The 19th Street Band, The Things That Matter. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

We all understand The Things That Matter and yet as 21st Century beings we find ourselves continually cut adrift from them, we have cut so many ties to family, to friends, to the past and to nature, we have chased the Dollar, the Pound and the Euro, we have greedily sought to own more, abuse our bodies, as well as our surroundings, we have lost sight of The Things That Matter, so much so that it could be remarked that we have become shadows on a mural; inconsequential, pretty to look at but faded by remorse and Time.

The 19th Street Band, The Things That Matter. Album Review. full post

(386 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Paul Anderson, The High Summit. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is the moment of high praise when listening to a set of instrumental songs on an album, that the person being serenaded by just sound can reflect on more than just colours, the shapes of aural description and the repose of the strings and brass offered; it is the highest of accolades when that music stirs the imagination and words flow invisibly, like ripples of poetry, down through each instrument and every bar.

Paul Anderson, The High Summit. Album Review. full post

(393 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

Harriet!, Those Three Words/Just Sign. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Those Three Words can hide a multitude of meanings, three little words which can profess so much and yet are often fumbled around in case of embarrassment or in case of rejection. We ask ourselves and those we have affection for to listen to be careful on how those words are used, in many cases we only ask for a Just Sign to appear, one of truth and one that Rocks.

Harriet!, Those Three Words/Just Sign. Single Review. full post

(301 words, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

Melancholic Memories As We Dance In The Shadow Of Balmoral.

In the light of day,

I see you,

spectral showers frame your skin

and the ghosts of our past,

silent, quiet, here

on the Scottish hillside

overlooking the future

with uncertainty  and framed by cold winters,

if only they had listened to our unspoken

warning, then we would have not heard

the quiet stealth of a killer

approaching us

from the skies.

In the light of day,

oh my darling, dance with me

as we become

blinded

and then,

much like our melancholic memories,

Melancholic Memories As We Dance In The Shadow Of Balmoral. full post

(102 words, estimated 24 secs reading time)

H.E.A.T, Into The Great Unknown. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is a paradox in waiting, for to go Into The Great Unknown, one must be unaware of what is likely to happen, what is possibly going to be encountered to see the unknown; perhaps the Devil in the detail or the music to be loved is invisible till you first rip of the cellophane and open up eagerly the contents within, for in that moment, for most of the time, the listener is truly in the dark, they have only hope to guide them.

H.E.A.T, Into The Great Unknown. Album Review. full post

(404 words, 1 image, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

MR. BIG, Defying Gravity. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Gravity is an illusion, or at least when it comes to art, for we are told in our infancy not to spread our wings too far, to be content with who we are, keep thoughts of imagination and fancy down and locked away because being six inches of the ground, of wanting to touch the moon is not for the likes of just anyone.

Defying Gravity, the mind must be allowed to soar and experiment with its environment, for gravity is nothing but significant when it is breached, the scale of the achievement, continued or one off, is never finer when the force of nature smiles through its earnest solemnity

MR. BIG, Defying Gravity. Album Review. full post

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

A Frank Admission.

…at this point

I’d like to admit

I am destroyed inside

and out;

for the knives in my back

have tore open wounds

I once hoped were closed,

it seems the stitching has come

apart

and now the hole is seeping

and fingers are prying,

poking and probing

to find a heart

already decayed.

 

Ian D. Hall 2017

Permanent link to this post (61 words, estimated 15 secs reading time)

Atomic Blonde, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Charlize Theron, James McAvoy, Eddie Marsan, John Goodman, Toby Jones, James Faulkner, Roland Møller , Sofia Boutella, Bill Skarsgård , Sam Hargrave, Johannes, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson , Til Scheiger, Barbara Sokowa.

It could be construed as Spy versus Spy but without the humour or anarchic level of higher learning and yet Atomic Blonde takes on the genre with surprisingly good value and with a storyline that is surrounded by one of the great moments in European history; the Berlin had stood as a symbol of the Cold War for 28 years but as the heat exchanged between Charlize Theron and all who stood in her built up, Atomic Blonde is nothing but explosive from start to the inevitable fall out.

Atomic Blonde, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(527 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

A Ghost Story, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, McColm Cephas Jr, Kennisha Thompson, Grover Coulson, Liz Franke, Barlow Jacobs, Richard Krause, Dagger Salazar, Sonia Acevedo, Carlos Bermudez, Yasmin Gutierrez, Kimberly Fiddes, Daniel Escudero, Kesha, Jared Kopf, Will Oldham, Brea Grant, Rob Zabrecky, Sara Tomerlin.

 

We are all passengers hanging on the coattails of Time, some of us though refuse to move on once the journey has ended; they hang around and experience the decay of all they ever knew, almost inevitably again and again. Death is traumatic, undoubtedly disturbing, not only for those left behind to carry on riding those flowing coattails but perhaps for those who see the battle and fight end; for life is silent and hurtful for those who see life through the dark hollow eyes of A Ghost Story.

A Ghost Story, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool. full post

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

Illuminated By Cinema Screen.

 

Illuminated by cinema screen

back light, their shadows

pestering the divide

of reality and make-believe,

they do their best to not spoil it for others

yet somehow their presence

is enough to destroy the artifice erected.

Too slow, they reason,

the actors have done nothing

for ten minutes, save eat a pie

and wear a sheet;

no patience some people,

bet they liked the sex scene

in the film before mind.

 

Ian D. Hall 2017

Permanent link to this post (79 words, estimated 19 secs reading time)