then for the most part, the overwhelming majority of humanity has not been told or made aware of its existence. It can feel as though we are at the opening moments of Douglas Adams’ insightful Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as the Vogan race inform the people of Earth that they had all time in the world to object to the destruction of the planet by lodging a complaint about the building of a bypass which happened to be on a Thursday.

Saskia, Where Are We Heading. Album Review. full post

(442 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

The North Water. Television Review.

Cast: Jack O’ Connell, Colin Farrell, Sam Spruell, Stephen Graham, Tom Courtney, Peter Mullan, Roland Møller, Philip Hill-Pearson, Gerry Lynch, Kieran Urquhart, Simon Rubaudo, Greg Dennis, Magnus Constable, Guillaume Cotre-Roux, Andrés Glattfelber, Martin Rasmussen, Kristoffer Ronning, Lars Ronning, Jack Wren, Stephen McMillan, Nive Nielsen, Rishi Kuppa, Paul Brennen, Kris Hitchen, Mark Rowley, Ipeelie Ootoova, Keenan Carpenter, Lee Knight, Tony Pitts, Eliza Butterworth, Natar Ungalaaq, Jerry Laisa, Bryony Miller, Chicho Tche, David Prosho, Benjámin Takács-Abaffy, Jonathan Aris, Jamie Maclachlan.

The North Water. Television Review. full post

(619 words, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)

Mark Pountney, Love, Luck And Time. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision * * * * *

To own the emotion of sentiment is surely another way of declaring that you understand how important another period of time was to you and how, in the case of art, it has inspired you to believe that its extraordinary presence can still not only make you a finer person, but give you Love, Luck and Time in which to make your own romanticism, someone else’s emotional adventure and discovery.

Mark Pountney, Love, Luck And Time. Album Review. full post

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

Black Widow. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Florence Pugh, Rachel Weiz, David Harbour, Ray Winstone, William Hurt, Olga Kurlenko.

It was the film the franchise needed, it just seemed to come at the wrong time.

Marvel have barely put a foot wrong in over a decade’s worth of film and television serials which have caught the public’s attention and imagination, and if looked upon as a stand-alone film within the franchise, Cate Shortland’s Black Widow has all the hallmarks of being a heavy hitter within the ranks; not only for the dynamic framed between Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh as Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova respectively, but for the way that the film is not afraid to tackle the murky waters of young children being groomed for war.

Black Widow. Film Review. full post

(371 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Midsomer Murders: Happy Families. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Annette Badland, Rachel Stirling, Adrian Edmondson, Caroline Quentin, Stuart Milligan, Paul Bazely, Lee Byford, Vanessa Emme, Greg Lockett, Aki Omoshaybi, Georgina Rich, Ed White, Chris Wilson.

A country house murder, what could be more riveting for a party of guests to get their minds around when a storm plunges the home into darkness and the torrents of rain threaten to overwhelm the senses?

There is an element of the enigmatic, the ethereal and timeless when a writer places their observations into the world of the lonely house full of secrets in some neglected part of the country.

Midsomer Murders: Happy Families. Television Review. full post

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

Geoff Carne & The Raw Rox Band, Shakedown. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The unannounced Shakedown, the spontaneous, without warning release, is for some who have been unceremoniously locked in a cage and the key removed from their sight, the moment when hope arises; for in that surprise visitation from beyond their vision, comes the source of their salvation, the basis of their belief for the next chapter in their lives.

The key to any success arguably stands in the form of adaption, the ability to move with the tide and time, and place trust in, if not reinvention, then re-emergence, for in that shakedown you are afforded the significance of being the focus of attention, of having a captive audience, and one who will no doubt be entertained by your next move.

Geoff Carne & The Raw Rox Band, Shakedown. Album Review. full post

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