Almanac, Kingslayer. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is a reason why some certain aspects of history resonate more than others in the minds of those who choose to look back, for they are normally the ones who see the parallels in the present day, they are the ones who can see just how a natural course of events in the modern era have been shaped by what has gone before and as one political leader is character assassinated or thrown to the wolves, so too does a King or Queen of old resemble that putsch or stab in the back.

Almanac, Kingslayer. Album Review. full post

(492 words, 1 image, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

We Are Parasols, Inertia. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The darkness can be a place where the consuming nature of humanity can lead to the feeling of inaction, where apathy escorts the soul to its own inevitable destruction. If though you can even see the light, a thin wedged margin just within arm’s reach and offering a sense of comfort, then to walk that line is feel perhaps the most alive, where Inertia is handed a throbbing beat and a pulse in which to feel the spark glow red hot and burn with joy.

We Are Parasols, Inertia. Album Review. full post

(373 words, 1 image, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Autumn, The Fall. Maxi-Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

You don’t have to look to far to see how the season invoke the passions of the poet and would be lovers in equal force.

Spring brings that tantalising prospect of hope, the return of order from out the darkness that the Romans largely clumped together and then prayed to their gods that the first flowers would return, summer is the full flush of lust and heat, provoking the poet to seek out wooded glades and spy on the green leaves dancing in anticipation, winter is the time when huddled together before a fire and the thrust of conversation takes place and leaves autumn, with trees that shed their inhibitions and the cinematic landscapes that catch the eye.

Autumn, The Fall. Maxi-Single Review. full post

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

Operation: Mindcrime, The New Reality. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

It was once a cry of exasperation that would be uttered by a spouse or a parent, that the almost degrading verbal punch to the senses of “You need to live in the real world” is often the last resort of an argument from those who have jealousy in their heart because they have forgotten how to dream of a better life, that they want you to be as miserable as them. Now it seems that more people are finding ways to make their lives better, not by dreaming and succeeding but by hiding away, a virtual authenticity on every corner, a world where you can be the hero without leaving the house.; welcome to The New Reality and despite the allure, it is not a pretty sight.

Operation: Mindcrime, The New Reality. Album Review. full post

(411 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

From The Vault: Man On The Moon, Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito, Paul Giamatti, Gerry Becker, Leslie Lyles, George Shapiro, Vincent Schiavelli, Peter Bonerz, Patton Oswalt, Courtney Love, Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross, Jeff Conway, Carol Kane, Judd Hirsch, Marilu Henner, Christopher Lloyd.

From The Vault: Man On The Moon, Film Review. full post

(615 words, estimated 2:28 mins reading time)

Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Julia Walters, Vanessa Redgrave, Stephen Graham, Leanne Best, James Bloor, Frances Barber, Kenneth Cranham, Isabelle Laughland, Peter Turner, Tom Brittney, Edward Bourne, Susanne Bertish, Joey Batey, Tim Ahern, Luana Di Pasquale.

Imagine, if you can, what it would be to be in a relationship with someone who was once considered Hollywood royalty, who held audiences captive with their ability on screen and who made crowds love them. It is surely impossible to believe such a thing could happen, even if you do read about in the gossip columns and the world of social media, it is almost too good to ever believe it would happen to you.

Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool. Film Review. full post

(468 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

In A Lonely Place.

In a lonely place,

where no one talks

and no one smiles,

no one calls,

no one knocks on the wooden panelled door,

the text alert stays silent,

the interaction on social media

reduced to the barest minimum

contact, more chance of Life

in the hereafter it seems.

A Twenty-First century death,

silent, tumble weed on screen

garners more interest,

just forgotten,

and the worst part is when you get used to it,

then the feeling of memory is taken from you.

Ian D. Hall 2017

In A Lonely Place. full post

(88 words, estimated 21 secs reading time)

Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Jay Taylor and Patrick Robinson as Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson in Baskerville: Photograph by Ellie Kurttz.

Cast: Bessie Carter, Edward Harrison, Ryan Pope, Patrick Robinson, Jay Taylor.

There is a demonic howl that punctures the thick Devonshire Fog and finds the way to install the first wave of fear in a man’s heart, the moors have the air of the unnatural and spectral feeling its way like spindly fingers through a solid, almost impenetrable web, the hand upon the shoulder, the heavy, phantom breathing of the curse that has weaved its way into the family history is close by and the eyes start to glow blood red, evil and death locked in its slavering, hungry teeth.

Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(464 words, 1 image, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

Kate Rusby, Angels & Men. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The lofty ideals of Angels & Men often fall short in what a single woman can produce; a job for two men perhaps but every woman is easily worth two of her counterparts and in the voice of the erstwhile Kate Rusby, those same messengers of a god and the men who rejoice in their passion are greeted with a set of songs that are not only heavenly, but are given the very essence of a humanity via a voice that praises with genuine understanding and joy.

Kate Rusby, Angels & Men. Album Review. full post

(354 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Tom Hingley & The Kar-Pets, May Contain Nuts. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The halls and venues up and down the length and breadth of the country have long either laboured or rejoiced under the weight of the tribute band and sometimes look-alike, if not quite sound-alike homage to some of the nation’s most endearing and popular bands of the last 60 years. It is a weight of expectancy to a night out that carries risks and can bring memories so vibrant flooding back into view, that it is possible to find yourself shedding a tear as a particular line is carried through the air; it is a tear of truth, reminisce and pleasure, or it could be a finer moment of expression, it could be that it May Contain Nuts.

Tom Hingley & The Kar-Pets, May Contain Nuts. Album Review. full post

(391 words, 1 image, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)