Geoff Carne And the Hatz, 4 Play. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Without it, you may as well be looking at life through the confines of humdrum, of just going from day to day in the monotonous routine and the makeshift, make-do dull and instantly forgettable; for where there is no build up, there can be no sense of earned excitement, there can be no discovery of just how far your expectations can go and how far they can thrill you. Without 4 Play from Geoff Carne and the Hatz in your life, then the dull seeps in and the day becomes not just beige, but school uniform insipid and dusty.

Geoff Carne And the Hatz, 4 Play. E.P. Review. full post

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

Esme Bridie, Today It Rains. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The world of Bright Young Things always manages to bring to the listener’s attention to the next musician or artist as if it there was by some remarkable chance a magic conveyer belt on a constant speed going past your eyes and senses; no sooner have you been told that you have heard the next Frankie Valli, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, Debbie Harry or any iconic vocalist worth the test of time, then the next one comes along at frightening pace. It could be that our attention spans have decreased, no longer able to relish the length of time it takes to truly appreciate a young musician; or it could be that programmes such as The Voice have made it impossible to look beyond the next five minutes.

Esme Bridie, Today It Rains. Album Review. full post

(454 words, 1 image, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

The Lovely Eggs, This Is Eggland. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

In a world that is becoming increasingly the butt of its own joke, it is reassuring to listen to a band who understand that angry DIY is the remedy for the relentless nonsense we are being forced to watch like an impotent voyeur, unable to stop events from unfolding, too entrenched in the clean and safe, almost sterile, humourless, watching our backs mentality that has become the everyday norm.

The Lovely Eggs, This Is Eggland. Album Review. full post

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

Inside No. 9: Once Removed. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Monica Dolan, Nick Moran, Reece Shearsmith, David Calder, Steve Pemberton, Emilia Fox, Rufus Jones.

The story never starts where you think it does; you could walk in to a narrative that is in its infancy and still find that there is a whole back story that you missed, that if you had got there ten minutes earlier then the whole complexion of the story would have been completely different, a scene missing might have seen you take another side in the argument, a stance taken. It all boils down to where you think the story actually starts and if you can live with being perhaps Once Removed from the beginning then that is something you have to live with.

Inside No. 9: Once Removed. Television Review. full post

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

Sh*t Ho*e

 

Your mouth is on the button, ready

to take a shot at anything

you see, that flags up

in the tiny mind held up

by small hands, business like attire,

small orange sun

glowing hot and stare mad cold with bluster

and rhetoric, good for nothing

but column inches and inches and inches,

diminutive boy, slow to realise

that the shit is not in some far off country,

not in a hole created by mortar

or bomb, or bullet, or lie,

but in your own back yard, Commander

Sh*t Ho*e full post

(139 words, estimated 33 secs reading time)

Selva, D O M A. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The deep rumble that accompanies lightning, the sense of other worlds colliding and the universe breaking in half, these are age old fears that we used to put the blame on the gods, that without reason to doubt the obvious, that nature is full on Heavy Metal when she is holding onto a grudge, when she wants to teach us a lesson.  The best thing we can do in such circumstances, when the rumble gets close, is to lay back, drink in the atmosphere and let the music she provides wage war with serenity and to embrace the gentle.

Selva, D O M A. Album Review. full post

(369 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Yvonne Lyon, Metanoia. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

At times you cannot help but be drawn to a line from an old poet. A song will come on the radio, an album will be played and through the airwaves and dominating speakers, sage old advice from down the centuries will be remembered, thought of and mused upon. It gathers together the issues faced and suggests without any hint of irony in the invisible, disembodied voice in your mind, that Time has a funny way of repeating itself; the words might be modern, however the sentiment and message remains the same.

Yvonne Lyon, Metanoia. Album Review. full post

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

Red Pine Timber Company, Sorry For The Good Times. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is when you start apologising for everything that ever was, even the good things in life, the shared moments of joy, passion and adventure, that you realise it was all that you could do to keep the song alive, to let it be heard with sincerity and damn those with grace who encourage you to feel inferior and flawed; for those that made you feel Sorry For The Good Times.

Red Pine Timber Company, Sorry For The Good Times. Album Review. full post

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

England’s Forgotten Queen: The Life And Death of Lady Jane Grey. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Nine days in which to rule a nation, nine days in which you are thrust into the limelight from relative obscurity and ordered, God fearing, life, to one in which the state and the now dead King has decreed that you are Queen. In us all such power is unthinkable, the weight of history is enormous and chilling and it is the actions of an unwise soul that would dare take it on without a care in the world or who would relish the prospect. We only have to look at our modern day equivalent in politics, a week being a long time in that regards, nine days would seem like forever, and at the tender of 15; it is perhaps no wonder that many dispute the legitimacy of Lady Jane Grey’s period of time as England’s Queen.

England’s Forgotten Queen: The Life And Death of Lady Jane Grey. Television Review. full post

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

Spiders Use Your Toothbrush.

Don’t let your toothbrush

lay on its side,

head down

in despair

as it thinks lonely thoughts till

you dare tackle the plaque once again;

at night,

when you are sleeping,

thinking happy thoughts.

Spiders,

big and hairy generals

of the eight legged kind,

 are happy to

use the bristles

in an effort

to ease the pain

and discomfort

from the spider like piles.

 

Ian D. Hall 2018

Permanent link to this post (72 words, estimated 17 secs reading time)