The first petition
announced itself
with the cheery signature tune
of the over eager and the punished
by expectation gone wild.
Several more landed on my desk
before the night was out
and all bearing the same
words of elation,
the same impassioned glee
from a nation of fans who had witnessed
their heroes too often bite the dust.
I read the cheeky E-Mail
and then signed my name,
after all, how often do we get to enjoy
schadenfreude at the expense
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There will always be those that are thankfully drawn together from different walks of life and from seemingly dissimilar backgrounds and to whom the world takes heed of for their ability to play together as if they had grown up in each other’s pockets, that the music they make is born of tight childhood reminisce and times spent as teenagers making plans.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It doesn’t matter when you come across the artist, it only matters that you do. A simple sentence to live by perhaps, but one that inhabits the space arguably between regret and hope like no other; you can spend the time lamenting the realisation that you must missed the unmasking, the early raw period of an artist to whom the music captivates you at the very defining moment you cross paths, or you can hope, you can feel the bounty that is to optimistically come.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
You can walk the entirety of this land’s coast line and occasionally you come across those pockets of space that seem to exist only in the imagination or in the realms of fantasy, the quiet places, the only sound is that of the crashing sea as it argues over the point of sovereignty, of where the water meets the might of cliffs and the unguarded beaches. No human to be found to hear the constant declaration of war, no person to feel the calm when the mutual shaking of the elements has reached its peace; you can walk these coast lines and relish the thought that someday you will visit Silent Shores.
…I asked my mother, “Will I die?”,
as the poison swept round my body,
my last leaf on the verge of killing me,
murdered by the unnecessary,
no clue why.
I asked matter of fact, there was no
panic in my mind, if you are going
to serenade the angels
and party with God
then it helps to believe;
I had lost my faith long before
and at eleven, I reconciled
that at least they knew my killer
and that it had blown out
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
When the bell tolls, the lightning strikes and the thunder finds a way to roll across the landscape and leave the witness in awe at the sunshine and the dripping sweat of Earth that will inevitably follow afterwards, it is always good to know that your gut instincts were right, that those who follow the artist through the rain and the youthful poise, will bask in the radiance that takes them onwards, that they will become the rainbow that heralds a music dawn.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The ashes of many a phoenix has been blown and scattered to the four winds, the dust getting in the music lover’s eye and causing the bitter sting of regret and unfulfilled potential; to many a phoenix, the fire was not enough to resurrect them, the burning flame that catches the soul and gives it new life, simply went cold, started to fade and those ashes, they became another memory of what was, a golden bird in flight.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
It is perhaps the act of melodrama, the memory of what has passed in the spaces we call, home, work and the venues we have held close to our hearts when the love of art and the artistic comes calling, but to feel the shiver of the beautiful instruction of the haunting vibe, that is perhaps a moment in which to savour, in which to pursue the past and implore it to be part of the future, that is the basis in which love takes root.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Southbound Attic Band, Constellations, Liverpool. June 2018. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
The Southbound Attic Band may have recently given the people of London a run for their money with a deserved display of Merseyside passion, they may have taken on what may seem like to be the world, its wife and those to whom have not had the pleasure of their company in the past, but where do you go from there, for the pleasure of their company and the wonderful outlook of the true-life observational lyric, it is to know that Ronnie Clark and Barry Jones will always stay humble, will always be the epitome of the honest raised eyebrow and have the wit of a thousand people chugging through their hearts.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Thom Morecroft at Liverpool Calling 2018. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Life is busy, we have made it our mission it seems to fill the hours in such a way that to sit still for a while and take in the sound of a local great might raise a few eyebrows on the faces of those who believe we should always be expending energy; that you are not actually being productive if you not moving a muscle.