Rat Scabies, P.H.D. (Prison, Hospital, Debt). Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

We are teetering on the edge of an abyss, it may look the same as the other ones we have collectively come across, the sign posts look awfully familiar, the paint on the boards pointing away from the cliff, freshly touched up and given a bit more dynamic gloss, and the lemmings hurling themselves off the cliff is a mighty big clue that we have been this way before. However, the scenario is different now, so much more to lose, a bigger threat consumes us and having P.H.D. (Prison, Hospital, Debt) is arguably the only defence we have.

Rat Scabies, P.H.D. (Prison, Hospital, Debt). Album Review. full post

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

Glymjack, Light The Evening Fire. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Despite being of a different era and genre, it has probably been said best by the erstwhile Heavy Metal band Megadeth on their Rust In Peace album, “A country that’s divided, surely will not stand.” It may be seen as pushing the boat out into the storm driven seas even further, of furthering the debate of what exactly Britain, more importantly England, stands for in the modern era, this once Sceptred Isle, a fortress in a sea of troubles, now, as the Bard noted in John of Gaunt’s death bed speech, has “..made a shameful conquest of itself.”

Glymjack, Light The Evening Fire. Album Review. full post

(394 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

The Ego Ritual, Chakra. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

You cannot help but adore the strut, one of humble pleasure, but still a song and belief born of assuredness, of the Lincolnshire parade to which has been part and parcel of the last decade and which has meant that across from The Pop Dogs to The B-Leaguers to this new single, Chakra, from The Ego Ritual, proves that there is an enormous amount of energy coming out of that east coast county, one driven with absolute conviction by Jim Styring, William James Ward and Gaz Wilde.

The Ego Ritual, Chakra. Single Review. full post

(351 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

The Merchant Of Venice: Radio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ray Fearon, Colin Morgan, Hayley Atwell, Andrew Scott, Ryan Whittle, Neerja Naik, Ryan Early, Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Lauren Cornelius, Luke Bailey, Kerry Gooderson, Stefan Adegbola, Javier Marzan, Neil McCaul, Clive Hayward, Rupert Holliday-Evans.

Long regarded in the first folio of William Shakespeare’s works as perhaps nothing more than a romantic comedy, it is with fresh eyes in this more discerning and in part justly cynical age to look upon The Merchant of Venice as a problem play, one that deals with the idea of outspoken racism, of anti-Semitism and even inward contempt and intolerance towards a man of another faith, using his debt in which to berate him consciously for his words and supposed lack of loyalty to his God.

The Merchant Of Venice: Radio Drama Review. full post

(431 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

The Relentless Guilt.

It is a sense of guilt,

a Methodist instruction

or perhaps

a reminder of my own pound of flesh

owed, measured

and found to be in

continuous debt

if I plan some time away,

even from just doing

the pressing down of keys,

there is the voice in my head that whispers,

no, no, no,

you must, you owe your time

to everything else but you, for you,

the voice whispers,

have nothing else to do.

 

Ian D. Hall 2018

The Relentless Guilt. full post

(84 words, estimated 20 secs reading time)

The Voodoo Sheiks, Unstoppable. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

From the first spark of the Big Bang through to the inevitable decline of the Universe, some entities in this crazy world just have the aura of absolutely being Unstoppable, that their momentum carries them across the threshold of every door possible, each one may as well be kept ajar, open wide and off the lock, for the relentless and seemingly inexhaustible have a point to prove, that they understand to stem creativity is to kill the dream.

The Voodoo Sheiks, Unstoppable. Album Review. full post

(419 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Kashena Sampson, Wild Heart. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

If you desire something enough, you will go to the end of the Earth to find it, you will sacrifice almost everything in the pursuit of that dream, you will shatter preconceptions and build walls around you to protect that dream, that vision. Uncomfortably and sadly, often those dreams fade, the relentless chase too strong, too lofty, too high off the ground to reach with both hands and the opinions of others too forceful to stand up to close and perhaps insidiously jealous scrutiny.

Kashena Sampson, Wild Heart. Album Review. full post

(423 words, 1 image, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Marillion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Steve Hogarth of Marillion, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, April 2018. Photograph used with the kind permission of Gordon Fleming.

It has been a long time since Marillion stepped over the Merseyside border, that near international boundary that separates the city of Liverpool from the U.K., not built in myth but in the very nature of its home grown and adopted sons and daughters strength of purpose and identity. As Steve Hogarth was heard to say during one enjoyable exchange of banter and nicely placed heckle, “We really are in another country now”.

Marillion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(497 words, 1 image, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Roxanne de Bastion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

One of Liverpool’s own, a performer who has been long associated with the city, a musician of high integrity and blushing music, one who for quite some time has deserved the accolades that come with a night at the Philharmonic Hall; in Roxanne de Bastion’s supporting of Marillion on this tour, to come back to Liverpool, to immerse herself within the friends she made and in the city where her latest album is held as an example of the heights that can be reached, that is now the position that all should be attaining.

Roxanne de Bastion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(432 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Magnum, Gig Review. Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When we were younger…a mere step or the beat of a chord from where Magnum used to practise in the fabled Rum Runner Club and within the shadow of memories of being arguably the finest of bands to have the Birmingham stamp placed upon its history and resume, the Symphony Hall played host to the band, and in a reversal of fortunes of weather, no longer put off by the snow and devastation of postponed music, instead it was the heat and sheer intensity of the homecoming gig to which the end of the tour will always be remembered.

Magnum, Gig Review. Symphony Hall, Birmingham. full post

(430 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)