Matt Breen, Bold Street. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Bold Street, like other thoroughfares and byways, of alleys and parks and particular buildings in Liverpool, has its own particular set of memories held in the hearts of the local citizen who looks upon the city with pride, and the mind of those who may only visit the pavements and streets covered with musical and story-telling gold just once in their lives, but who carry the songs heard far off across the world. It is a memory that can always be counted on being captured by the questioning artist, a framing of the moment perhaps as the sculptor at the behest of time, carves light into the reminisce of youth.

Matt Breen, Bold Street. Single Review. full post

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

Steeleye Span, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

History is a place where the modern-day eye falls sharply, and arguably with some personal antagonism, into the realm of judgement and criticism. It is a place that people forget the modern age in which we breathe our daily dust in, will also one day be criticised, pored over with unsentimental eyes and the feeling of damned ill-favour. To stand in the way of that judgement, to carry on producing great songs of lyrical poetry, of music that is powerful in its intent, and demanding in its delivery, that is verging on the heroic, it is to remain resolute in the face of those who dare suggest with snide lips, that nothing of the days that have passed is relevant anymore.

Steeleye Span, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(510 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

Jacqui McShee, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When there are no more worlds in which to conquer, the explorer lays down their map and their compass, and slowly, but surely, disappears into the background, eventually merging with the times and places they have discovered. For many of us that holds true, the vast majority of those around you stop discovering many years before their time, they take out the compass one final time, put the backpack of half ideas formed, and then take root and watch the camp fire flicker with memories that slowly turn to dust and the tear of what was once passed.

Jacqui McShee, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(474 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

When I Went Racing With James.

 

Somehow, I managed

to take a picture

of horses snorting,

their hot breath turning into steam

as they charged down the field

and towards my camera lens,

the unblinking, the hot hoof beat

that I felt underneath,

locomotive driven, terrifying

and beautiful, an attack

on the front, be still, measured

I implored myself, hold the reins

of the camera tightly, snap

shot of a time

when I went racing with James.

 

Ian D. Hall 2018

 

When I Went Racing With James. full post

(80 words, estimated 19 secs reading time)

Caro Emerald, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Caro Emerald at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, October 2018. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

The Queen of European Jazz waves her hand in time to the motion of the scintillating sound that clutches at the air of inspiration and unrequited love, it is a flourish that gives the audience the memory of Time, of understanding that the genre in which Caro Emerald has become the iconic figure and sound, requires at all times, to flow, to be constantly in flux, that the beat that has carried her towards the figure of 100 live performances in the U.K. alone, is a constant wild animal that needs handling with almost regal, and maternal care.

Caro Emerald, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

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

Loren Nine, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

A Dutch invasion and surrounded by the scent of intrigue and the possible hint of tulips that hangs in the air, a purveyance, a regal like flourish to the autumn serenade in which Caro Emerald, the undisputed Queen of European Jazz, returns to Liverpool, and alongside her in the carriage of musical expression, something, a passion for expression, a dominating thought of what we might miss as a society if we continue to turn our collective backs on Europe, the artistry of the young, of the timeless, and of the Netherland’s own Loren Nine.

Loren Nine, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

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

The Cherry Bluestorms, Whirligig!. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are bands who leave you spinning with control, they are like the white willows that float in the breeze, tumbling, falling and rising with the promise of granting a wish should they be caught but ultimately and despairingly, letting down the patient hunter and collector of such timid dreams. The willow is not the parachute that should be chased in the eternal hope of finding a safety net of excitement and endowing insights in to the nature of the universe, it is the long-standing Whirligig!, the power of the wind machine that harness the elements, the weather-vane, the barometer of life that should in respect be enjoyed and taken pleasure in.

The Cherry Bluestorms, Whirligig!. Album Review. full post

(479 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Maggie May: The Musical, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Christina Tedders, Michael Fletcher, Cheryl Ferguson, Tom Connor, Paislie Reid, Katia Sartini, Sam Haywood, Oliver Hamilton, David Heywood, Barbara Hockaday, Matt Ganley.

Liverpool is more than just a city, a coming together of small villages under the umbrella of a larger conurbation, it is the collection of stories that have weaved its way through the psyche of anyone who’s feet have touched the ground in which by the running waters of the Mersey lay, that have been touched by the legends, the myths and the incredible personalities that have made the city of Liverpool the place in which Westminster fears and which secretly it wishes it could be.

Maggie May: The Musical, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(499 words, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

Bad Times At The El Royale. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Dakota Johnson, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Jeff Bridges, Manny Jacinto, Nick Offerman, Katherine Isabelle, Cailee Spaeny, Cynthia Erivo, Lewis Pullman, Xavier Dolan, Alvina August, Jonathan Whitesell, Sarah Smyth, Jim O’ Heir, Charles Halford, Mark O’ Brien, Bethany Brown, Hannah Zirke, Tally Rodin, Sophia Lauchlin Hirt, Austin James, Billy Wickman, James Quach, Vincent Washington, Caroline Koziol, Austin Abell.

Bad Times At The El Royale. Film Review. full post

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

Dan Wilson, Leave My Baby Alone. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is all about the delivery of the phrase, the way a request, a command, a warning comes across, that makes a person stop and listen, or get ready for the fight that so obviously is wanting to take place in the eyes of the one issuing the demand, it is the verbal order which is only one step away from the tap on the shoulder and the growl in the face. To capture that anger in art takes a different kind of emotion, one not steeped in the patriarchal feel of ownership, one that is convincing, a little bit more frightening, and one that if done right, is filled with the friction, the fire of seeing into the eyes of simulated toxic behaviour.

Dan Wilson, Leave My Baby Alone. Single Review. full post

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