-ii-, Lighthouse. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

No matter how inflamed the candle of desire rises, it cannot compete in strength to the virtue and the pull of the Lighthouse. The candle though remains undaunted by the size of the man-made structure at the edge of the cliffs and often nestled in amongst the crags and rocks, for what would anyone rather do when it comes to kissing a love tenderly for the first time, within the half glow of the candle, the flickering flame throwing of silhouettes that dance in time to the soul’s own beating heart, or be struck by the full glare of light as it warns of danger in icy, unforgiving seas.

-ii-, Lighthouse. E.P. Review. full post

(401 words, 1 image, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Mia Klose, Stronger. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There will always be those that find ways to say nothing whilst all the time profiting from someone else’s drive, for in their habit lays not strength, but a kind of washed-out serving, a weakness of expression that implies growth but in actual fact is nothing more than the withering spectacle of a cactus which once supported a beautiful flower, but now creeps towards mulch as it finds no gardener to help it bloom.

Mia Klose, Stronger. Album Review. full post

(376 words, 1 image, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Fup, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Calvin Dean, David Mynne, Rachel Leonard, Jenny Beare.

Musician: Ben Sutcliffe, Zaid Al-Rikabi.

Falling in love is quite possibly the most beautiful, and most heart-breaking emotion, a human being can live through and endure, for some it happens easily, for others it is a long process which can only come about by first finding themselves, discovering their own sense of true-worth, whichever way it happens, love is, in the words of Liverpool’s Ian McNabb, a wonderful colour.

Fup, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(488 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

I Saw You For What You Were.

 

I saw you,

through the haze,

the other night

whilst you were dressed in tight fitting jeans

and with the selected primrose

jumper that you always wore

when believing yourself

to be an agent provocateur,

your hand on his leg, the soft stroke

of indiscretion;

I watched without care,

for a brief moment,

till I knew the secret

of your smile,

and then forgot you,

as the haze grew clearer.

 

Ian D. Hall 2018.

 

I Saw You For What You Were. full post

(79 words, estimated 19 secs reading time)

Persuasion, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Matthew Atkins, Ceri-Lyn Cissone, Siobhan Gerrard, Indigo Griffiths, Jason Ryall, Lucinda Turner.

In a past literary history that is dominated by men, many women stand above them for the sheer depth of human experience, the joy of wit, the penetration to the bones of fear and exploration of the subject; and whilst the names of Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Tolstoy stand at the gates of greatness, it is too the scribes of women such as Charlotte Bronte, Agatha Christie and Jane Austen that we should acknowledge perhaps as the greater skilled writers and finer observers of the human condition.

Persuasion, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

A Taste Of Honey, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Sharon Byatt, Sophie Coward, Chris Pybus, Jason Lamar Ricketts, James Templeton.

Adapting, or even directing, one of the modern theatre classics has always fallen somewhere between utterly compelling and deserved, and the brave choice which could be fraught with too high an expectation.

A Taste Of Honey, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Behemoth, I Loved You At Your Darkest. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There lives within each of us a small dark corner in which the appetite for darkness is ever gnawing at the psyche, like misguided moths with no appreciation for the sunlight, we have the ability to be drawn to the darkest parts of our fellow human beings, and it is only the brightness in our souls that stops us from being zapped or burned and seeing our moth like wings shattered.

Behemoth, I Loved You At Your Darkest. Album Review. full post

(457 words, 1 image, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

I Know No Other Way To Get High. (Vinyl Lamb).

 

I want to leave

another permanent mark

on my skin, to feel the pulse

under the knife today,

tonight, when it is the hour

of understanding, of dismissed life.

I watched his mouth open wide

forming a sentence as the background

of clamour threatened

with deep joy to stutter any conversation

we might have had,

I leaned my head forward, slightly,

and cupped

my empty hand to my ears as if

to show his words had been mislaid

in the pulse of ether

I Know No Other Way To Get High. (Vinyl Lamb). full post

(354 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

The Musical Box, Gig Review (2018). Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

People quite often think of silence as being damning, of largely falling into the zone of negativity and condemning, the muzzled contempt biting at the tongue and willing to spread the seed of discontent and slander when your back is finally turned. Too often silence is greeted with the look of lack of enthusiasm, and yet silence for a short while is the epitome of awe, the reflected understanding of what can pass for sheer majesty, the shock of beauty, the reverence of joy, silence is esteem.

The Musical Box, Gig Review (2018). Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(579 words, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)

Dan Owen, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

A headliner’s duty is to make his presence felt, to set the seal on authority, and for Dan Owen the presence is so powerful that when a howling, brooding harmonica punches the audience with immediacy into Willy Dixon’s Little Red Rooster. It is evident to all those upstairs in Leaf that this sand-toned guitar and pounding stomp box have seen their fair share of theatres, blues bars and gig venues across Europe. One thing is for certain: Dan Owen is a truly relentless performer with a roots-shattering vocal that would make Gregg Allman blush.

Dan Owen, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

(384 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)