Speedbuggy USA, South Of Bakersfield. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Not everyone will have heard of Bakersfield but its influence is not to be underestimated on the world of music and whilst that world may be looking as if it times it is stalling, that the residue of backward looking and non-progressive music politics can at times hinder. One band that takes the step forward is L.A.’s Speedbuggy USA and in South of Bakersfield the homage to the home of Twang is a welcome and fulfilling experience in which the listener feels grateful for the band’s punk country outlook.

Speedbuggy USA, South Of Bakersfield. Album Review. full post

(355 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: An Interview With Beryl Marsden. A Pantomime Special.

Beryl Marsden not only looks relaxed but as she takes five minutes out from the schedule of photographers digital demands, the smiles from an adoring public and with the Fairy Godmother outfit on, she somehow retains the look, the feel of the epitome of cool. It might be a far cry from the leather look, the rebellious and so elegant teenager who wowed Liverpool audiences in the 1960s and who carried on being a woman of stature, the personification of true Merseyside grit but as she sits down next to me, it’s almost possible to believe that there is nothing that Beryl Marsden can’t do.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: An Interview With Beryl Marsden. A Pantomime Special. full post

(1171 words, estimated 4:41 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Doom Coalition, The Red Lady. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Paul McGann, Nicola Walker, Hattie Morahan, Caroline Langrishe, David Yelland, John Voce.

Sometimes all a Timelord needs in life is a little mystery, a little horror to stir their blood. It is what makes life that little more spark filled, a little more intriguing and whilst it is only a handful of Timelords hold fast to this ethos, for the everyday, for the ordinary person, it is a staple of life that makes the heart race and pump faster, it is the human factor that makes life so sweet.

Doctor Who: Doom Coalition, The Red Lady. Audio Drama Review. full post

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

The Comfort Of The Dark.

I think I will stay here in the darkness,

the ragged curtain closed

across, the light dimmed down

to the sight of a naked flame

waiting patiently

in a gas filled room

and the sheets

pulled over my eyes,

for in the darkness there is no fear,

I am not afraid…

 

I am not afraid

to whisper to myself

because should I shout in the light,

should I raise my fist in anger,

or see the world

in its blazing fire, in its white heat of explosion

The Comfort Of The Dark. full post

(200 words, estimated 48 secs reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: An Interview With Alison Crawford, A Pantomine Special. .

Alison Crawford  had just come off the Epstein Theatre stage after being photographed by what seemed a million digital cameras zooming in her and the costume she is wearing for this year’s much looked forward to pantomime at the busy theatre.

Watching Alison from anywhere in the stalls of the theatre on Hanover Street, you cannot help but be entranced by the spectacle unfolding and at the back of the mind, in the recesses of panto’s past and the glory of rags to riches stories, you cannot help but understand just how important the role of Cinderella is in the magic of Christmas.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: An Interview With Alison Crawford, A Pantomine Special. . full post

(1381 words, estimated 5:31 mins reading time)

Lips & Sticks, Songs From The Shelf. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Long before music seemed to just pop out of the air, that it somehow became the thing to have everything within a hair’s breadth of being deleted by the slip of an over anxious finger, music would be stacked with pride on creaking shelves, pristine, worn, cared for, over-played and in so many different versions that communication was never a dull art form. In this sanitised world of music mischief, a song sometimes doesn’t airplay in a home, it stagnates and grows cold and like a person who never gets to be with another, music that should be loved just becomes another set of Songs From The Shelf.

Lips & Sticks, Songs From The Shelf. Album Review. full post

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

Fables: Cubs In Toyland. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The power of a child’s imagination is one that can move mountains and level an entire city, it is perhaps only second in its strength to that of a parent who would tear apart a world in order to save their child. It is a power that award winning writer Bill Willingham in his much sought after Fables graphic novels captures with great joy in the book Cubs in Toyland.

Fables: Cubs In Toyland. Graphic Novel Review. full post

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

Doctor Who: Doom Coalition, The Eleven. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Paul McGann, Nicola Walker, Mark Bonnar, Robert Bathhurst, Caroline Langrishe, Bethan Walker, Ramon Tikaram, John Banks, Sylvester McCoy.

Everybody is susceptible to the crowded thoughts that linger in the mind, after all the brain is a curious mystery, an enigma that is hard enough for one soul to carry across their natural lifespan, let alone a being to whom eleven would be enough to drive even the very best of us completely and utterly mad.

Doctor Who: Doom Coalition, The Eleven. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(457 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

A Hemmingway Smile.

Smile at me Hemmingway, give me the truth

of your demise, show me why it hurt

and I will oblige you with my tale,

you at least will go down in history,

for you my bearded friend, had reasons,

I seem to have excuses to keep living.

 

These excuses, some by name, some by deed

are wrapped in shrouded mist, hidden

even from my own pathetic pill popped brain

and I weep for myself, quietly, alone,

in plain sight so that nobody

sees anything but the smile.

A Hemmingway Smile. full post

(132 words, estimated 32 secs reading time)

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires (PS Vita). Game Review.

Liverpool Sund and Vision Rating 9/10

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is a third-person musou hack and slack action role playing game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS Vita with compatibility for PlayStation TV, while having previously released on PS4 and PS3.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires (PS Vita). Game Review. full post

(3749 words, estimated 15:0 mins reading time)