The Jigantics, Seconds Out. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If the listener were to find that they were lost in revere whilst listening to The Jigantics’ debut album Daisy Roots, then in the succumbing to love that they will ultimately find in the band’s new album, Seconds Out, they will be nowhere to be found. All maps pointing the way out of the musical maze will be taken from them at the widening gap of the start and any chance of discovering the single route that leads from point A to point B, locked away inside the melody, notes and lyrical genius and placed under a small rock somewhere in the middle of the maze.

The Jigantics, Seconds Out. Album Review. full post

(478 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

The Last Scout, Dust N Bone. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

For as long as there is war there will be art made about it, regardless of the genre, the form or the artistic content, there will always the reflection of what the destruction force of war can do to the soul and to those caught in the cross fire. It is a genre explored with grace and style by The Last Scout and one that catches the lump in the back of your throat unawares and off guard, for Dust N Bone is a song that just knows where to hold you, where to push you off balance and when to catch you before you hit the ground.

The Last Scout, Dust N Bone. Single Review. full post

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

There Is No Make-Up.

There is no make-up that hides

the face beneath the skin,

my smiling expression,

sincere at least,

hides the sadness that I cannot

otherwise contain.

You can hide yours with all the eye

shadow you want, all the powder

and ruby red

lipstick coating the snarl, but

it will only ever be varnish

on the surface; underneath

you will always be vain and obnoxious.

 

Ian D. Hall 2016

Permanent link to this post (71 words, estimated 17 secs reading time)

Sari Schorr & The Engine Room, A Force Of Nature. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Momentum is unavoidable when a touch of compelling energy streaks across the night sky and burns with fire, rage and beauty. It is a moment to behold, perhaps in awe, certainly in inspiration and one that when remembered in the dead of night, like a fireball, a streak of the Cosmos hurtling towards the sun, is ablaze with glory and redemption.

It is in the thought of the night sky, the everlasting and the thrust of musical experience that Sari Schorr & The Engine Room become A Force of Nature within, that they radiate a staggering belief despite all the odds that were stacked against them is impressive and very cool.

Sari Schorr & The Engine Room, A Force Of Nature. Album Review. full post

(456 words, 1 image, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Sheila K. Cameron, More Like A River Than A Road. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is the voice, the spoken word narrative that entwines itself between the songs on the More Like A River Than A Road mini album by Sheila K. Cameron, that brings out the sparkle in the recording. The pleasure of the songs is enormous but there is something about the spoken word employed to very decent effect by Ms. Cameron that suggests the music is only half the tale, that the grip on the attention of the listener is enhanced by the monologue that weaves like a stream through fields and pastures in the ceaseless search for the ocean.

Sheila K. Cameron, More Like A River Than A Road. Album Review. full post

(397 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Hannah James, Jigdoll. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Like all good journeys, Jigdoll starts with a kind of hush, the shadow of least expectancy and the haunting breath in the dark, the silence growing till finally the realisation hits home that something nurtured by the elements is about to be unleashed. Like the island at the centre of the world in The Tempest, it is a world populated by the unknown and the spectral, of the rising swell and the phantom cries of nature berating and beating its heart in time to the passing of each moment on the album.

Hannah James, Jigdoll. Album Review. full post

(399 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Drawing A Blank.

I cannot remember your name,

I am sorry.

I remember your face

every time I close my eyes, I

have never forgotten you

but I cannot remember your name.

I know the first time I met you,

I can recall with ease the first song

I heard in your company,

and if you were a woman

I can remember the first kiss we may

have shared, that we felt possessed in its safety;

I strain though to summon up the memory

of your name and for that,

Drawing A Blank. full post

(116 words, estimated 28 secs reading time)

Ged Thompson, Middle Earth Magic. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The ability of being able to believe, to have faith in something that might only exist in the fertile minds of children; is to hold onto life. Not a so called life where bills and the banality of day to day existence are allowed to punch you in the stomach, where they are allowed to chew away the imagination a little piece at a time, but the life in which faeries, goblins and the chance to live as a dragon should you wish; that is true belief and it is one so beautifully captured by Liverpool poet Ged Thompson in his incredibly presented book Middle Earth Magic.

Ged Thompson, Middle Earth Magic. Book Review. full post

(490 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

All Was Once Wells…

Alan Wells

was a hero of mine when I was younger,

when I first realised

what the Olympics meant,

what it could inspire,

what it could be

if not allowed to be dominated

by politics and cheats

or death’s unfavourable hand;

the dip

of the head at the line,

something I loved.

Nearly forty years on,

past the excuse of the biggest cheat

of them all, an athlete that destroyed

my faith, past vainglorious,

past deception and onto spectacle,

onto breathing legend and admiration

All Was Once Wells… full post

(130 words, estimated 31 secs reading time)

Cracked Tiles, Theatre Review. Spotlites, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Lorenzo Novani.

Just as other symbols of community seem to be disappearing from our streets and neighbourhoods, the local fish and chip shop is also in danger of becoming an outmoded and obsolete form of kinship that transcended class, age and wealth.

A trip to the chippy was for many the chance to catch upon the gossip and talk of the area, especially if they didn’t want to spend time in the public house, it was the place to eat cheaply but with respect and in the dark days of World War Two it was the only food source that wasn’t rationed. The local fish and chip shop seemed indestructible and yet as Lorenzo Norvani shows in his delightfully poignant production, Cracked Tiles, the days of the community enjoying such a valuable resource are fast approaching a critical juncture.

Cracked Tiles, Theatre Review. Spotlites, Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2016. full post

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