Liza Mulholland, Fine ‘n’ Rosy. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The Scottish city of Inverness offers a rare sense of welcome the moment you step onto its incredibly long platform, the city of the north, the place where the old intercity trains made their final stop and in the distance the suspected resting place of Lady Macbeth is said to be stowed. Inverness is in many ways the finest of places to come from, arguably it is also one steeped in enough beauty to make anyone want to sing with passion, it welcomes the Fine ‘n’ Rosy cheeked.

Liza Mulholland, Fine ‘n’ Rosy. Album Review. full post

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

Deacon Blue, Believers. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Elegance is not a right, the sophistication of a song is not created by accident or by design, it is merely down to the attitude of the musician and the mutual bond that was formed in the early lyrical squeeze offered as the first note captured their affections. Tastes in both can change, an early love can become an embarrassment, a song once mooned over and protestations of love declared can become the memory of horror and the refusal to play it for anyone. In the end elegance is where the love remains and where the Believers stamp their authority.

Deacon Blue, Believers. Album Review. full post

(403 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

In Truth.

A curious answer

to the question I never asked you,

it was always preceded

with the bluff

and Universe cold

“In truth?” which always led me

down the path of contemplating

going back out the freshly felled oak door

I had just walked in

and perhaps spending another

seven hours at work, bored,

going out of my mind, mind

numbing tedium

rather than listen to what came next out

of your unimaginative head;

complaint after complaint,

it is your job,

it is your responsibility,

In Truth. full post

(141 words, estimated 34 secs reading time)

Kevin Critchley, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016.

They used to say good things come to those who wait, that patience between events was the virtue in which to aspire; a hangover from the Victorian era in which we are still reaping the disaster of the times from; the painful way of believing that self denial is a good thing when it comes to appreciation. They used to say a lot of things but hardly any of it is relevant in 21st Century, especially the Victorian’s attitude to the poor and the destitute, the infirm and those to whom Government decisions effect negatively.

Kevin Critchley, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016. full post

(438 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Derek King, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016.

Liverpool’s acoustic scene would not be the same without the people who donate so much of their time and energy to make sure the musicians are heard and given a major platform to show their talent and their inspirations off to. It is point that should be mentioned often, that so many superb musicians play in the city and get their audience in the effort of Liverpool Acoustic; a realm of enlightened attitude which does all the greatest of service.

Derek King, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016. full post

(417 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Tom George, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016.

To combine poetry and music is a realm many dream of, yes the lyrical genius of many a song-writer is steeped in the stuff of Zeus’ sentiment to humanity, the gentle coaxing of the heart stopping shock and adoration laid down by Jove in the guise of the Balladeer to their latest muse. However, it takes great wit and fortitude to delve between the two states of deliberation, the twin flirtations with an audience and not be seen as anything than heroic whilst upon the stage.

Tom George, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016. full post

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

Katy McGrath, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016.

There should be a general arrangement, an agreement that not one single world leader could dare deny without fear of ridicule or the sound of derision coming from their vocal cynics, that Liverpool really is the home to the female musicians and female rock gods to who could also do a damn sight better job of running the ideologies of all countries. You can find them in every bar, venue and stage sending the guitar into long periods of apoplectic rage and long sequences of beauty that even the masters of the arched pessimist warmonger would have to concede, that they are more powerful, more engaging than all of the rank and file suits put together.

Katy McGrath, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016. full post

(449 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Vonda Shepard, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Television may have brought the name of Vonda Shepard to the vast majority of British music lovers but the genuine appeal of her touching song writing and piano playing is the truth of why she has retained that adoration from her audiences and the abundance of spirit in her recording career. Vonda Shepard is remarkable, a woman of clear and precise musical beauty and to whom the smile never seems to fade.

Vonda Shepard, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(406 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Their Place (Is At The Front Of It All).

Of course,

Women

should know their place,

it is surely to be expected

that they should be at the front

leading the way,

fighting harder, fighting all the way,

that they should be heard as equals,

that they should not take misogyny

in any form

and that they should not live in fear

of the fist,

of the male,

of the world’s

preconceived ideas

handed down by male privilege,

surely they should know their place

and revel in being

leaders,

innovators

Their Place (Is At The Front Of It All). full post

(100 words, estimated 24 secs reading time)

Green Day, Revolution Radio. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

For Icarus, the fall from grace was too much to survive, the hubris shown in the face of the gods a damning streak of complacency, self righteousness that smacks the face of those that display it. Icarus had no return, falling from the height that no human could withstand the impact from. Icarus had no way back but for Green Day, the almost smug delivery that preceded the trilogy of releases in 2012 over a four week period; thankfully has been washed clean, there is a taste for redemption, salvation and it is o ne that they plainly had to extradite themselves from before it became too late.

Green Day, Revolution Radio. Album Review. full post

(451 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)