Shadow Captain, Hey Django. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Bombarded as we are by the big picture, the rush of information and the knowledge that as one story finds itself winding up, another will come round and find ways to make us anxious, make us feel permanently on edge. An ever-growing cycle of news requires whimsy, someone else’s reflections about a love, a reminder that not everything in life revolves around destruction and mayhem, that occasionally, every now and then, you must acknowledge and embrace the news from the other side of darkness and take on, with a smile, someone’s pet love.

Shadow Captain, Hey Django. Single Review. full post

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

Brian Bordello, The Boris Johnson Massacre. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Satire has reached a point, where for some, the idea is a caricature of its own self, where you cannot lampoon an individual of certain standing because it demeans the message they are trying to get across, the miles and years they have put into cultivating an image which is pristine and supposedly captures the best of us, that somehow suggests we have to fawn and tip our hat to them whenever they speak, pass judgement, make a noise but which in reality the public could use as a weapon, not one to maim but to prick the over inflated opinion and the pomposity of those that seek to rule.

Brian Bordello, The Boris Johnson Massacre. Single Review. full post

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

Non Canon, Non Canon II. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Being able to wear a mask to hide one’s intentions is considered dishonourable; the element of mystery is heightened by hundreds of years of pop culture where the villain hides their identity so that they might rob and maim with impunity. From the legends surrounding highwaymen, through to the modern-day equivalent of plastic replicas of famous people covering the face when stealing from a bank, the mask is one that brings out a certain boldness of deceit and the air of the mystique.

Non Canon, Non Canon II. Album Review. full post

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

Courtney Marie Andrews, Old Flowers. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is world of difference between old and new, the second, or even third hand car being driven, the hand me down clothes, the rebound love affair, the original thought against rewriting an old classic, all can still be loved, cared for, even given a new sense of purpose, but what of the natural order, the regifted bouquet, the blossoms turned down and then passed on to the next person that walks past; Old Flowers is normally the sign of an afterthought, of the post-script to a doomed relationship, and yet in the hands of Courtney Marie Andrews, Old Flowers becomes a reflection of understanding that comes with seeing the beauty of the past, and knowing that you have to whisper goodbye to each individual petal to regain your own self back.

Courtney Marie Andrews, Old Flowers. Album Review. full post

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

Lee Gallagher and The Hallelujah, L.A. Yesterday. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Beauty, as they say, is only skin deep, an alternative way of proclaiming that we should allow ourselves the freedom of looking beyond the top layer, the initial response to the stimuli effect in which we see the attraction without understanding what the face on show was built upon.

Lee Gallagher and The Hallelujah, L.A. Yesterday. Album Review. full post

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

Vega, Grit Your Teeth. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The time to Grit Your Teeth and push through the pain barrier of unwelcome opinion has arguably never been pertinent than it is now and whilst the world finds ways to tear itself apart, to insist on someone else’s sacrifice just so they can continue to be the top dog at the party, the open air event for the headline act which guarantees the status quo in perpetuity, others who have more than earned their shot at the top are left wondering when it will be them, when will the status quo be replaced.

Vega, Grit Your Teeth. Album Review. full post

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

Citizens Of Boomtown: The Story Of The Boomtown Rats. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The label of punk was far reaching, and unlike today where the meaning of that four-letter word has been accepted as part of a mainstream crowded with adjectives and add-ons to make it sound all encompassing, in the 70s it was the visual and aural defiance that meant fear to those that couldn’t grasp that the old, tired, archaic ways had to die, and for those it touched, for those who saw it for the brave, boundless and dynamic beauty it was, it was, and remains, the pivotal moment that defined a generation’s defiance.

Citizens Of Boomtown: The Story Of The Boomtown Rats. Television Review. full post

(716 words, estimated 2:52 mins reading time)

Fast And Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham, Idris Elba, Vanessa Kirby, Helen Mirren, Eiza Gonzalez, Eddie Marsan, Eliana Sua, Cliff Curtis, Lori Pelenise Tuisano, John Tui, Joshua Mauga, Joe Anoa’i, Rob Delaney, Alex King, Tom Wu, John Macdonald, Ryan Reynolds.

Spin-offs of a successful franchise are almost, always, inevitable. The cash cow in the studio is automatically milked, the fans see a continuation of their favourite characters, and unsurprisingly the chain continues, the certainty of unavoidability is maintained.

Fast And Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. Film Review. full post

(563 words, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

Primo!, Sogni. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

A message that is not conveyed properly will ultimately lead to misunderstanding, confusion and in some cases the feeling of having been kept from something important, from being neglected and the fear of false impressions.

Such occurrences are inevitable, in the world that we have made for ourselves, few take the time to say what they actually mean, desire or think because of the fanatical way in which we hold up such misinterpretation as an act of aggression, of conflict and whilst no harm may have been intended, that the sleight taken was never there to be found in the cold light of delivery, it nevertheless is harnessed, weaponised and then for added pleasure, dropped like a stone in a lake of seething public outcry.

Primo!, Sogni. Album Review. full post

(502 words, estimated 2:00 mins reading time)

The Dears, Lovers Rock. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is much to found in a symbolic name, the artist’s first unveiling of the big bang for a new creation to be explored. A name can hold many secrets, a title, a thousand mysteries but they should always be one that as each layer of the art is removed, slowly and surely; what remains should illuminate, should provide answers to questions that stretch beyond the notion of that first sound, initial sentence or primary introduction to the Muse that has kept the artist enthralled.

The Dears, Lovers Rock. Album Review. full post

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