James J. Turner, Hey Brother. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The starkness of the black and white image is always more illuminating, arguably more interesting, than the full colour expose of life, a picture or a film will always be more intriguing than the added flavour of wild and vivid colours which cloud the issue and in many respects take away from the story at hand; a tale of a returning wanderer, so long unseen, his voice missed, is one that should be loved for all its glory in the scene of black and white contrast, a view in which we can smile and rejoice as we shout out, Hey Brother.

James J. Turner, Hey Brother. Single Review. full post

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

Davy Edge, Poems From The Midnight. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Every poet must understand that their craft is an extension of their soul, that the darkness and the light are to be seen in equal measure lest they find themselves on a road in which their chosen mode of transport will, if not let them down, then get bogged down in the intricacy of finding the right word, the shape or rhythm in which to convey their feelings, their thoughts, and the passion which can become too often, overwhelming.

Davy Edge, Poems From The Midnight. Book Review. full post

(606 words, estimated 2:25 mins reading time)

War & Peace, Television Review. (2016).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Paul Dano, Lily James, James Norton, Jessie Buckley, Jack Lowden, Aisling Loftus, Tom Burke, Tuppence Middleton, Callum Turner, Adrian Edmondson, Rebecca Front, Greta Scacchi, Aneurin Barnard, Mathieu Kassovitz, Stephen Rae, Brian Cox, Kenneth Cranham, Gillian Anderson, Jim Broadbent, Kate Phillips, Olivia Ross, Thomas Arnold, Adrian Rawlins, Ken Stott, David Quilter, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Otto Farrant, Chloe Pirrie, Rory Keenan, Terence Beasley, Pip Torrens, Guillaume Faure, Ludger Pistor.

War & Peace, Television Review. (2016). full post

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

(More) Small Talk.

 

Not big

on small talk,

the gossip of the television

or the town, occasionally

the ears hear something,

a word or two

on the bus coming home,

and I wonder if my earphones

have fallen out,

to be able to overhear

the excited chatter

of who loves who, marries who, hurts who,

snogs who, betrays who, who made who

care, but then, like an infection

you get caught up in silent

observance, and marvel at the beauty

of animated earwiggery, of the gestured

(More) Small Talk. full post

(113 words, estimated 27 secs reading time)

I’ll Be Damned, Road To Disorder. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When you feel as if the entire universe has set you up for the fall, that the long-held belief of a golden trail of fortune in your life, then it is perhaps only the knowledge of what awaits on the Road To Disorder that can set you free from your chains. Those chains are only as rigid as you wish to make them, if you half-heartedly jangle them in a manner befitting the stroppy and the weak-willed, then they will hold fast; however, should you pull hard on the steel and bound fast iron, till the muscles ache and the mind is ready to explode, then the road to disorder is one to celebrate, for at least you are going there on your terms.

I’ll Be Damned, Road To Disorder. Album Review. full post

(414 words, 1 image, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

June 1974, Nemesi. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The quietly spoken word speaks volumes, if that is the case, then the instrumental only soliloquy, or the book of low rising, highly passionate notes which pulls the listener into a different realm of introspection. Words are power, a presentation without such terms of vocal expression should perhaps be seen as deep magic, an enchantment, a charm which weaves itself around the idea of retribution against hubris, and one in which the Nemesis adores the sound of.

June 1974, Nemesi. Album Review. full post

(371 words, 1 image, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Helion Prime, Terror of the Cybernetic Monster. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

To have free reign over your imagination is arguably the greatest gift that we can hold onto, especially in a time in which demands to the point of almost bombastic, ordered without question, fascist intent that we think of nothing but the next Pound, Euro, Yen or Dollar. To have the ability to withstand this featureless political doctrine and exemplify the beauty of marrying both hard science and science fiction in a cold merciless machine, is to know that the possibilities are still endless, that humanity still matters above all else.

Helion Prime, Terror of the Cybernetic Monster. Album Review. full post

(435 words, 1 image, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

In The Shade.

 

Sun drenched bars

as spiders fight, at first glance,

for supremacy

in the shadow of the daily play,

a weaved take, strands of Old England,

forever gone, but the dusty John

lives on, Mistress Page and the leaf

she breathed life within, can still be found

in the ragged and witch like May Queen’s

realm, spiders by the Stratford banks

not fighting,

on closer inspection, the female

was attempting

the art of wooing, unsuccessful,

as the male only wanted to live

in the shade.

In The Shade. full post

(92 words, estimated 22 secs reading time)

The Merry Wives Of Windsor, Theatre Review. The R.S.C., Stratford-Upon-Avon.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: David Troughton, Rebecca Lacey, Paul Dodds, Karen Fishwick, Beth Cordingly, Vince Leigh, David Acton, Jonathan Cullen, Ishia Bennison, Stevie Basaula, Luke Newberry, Sakuntala Ramanee, Nima Taleghani, Charlotte Josephine, Afolabi Alli, Josh Finan, Katy Brittain, Tim Samuels, Tom Padley, John Macaulay.

One may play with time and words and not always get them right, not every sentence uttered in this world of ours can be set down with accuracy, not every speech is heralded and praised for its rhythm and beating heart cadence. Yet, in the act of unsolicited wooing, the words never truly fit the mouth and the insincere clumsiness of the potential, unwelcome, suitor is but the action of one only thinking of one thing.

The Merry Wives Of Windsor, Theatre Review. The R.S.C., Stratford-Upon-Avon. full post

(551 words, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Asleep In This Norfolk Town.

 

We’re on the road to Cromer,

something inside has died,

or was that wishful thinking,

a brass knuckle fight

with myself that leaves me

covered in bruises of scorn.

 

I knew a man once, who declared

with less than a twinkle in his eyes,

that he had fallen asleep

on a wrought iron park bench,

previously occupied by Norfolk pigeons

and the random blown evening newspaper,

one sunny day in that far off town.

He didn’t wake for a couple of days,

Asleep In This Norfolk Town. full post

(120 words, estimated 29 secs reading time)