Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 5/10
Cast: Noomi Rapace, Orlando Bloom, Michael Douglas, Toni Collette, John Malkovich, Akshay Kumar, Adelayo Adedayo, Tosin Cole, Brian Caspe, Aymen Hamdouchi, Jessica Boone, Philip Brodie, Affaello Degruttola,
Babs, Television Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Samantha Spiro, Nick Moran, Leanne Best, Jamie Winstone, Luke Allen-Gale, Zoe Wanamaker, Robin Sebastian, Daniel Ben Zenou, Toby Wharton, Nicholas Asbury Jerry-Jane Peers, Alex Macqueen, Ross green, Rob Hughes, Tom Forbes, Joe Stilgoe, Julia Ford, Rob Compton, Charlie Archer, Honor Kneafsey, Jonathan Rhodes, Barbara Windsor.
Worry, They Are Still There.
Yes, it is a victory for common sense
and decency, our Gallic cousins
showing the way to truly be
a member of the Human Race,
yet let us not forget,
let us make sure we remember
that despite the horrors
visited upon the French
by a despicable regime
in our grandparents’ time,
that eleven million of them
still unbelievably backed
a party steeped in fascism;
that is the point,
that a third who voted
saw the opportunity to seize the past
once again.
Steve Hackett, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017).
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Steve Hackett at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, May 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall
The world has changed so much in the last 40 years that barely a whisper of it is now recognisable, fashions have come and gone, a couple of generations of music lovers have been born and slid silently into the edited grooves of downloadable music and fought with all their might to claim the art form as their own, that in their minds they, understandably, are the ones who invented music.
Caught Somewhere Between Cornwall And Midland Son.
I want to hold your hand today,
you made me far too independent
and I am so far away, a life time
perhaps, a sense of searching for identity
urging me on to be something more than
a boy of Cornwall and a son of the Midlands,
somewhere in between, always torn
between the two and with the honour
of both branded, indelibly tattooed,
deep into my sometimes angry,
always passionate heart.
As you wait at home for news
from the calling of the foundry,
Roxanne de Bastion, Heirlooms & Hearsay. Album Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
There is no flaw that cannot be overcome, there is no praise that should be anything but sincere, to deceive in such actions, to neglect both yourself and the object of your applaud is to do disservice to the world. In such actions the beauty of Roxanne de Bastion’s Heirlooms & Hearsay only stands taller, it is not so much a moment of beauty that captivates and spreads the sense of optimism, of joyful response to the questions that unfold but also one that frames how deep seated the artist’s thoughts go when they see parallels between the world they see and that in which their grandparents witnesses.
Doctor Who: Knock Knock. Television Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Peter Capaldi, Pearl Mackie, Matt Lucas, David Suchet, Mariah Gale, Mandeep Dhillon, Colin Ryan, Ben Presley, Alice Hewkin, Bart Sauvek, Sam Benjamin.
Knock Knock. Who’s always there? The tenth series of Doctor Who since its gallant return has been one of tea time horror, it might be going out a couple of hours later than the classic series under the stewardship of Tom Baker but all the hallmarks are there to encourage further the even most unconvinced television viewer that the B.B.C programme has moved Heaven and Earth to reflect both the times we find ourselves in and to generate where possible the image of a time when the Doctor had more than a few ghost stories and haunted houses in which to delve around in.
In Defence Of Stephen F.
It is funny how people will get offended
by the use of language, a single swear word
than by the actions of the state,
of the lies told and spread by Government,
that someone can be upset by the use
of God to drive a point
rather than a church that defends
the most indefensible;
I am no lover of certain words,
some, despite appearances, are useful,
they are the memories of truth
that we cannot bring ourselves to utter,
be proud in the use of them,
Roxanne de Bastion, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. (2017).
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
People tend to confuse themselves sometimes, the Universe is spectacular like that, believing that to be the best requires the finest of everything, the largest venue perhaps, the abundance of both food and drink on tap, and in this day and age either all for nothing or they are willing to brag about in the Netherspehere of social media that they paid thousands of pounds to a tout outside and that makes the evening perfect.
Thom Morecroft, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. (2017).
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Thom Morecroft at Leaf. May 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
If ever there is a poll for the greatest artist to come out of Shropshire, there had better be a vote included on the ballot sheet for Thom Morecroft, not that such things in the end are important but for the man who made Liverpool his home and produces the type of music in which the veins inside the body crackle and pop with shuddering excitement, to which the nerves glisten with the sweat of anticipation and the joy of the smile is never far from the lips, such an accolade is always awaiting to be said with great sincerity.