The Bordellos, David Bowie/ Be My Maybe. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Everybody always imagines they can write a hit. In the same way that at a party someone will corner an author and inform them that they always wanted to write a book, invariably the same people will tell a musician, that they too could have been the next David Bowie, the next pop sensation or rock god. The truth is, yes, they could have done, but they are looking at it the wrong way round, the telescope of expectancy is pointed at the green grass rather than the industrial landscape behind.

The Bordellos, David Bowie/ Be My Maybe. Single Review. full post

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

Stardust. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Johnny Flynn, Marc Maron, Jena Malone, Derek Moran, Anthony Flanagan, Julian Richings, Aaron Poole, Monica Parker, Ryan Blakely, Gord Rand, Paulino Nunes, Richard Clarkin, Brendan J. Rowland, Jeremy Legat, Annie Briggs, Olivia Carruthers, Geoffrey McGivern, Lara Heller, Martin Askew, Dylan Roberts, Olivia Becker, James Cade, David Hubbard, Jorja Cadence, Gracie Robbin.

To be constrained by feelings of inadequacy, of guilt, or of range, to believe that your voice will be lost in a sea of thousands as they jostle for attention in the screaming void, is perhaps to understand madness, or at least fear it.

Stardust. Film Review. full post

(565 words, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)

The Pursuit Of Love. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Lily James, Emily Beecham, Dominic West, Emily Mortimer, Dolly Wells, John Heffernan, Shazad Latif, Annabel Mullion, Andrew Scott, Beattie Edmondson, Freddie Fox, James Frecheville, Aki Omoshaybi, Assaad Bouab, Kitty Archer, Steve Garti, Will Keen, Abbiegail Mills, Zino Masoud, Heather Rome, Martha West.

The Pursuit Of Love. Television Review. full post

(530 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Mare Of Easttown. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Kate Winslet, Julianne Nicholson, Jean Smart, Evan Peters, Angourie Rice, John Douglas Thompson, Joe Tippett, Cameron Mann, Jack Mulhern, Izzy King, Justin Hurtt-Dunkley, Sosie Bacon, David Denman, Neal Huff, James McArdle, Guy Pearce, Ruby Cruz, Enid Graham, Chinasa Ogbuagu, Kassie Mundhenk, Mackenzie Lansing, Cailee Spaeny, Robbie Tann, Cody Kostro, Patrick McDade, Katie Kreisler, Drew Scheid, Anthony Norman, Pat DeFusco, Kate Arrington, Madeline Weinstein, Kiah McKirnan, Elsa Davis, Caitlin Houlahan, Dominique Johnson.

The more a town is cut off from its neighbours, the more chance there is of a particular mindset taking root amongst its populace.

Mare Of Easttown. Television Review. full post

(695 words, estimated 2:47 mins reading time)

Pierre Christin And Sebastian Verdier, Orwell. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

“Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood” …

When you leave the world with an era, a defining state of art that carries your name, then you have stepped into history, not as a memory that will fade, but with the assurance that like Kings and Queens of old, your name will persist for all time.

Pierre Christin And Sebastian Verdier, Orwell. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(616 words, estimated 2:28 mins reading time)

Mike T. Kerr, Favourite Flatpickers. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The enjoyment that comes from being entertained does not always arrive pre-packaged with the expectation of all that you know repeating itself; sometimes you must immerse yourself in the new to feel the pull of the soul and the heartbeat working in tandem to appreciate that what others might suggest is uninteresting without the voice, is in actuality the stirring of motivation, the stimulus of the mind creating for the listener the sense of having always had a completed list of their Favourite Flatpickers to hand.

Mike T. Kerr, Favourite Flatpickers. Album Review. full post

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

D E McCluskey & Tony Bolland. In The Mood…For Murder. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The point, so many armchair detectives will sagely advise, is that the act of murder in literature is not followed closely because the reader wants to feel the essence of the criminal mind at work, but to know that the restoration of order is forthcoming, and that justice, be it natural, or in some macabre fashion, will be swift.

D E McCluskey & Tony Bolland. In The Mood…For Murder. Book Review. full post

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

Kintsugi No. 21, Everything In Reverse. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

To reverse is not the action of retreating, but rather a strategic withdraw in which to counterattack at a later time with pride intact, with new ideas and attitude soaring high above the plains and fields, and where the trials and tribulations engaged and became inspiration to move forward, to conquer the darkness that holds us back, and where Everything In Reverse is actually the epitome of continuation and the blueprint for persistence.

Kintsugi No. 21, Everything In Reverse. Album Review. full post

(350 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Only Child, …And The Band Played On. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

There is a special place reserved in art for the moments, the extraordinarily planned dichotomy that causes your brain to feel something entirely different to what your heart is focusing upon. It comes from the ability to paint a picture which has a beat a groove to it which feeds on the dopamine in the brain, whilst simultaneously imploring you to listen to the lyric, to fight the urge to feel the music and recognise the words of anger, lack of hope, and fearsome indignation contained within.

Only Child, …And The Band Played On. Single Review. full post

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

Bates Motel: Series Five. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore, Max Thieriot, Olivia Cooke, Nestor Carbonell, Kenny Johnson, Ryan Hirst, Brooke Smith, Isabelle McNally, Austin Nichols, Jillian Fargey, Damon Gupton, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Rihanna, Carlton Cuse, Raphael Sbarge, Jhn Hainsworth, Antonio Cayonne.

The subversion of art and the human condition is not just an amusing way to pass the time or to create controversy, it is there to expand our scope and vision, to embrace that the expected moment of reveal can be overthrown and replaced by a single moment of surprise and altered narrative.

Bates Motel: Series Five. Television Review. full post

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