Daniel Land, In Love With A Ghost. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The sound of the city is one that can drive some to utter distraction, painfully eating away at the muscles in the ear, the grind of the buildings as they sway against the concrete underbelly and bedrock, an ache that never goes away. Yet if you listen without replying, if you take in the scale of the hive of activity, regardless of the situation you find yourself in the road and pavement fort and hiding place, there is a sense of poetry to be heard, the poetic demeanour that comes with every screeching horn, every verbal onslaught from shops and markets and the rumble of the Earth as it echoes the sound for miles around.

Daniel Land, In Love With A Ghost. Album Review. full post

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

Keyboard Teeth.

It’s like teeth, once

one gets pulled out,

falls through the gap

of the regimented neglect

or the dust that gets underneath,

the termite filth that snaps back,

then the keyboard never feels

or looks the same, bare tooth grin

in the corner, full set of dentures

perfect black tiles with tattooed

memory, yet one missing tile can speak

a thousand words

and misspell the one that is important,

the sentence incomplete, inadequate,

when the perfect smile is tinged

with a missing tooth.

 

Keyboard Teeth. full post

(90 words, estimated 22 secs reading time)

The Changing Room, Picking Up The Pieces. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There will always come a time when the forces of will that conspire against every human to deal with their innermost anguish and regret will compel them to be seen to be Picking Up The Pieces, to put together the jigsaw of life that breaks apart, that can harm, can damage but ultimately can be, with hope, a new beginning, a new chapter in which to thrive.

The Changing Room, Picking Up The Pieces. Album Review. full post

(410 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Nina: A Story About Me And Nina Simone, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Josette Bushall-Mingo, Shapor Bastansiar, Shaney Forbes, Jair–Rohm Parker Wells.

Political thought requires The Arts to remind it of just what it is fighting for on occasion, the rest of the time Art is there to take on the degraded and the foolish who seek power without representation, who make those who seek to undermine a person by the colour of their skin, their age, race, gender, sexuality or their perceived ability to do a job, Art must strive to admonish, rebuke and sternly warn by any means possible but it also must hold the hand, caress the soul and give comfort that whilst the holders of such ideas are wrong, they at least can be changed.

Nina: A Story About Me And Nina Simone, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(499 words, estimated 2:0 mins reading time)

Climbing Everest In My Shoes.

I don’t need

to scale Everest

to know how difficult

it would be

to take each step,

to go

and place my tiny feet

in the

crisp white snow

and icy domain

and not fall to my death.

 

I don’t need

to swim the Atlantic

from the steps

of Cornish past

to the shore of New Jersey

and sit breathless

on the jetty and water weeds

of Benny’s Landing

to know how

take in a lung full of salt and knotted

Climbing Everest In My Shoes. full post

(218 words, estimated 52 secs reading time)

Midge Ure, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It might feel as if you are living in the worst of times, the 2016 American Presidential race has descended arguably into a farce, the world is teetering on the edge once more of red buttons being nervously shifted over and citizens wondering just how far the leaders of the nations would go to cut off their nose to spite everybody else’s faces…it does make you speculate and question the validity of humanity’s reign on Earth, it raises doubts on the future; however, in the midst of it all, there is always the fact that you have lived in a time which was honoured to have Midge Ure performing his music in.

Midge Ure, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(475 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

They Will Make Anything A Sport, If The Money Is Right.

I

wouldn’t be surprised

by anything at all

in this world, its plunder

of the depths of barbaric

and turning it into light entertainment,

I imagine them bringing

stoning back as a way of life

if the audiences could be found

and sponsors chomping

at the bit to bring

all the latest technology

to the event and a championship table

being shown on the news every

half hour as the latest twists and turn

and insightful ramblings of a manager’s

team are played out

They Will Make Anything A Sport, If The Money Is Right. full post

(114 words, estimated 27 secs reading time)

Inferno, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 5/10

Cast: Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones, Ben Foster, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Ana Ularu, Irrfan Khan, Omar Sy, Ida Darvish.

If there was ever an example in the world of cinema of a truly superb idea being driven down the wrong street then unfortunately Inferno would have to be one of the most disappointing examples of them all.

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

(434 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Nickelback, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The gaze of the music lover as they stare into the image, the dramatic pose of the Rock musician as they ply their trade on stage may leave some baffled, bemused by the adoration and respect dished out as songs about sex, abandonment, alcohol and heroism are played out before an arena’s audience; no band perhaps has caused that bemusement more to manifest in the eyes of eyes of a large percentage of the population than Nickelback.

Nickelback, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

(511 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Lyndsey Gillett, Delicate. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Delicate by name, hardy by nature, Lyndsey Gillett covers the bases with her latest song of the elusive and seemingly fragile and yet within the framework of the song, within the power that leads you by the hand into a realm, a world of the faint and the tantalising, there is no room, no hidden crack in which Delicate becomes flimsy, out of control or desperately insubstantial; this is the voice of the gracefully robust and the balanced. Delicate by name but as tough as a Chicago Cubs fan doggedly hanging onto the possibility of seeing their team finally making the World Series one year in their lifetime.

Lyndsey Gillett, Delicate. Single Review. full post

(340 words, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)