Stephen King: You Like It Darker. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In some respects, it is possible to look upon the literary works of Stephen King and understand that in his novellas and short stories the labour behind them is more intensely arrived at than some of his larger bound novels.

There has long been a question mark about the modern master of horror and his ability to complete a novel with a greater tightness, cruelly perhaps driven by some who seek the alternative narrative of dismissing the saga and only wishing for the attention span to be satisfied rather than working and striving for a greater insight into the man and his nightmares.

Stephen King: You Like It Darker. Book Review. full post

(445 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Marillion: An Hour Before It’s Dark- Live In Port Zelande 2023. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Whether you realise it or not, not all gigs or concerts are created equal, and whilst the sense of drama and camaraderie can be alluring, a reflection of what we feel inside as a favourite song, long perhaps unheard except in snatches of memory as it floods our senses, there are some moments which only truly hit the spot as you safeguard the front row, or are fortunate enough to be able to hear if the evening’s outpouring of satisfaction is caught just right by modern technology and transferred to a medium best suited for appreciating in your own home.

Marillion: An Hour Before It’s Dark- Live In Port Zelande 2023. Album Review. full post

(555 words, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)

Jethro Tull: Bursting Out: The Inflated Edition. Deluxe Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It feels strange to think that a band of such repute as Jethro Tull waited a decade before releasing a live album to the public, a sizeable and abundant crowd that had been clamouring to feel the enjoyment and sheer artistry of the live arena within their own four walls; after all other bands within the genres they straddled like kings on a noble steed had been putting out live albums as a way to garner more attention after just a couple of studio recordings, to push the agenda onwards. Not Jethro Tull though, and perhaps it could be argued that it was to their benefit that they waited until the time was right, till the fates decreed that the group were more than just any other group plying their trade, but were already the mega stars to whom could bestow the raw and the beautiful in one extraordinary home adventure.

Jethro Tull: Bursting Out: The Inflated Edition. Deluxe Album Review. full post

(463 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

Manatee Commune: Simultaneity. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The landscape of music without lyrics is more than a sense of hypnotic undertow designed to give the listener an ambient journey with their own thoughts, it is also a gateway for the vibe and effect to slowly enthuse the soul with a feeling of spontaneity, a crash course in the art of understanding two or more emotions coursing through the body at once, the symmetry of the simultaneous to which we hear all but understand more when not dislodged and disconnected by a voice that is not our own.

Manatee Commune: Simultaneity. Album Review. full post

(327 words, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

The Dreaded Laramie: Princess Feedback. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are those who look upon melancholia as one of attention seeking abuse, that to even feel the nerve as it pulses is a perpetual motion of excessive drip feeding of depression in which the recipient feeds off the substance as though it were nectar, ever hunger, never satisfied until every ounce of remorse has been shed in anguish and destructive torment.

Melancholy though has its uses, it can drive the emotions onward to a place of sensory investigation, to a land of discovery, and what people may see as melancholy is actually exuberance of being free, of being able to pursue the devils out of the darkness.

The Dreaded Laramie: Princess Feedback. Album Review. full post

(364 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Rebus. Television Series Review. (2024).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Richard Rankin, Brian Ferguson, Stuart Bowman, Lucie Shorthouse, Amy Manson, Caroline Lee-Johnson, Noof Ousellam, Thoren Ferguson, Neshla Caplan, Aston McAuley, Andrew John Tait, Nick Rhys, Aiden Connell, Michelle Duncan, Cassidy Little, Terance Rae, Sean Buchanan, Mia McKenzie, Cailean Galloway, Ryan Hayes, Patrick O’Brien, Craig Mclean, Seamus McLean Ross, Melissa Collier, Gilly Gilchrist, Ami Okumura Jones.

Rebus. Television Series Review. (2024). full post

(493 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

Joe Bonamassa: Live At The Hollywood Bowl With Orchestra. Album Review.

Joe Bonamassa,'Live at the Hollywood Bowl', album cover front

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

How do you elevate the already stunning to a place where it can be considered immaculate; a near impossible ask in today’s cynical world where the object is often taken out content and wiped clean of any its original substance, any of the magic that made the listener, or the viewer fall in love with its greatness in the first place. To find something that in your heart you understood to be as near perfect as possible and given the opportunity to be brighter, even more spiritually alluring is the grail to the those who see art as the function of the universe.

Joe Bonamassa: Live At The Hollywood Bowl With Orchestra. Album Review. full post

(469 words, 1 image, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

History Of Guns: Half Light. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The darkness eludes our sights and true perception, the full brightness of a sun-soaked day can give rise the treachery of our ego as we blindly assume all is well and that there is no fault in the system; but in the Half Light, in the reflection that dusk reveals we can see with certainty the monsters hidden within, we can envisage the heroes fighting for our souls, and in the grey tide the shapes of those who carry the duties seriously as they parade the History of Guns in an effort to provide peace with the only shots fired being ones of original creativity and invention.

History Of Guns: Half Light. Album Review. full post

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

Doris Brendel and Lee Dunham: Pigs Might Fly. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It’s a good day in the soul when you come across a sound that you should have been intimately aware of from the beginning, but which offers a wide-ranging scope of enjoyment and perspective; and the opportunity to speak wholesomely without previous bias or prejudice.

Doris Brendel and Lee Dunham: Pigs Might Fly. Album Review. full post

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

Black Country Communion: V. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

V, the sign of victory, the symbol of defiance, a representation of the battle won in the face of odds perhaps so large that the triumph is more than success, it is the all-encompassing delight of rejoice made clear.

Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, and Derek Sherinian, by themselves forces to reckoned with, musicians to be lauded, to be praised from extravagant alter to corners of fan filled fields where the blast of their chosen instrument is enjoyed with attentive ear; and yet together, blended, melded and forged to attack the senses with impunity and defend the genres of Blues and Rock with aggression, subtly, and ferocious cool, they are arguably, completely, unbeatable.

Black Country Communion: V. Album Review. full post

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