Sean Taylor, This Is England. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In our lifetime the meaning and the word of what England meant has undergone a radical change, it is arguably a transformation that the world has seen fit to experience at the same time but for those raised on the spirit of belief in what the country endured and fought against in the oppression of tyranny from Nazism, the time it offered the rest of the world to lay plans to stop Fascism taking a grip on continental Europe forever, all now gone. A crumpled laughing stock and used as an example as state which values its millionaires more than the hungry, the poor, the disabled and every state in between.

Sean Taylor, This Is England. Single Review. full post

(452 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Collette. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating

Cast: Keira Knightley, Fiona Shaw, Dominic West, Eleanor Tomlinson, Jake Graf, Rebecca Root, Robert Pugh, Julian Wadham, Sloan Thompson, Arabella Weir, Mate Haumann, Ray Panthaki, Al Weaver, Virag Barany, Dickie Beau, Kylie Watt, Janine Harouni, Joe Geary, Aiysha, Denise Gough, Shannon Tarbet.

The voice of the lost author, the ghost writer, the one who lends their talent to a less than able conjurer of words is often overlooked by history because they are held in a manner of bondage, the current term of such branded captivity is that it is good for exposure, that the remuneration received is surely enough; whatever way you look upon it, regardless of the gender of the person involved, it amounts to the same thing, a literary captivity, the suppression of acknowledgement, of gilded slavery.

Collette. Film Review. full post

(483 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Stan & Ollie. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: John C. Reilly, Steve Coogan, Shirley Henderson, Nina Arianda, Stephanie Hyam, Danny Huston, Richard Cant, Susy Kane, Rufus Jones, Sanjeev Kohli, Joseph Balderrama, Greg Canestrari, Danny Scheinmann.

History will only ever recall what the public wants to remember; a statement which seems to grow as we move further away from what was deemed traditional and into a world in which instant success and cheap exploitation of talent is lauded and cheered. It is in this unworthy scenario surely that we lose collectively the feeling and sense of wonder that encapsulates longevity, that everybody now has a chance of being seen for a minute, and then forgotten, dismissed, bring the next star in and let the nation love them for a brief explosive minute.

Stan & Ollie. Film Review. full post

(536 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Within Temptation, Resist. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Whether in the majestic instrumental interpretation interludes, or throughout the phenomenal songs that carry the charm and darkness of lead singer Sharon den Adel, the seventh album from Dutch mega pioneers Within Temptation is one that arguably, and quite rightly, will be impossible to Resist.

Such statements are bound by the honour in which they are forever etched in time with, and thankfully the contest between open admiration and the sublime recording is one that matches up perfectly; to Resist is not just a right, it is the moral justification of all that you believe in and the privilege of expecting nothing less than being entirely correct in your assertion.

Within Temptation, Resist. Album Review. full post

(367 words, 1 image, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Ranagri, Playing For Luck. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Chances are that anything you may have tried your hand at to create, to build or love, has been greeted with the suspicion of those who come to view it, as being inspired by a gift, or just dumb good fortune to be in the right place at the right time, that you must have had a break or known people who would build you up; never realising that your talent is the result of long, arduous hours of exhausting practise, of labour and creative industry, not a case of Playing For Luck to prove that you have a voice in this world.

Ranagri, Playing For Luck. Album Review. full post

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

The Ego Ritual. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Life occasionally asks you to dig deep, to dispense with the shovel and spade, and to take up arms against the seemingly unmoveable Earth with a heavy-duty digger, to use the mechanics at your disposal and ask questions of what you may find, that the rubble you have disturbed leads to a core value, a gold stream you may not have expected; such a move does the self-image good, that The Ego Ritual is to be treated as sacred.

The Ego Ritual. E.P. Review. full post

(367 words, 1 image, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Luther (Series Five). Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Idris Elba, Ruth Wilson, Patrick Malahide, Dermot Crowley, Wunmi Mosaku, Lex Daniel, Enzo Cilenti, Hermione Norris, Anthony Howell, Michael Smiley, Paul McGann, Lewis Young, Sonita Henry, Luke Westlake, Lex Daniel, Michael Obiora, Delroy Atkinson, Gary Hailes, Katherine Orchard, Jami Reid-Quarrell, Roberta Taylor.

The cruelty of life is such that those who should stay dead, sometimes never do, the mayhem of their life interferes with any possible peace that may come your way, their presence, long after you thought you had buried them, somehow returns to cause chaos, to bring you pain, a pain arguably always born out of misplaced loyalty, memory and love.

Luther (Series Five). Television Review. full post

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

Eric Gales, The Bookends. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10


We have a duty to challenge not only others and their viewpoints, but to confront our own perceptions of what we can and cannot do. We should do this regularly, take stock and then if we find we didn’t succeed, then we must front up and dispute the findings and try again, no matter how many times it takes to contest the apparent failing or self-opinion, we must prevail, we must challenge ourselves to be a greater version of what we accept.

Eric Gales, The Bookends. Album Review. full post

(396 words, 1 image, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Gary Innes (Feat: Karen Matheson), Swan Song. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We all think we have Time, that when all is said and done we will somehow accomplish everything that we have set out to do, it is a reasonable view, a sense of hope that lifts our spirits when the dark comes calling at night, that we can reach for the pen and sign our names across the balance sheet, saying job complete.

Gary Innes (Feat: Karen Matheson), Swan Song. Single Review. full post

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

The Who, Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The question remains, just how do you ever fully capture the live gig to the point where it matches in the mind the near mythical status that it has been placed in. An impossible task, almost perfected across time, but one that is rarely 100% conjoined with reality and your own perception of the event that took place.

It perhaps is easier to enjoy a release, no matter how old, when it out of the realms of most who weren’t even born when the album was released, or when the gig took place. To look back with nostalgia is one thing, to immerse yourself in the history of the moment is to seek out what made the band in question such a force of nature.

The Who, Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970. Album Review. full post

(650 words, estimated 2:36 mins reading time)