He brought out the best in you
and the courage you displayed at the end
I wish I could see in me too
impossible companion, a saviour, a friend.
The finest of companions, you dared to believe…
you dared to make me believe beyond your physician
and now you leave
the stars dying light, a glorious mission.
Yet what if you have not died, what if I find
I can still kiss you for evermore,
hold the best in my solitary single ravaged heart,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It could be the mantra of many a shady Government or perhaps state controlled media in any part of the world, yet for Glasgow band Don’t Shoot, their follow up to the debut E.P. Wonderkid with a tremendously exciting and fully developed sounding album That’s The Truth Even If It Never Happened.
Glasgow’s legitimate claim to be the powerhouse of Scottish music has never really been in much doubt; the gentility may lie further to the East, it may straddle the capital like a sore at times and at others gleam like newly scrubbed skin and yet the beat lays firmly in the heartlands of the Clyde and the West coast of that narrow stretch of land that hides a million dreams and a million more misgivings.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Star-crossed and ill-fated lovers are all the rage in Verona, the Italian home and setting of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a place of splendour and magnificence, where a first kiss is as nearly as good as a first listen and like Romeo and Juliet’s temptations and maddening joy, everything is made better by the anxious feel of My Last Day to calm all tensions.
My own meaning of life:
I promised to try and never do harm,
occasionally unsuccessful, botched even
or even been the disaster, the black sheep
I was always told I would be…
but as a whole
I have to believe I have been more respectable
than wicked and yes like anybody else
I regret bitterly the times when failure has been
the only option, for even in deep sad failure
must come hopeful good.
My own meaning of life:
To try and never be swayed by popular opinion,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Women of the Blues, wild, the finest and most beguiling of Tempests and such an asset to the genre that mere mortal men at times cannot, nor should they, compete with on the stage or in the hearts of the Blues lover.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
Travel broadens the mind, of that there is arguably no greater virtue to bestow upon the individual, the acceptance that the world is so much greater that they could ever hope to be and yet being determined enough to at least scratch a little of its incredible surface is be assured that something artistic or creative will come of it. Whether it is the rocky hills that hove into view as they germinate like wild forests on the plains or the scenic tranquillity of a lush lake huddling the neighbourhoods of a big city, whatever the reason, it is best to welcome the opportunity with open arms, good grace and the feeling of being in the open air.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Sometimes you have to go a long way from home to be appreciated, it never feels right but the journey, the experience only makes you stronger, wiser and perhaps more keen to prove people wrong. If it can work for The Beatles, if they can succeed by working their collective behinds off in Hamburg and come back to even greater acclaim in Liverpool, then it can work for anybody.
She is beautiful,
for when she shook my hand
I saw nothing but grace
in her eyes and never mind
the face she wore
once before
now she was brave
and away from the sneering looks
of those to whom she would never
be completely free of,
she stood tall and with true
personality no longer hidden
in shadows,
she is the woman that captures
a heart, the stocking, sheer and black
holding up her innocence,
for she at least
in choosing to live,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The history of the world might show that some tales, some stories, deeds and misadventures, might pass away without much thought but no matter what someone will always remember, someone will reminisce, and then the truth of it all, the history of such things will be that Nothing Is Forgotten.
For Stand Alone, a new rising set of stars to whom the world beckons with crooked finger but with straightforward and honest desire, Nothing Is Forgotten and neither should it be in this their ear-catching melodic debut E.P.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Time is both a curse and a blessing, it arrives with sanctity emblazoned upon its noble brow and yet causes more mischief than a devilish imp on Halloween, Time is a cruel mistress and a benevolent thief and without it, music and art is worthless.
About Time, the command that can be barked in frustrated appeal or the conscious remark of those seeking to confirm a piece of artistic endeavour onto the souls of others and for the Andy May Trio, it most certainly belongs in the latter and as the gentle sweep of instrumental folk music catches the ears with their up-swinging and beautifully inspired tempo, About Time is seen as both the mistress and the thief understanding the enthusiasm they install.