Joe Brown, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2018).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are institutions, there are legends and then if you are lucky enough, if you have the fortune and interest of spirit coursing through your veins, then there are those to whom British music owes not just a debt of thanks, but a rather large cheque that can never be cashed or exchanged. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Take That, Bananarama, Atomic Kitten, Kate Bush, without the likes of Tommy Steele, Billy Fury and Joe Brown leading the way from the very start, arguably the British music scene would have looked an awful lot different.

Joe Brown, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2018). full post

(566 words, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)

A Question On The Modern Day Lonely.

 

It is not for me you understand,

the question of loneliness,

of solitude unasked for,

of isolation, perhaps enforced,

cut off from plans, talk, conversation,

chewing the fat

with no one

but me, the solitary figure;

it is not for me I seek an answer

on being lonely,

I’m just asking for a friend.

 

Ian D. Hall 2018

Permanent link to this post (62 words, estimated 15 secs reading time)

Here In Limbo.

 

Here in Limbo, ducking down,

avoiding the gaze of God and the Devil,

chums and old pals, compliments

spoken freely at the matter of my passing,

caught between the unbeliever

and the quite sure the place exists,

they are not sure what to do with my soul,

let it burn in Heaven or let it grow cold

in Hell; neither wanting, neither demanding,

they flicked a coin in the air,

there in the darkness they put me,

till the coin stops landing on its side,

in Limbo.

Here In Limbo. full post

(95 words, estimated 23 secs reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Scott Midlane.

In all the ways we choose to cope with a particular problem, the choosing of a side, the letting go of the past, the trouble with our own involvement in a situation that go out of hand, none perhaps are constructive or as cathartic as realising that you have to go through the darkness to find the light, that the Bitter Before the Sweet is the only way to suffer if you want to let go of the anger, the possible rage and the undoubted regret.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Scott Midlane. full post

(1235 words, 1 image, estimated 4:56 mins reading time)

Machine Head, Catharsis. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The very act of liberation is always one that finds itself as being the most memorable of stories, the very act of shedding all the shackles, of letting go and finding yourself free to take your life in the way that you want it to go; that is the measure of cathartic control that we could all use. Whether it is just emptying a year’s worth of piled up junk into a skip or seizing the moment to declare yourself independent of the scourge and the curse of self imposed terrorism upon your soul, Catharsis is beneficial to those that see it for the symbolic bloodletting that it is.

Machine Head, Catharsis. Album Review. full post

(397 words, 1 image, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa, Black Coffee. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is a combination that has set the heavens alight and given inspiration to get up, go forth and give the day the attention it deserves from your soul; a blend that has nothing but the finest ingredients placed within and from the first taste, that first bolt upright defining moment in which it grabs the passion lurking within and the respect for the greater things in life.

Beth Hart & Joe Bonamassa, Black Coffee. Album Review. full post

(422 words, 1 image, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Cider Joke Lost In Yeovil.

 

I won’t accept the gift,

it was in his eyes, fifty five

years young and self proclaimed

special brew, special one,

it is not surely what he would

normally partake in, swift swallow,

long gasp of recognised favourite

as it goes down the hatch,

West Country greeting

lost upon this sophisticated man

that we cannot join in the pun of

Cider with Jose.

 

Ian D. Hall 2018

Permanent link to this post (71 words, estimated 17 secs reading time)

The Unmoving Dancer On The Sand.

 

From roughly twenty seconds in,

I hear what you have seen,

the echo of guitar

caught in the ferocity of sunlight

and the regal nature of an Iron Man

with blank staring eyes looking out,

unblinking, unmoved,

metal thoughts kept to itself,

of the scene that unfolds before

as you take that perfect picture

that resonates in your own soul,

a day out with the wife, now joined

by this silent companion,

the Sandancer on the beach.

 

Dedicated to John Chatterton and inspired by his photograph Sandancer.

The Unmoving Dancer On The Sand. full post

(95 words, estimated 23 secs reading time)

Josie Duncan & Pablo Lafuente, The Morning Tempest. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are times when the award someone receives is entirely justified, that the storm they bring to the attention of the crowd is not just a full on rage and cacophony of noise melded together to make a song that is considered passionate or pleasant, it is the hurricane of emotions that dwell within and which crash outwards, tumble from the pit of the stomach and get the point of no return. Yet once they cross that threshold, it becomes a serene upheaval. It is to understand that the uproar of the night has given way and in its place, The Morning Tempest strides into view across the listener’s mind.

Josie Duncan & Pablo Lafuente, The Morning Tempest. Album Review. full post

(429 words, 1 image, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Room Me, Anaon. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The psyche of the Memento Mori is such that it can intrigue and repel those who look upon it with the same feelings of emotion as if you were witnessing the event of crossing the River Styx or coming upon the black and white photographs that were popular during the Victorian era, the visions of those who had recently passed away being posed in such a way, upright but dead, as if they still had the vestiges of life flowing through their decaying veins.

Room Me, Anaon. Album Review. full post

(443 words, 1 image, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)