Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 5/10
The album’s instruction is clear, even if the final result isn’t. Get Up may be the command of an artist with so many hit songs and great tours behind him but his latest offering, the directive familiar of a thousand sleep induced mornings or the order to carry on the Rock fight, falls somewhat short of being an incisive and authorative instruction by the Canadian Rock legend.
I wish I could grieve for you
but you are a fading memory,
a ghost that still breathes
and whose profligate, reckless heart
still beats somewhere…
still, against his ribcage and in such a way
that each time I hear it
deep down in my D.N.A. I experience
an anger unbecoming
for what you have done
and the dark seeds of despair find a way
to nestle and take root
uncontrolled and unregulated
as I remember all that is between us,
blood and soul,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Life is Strange: Episode 5 – Polarized is a third-person episodic adventure game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4. The episodic action of Life is Strange concludes with the fifth episode developed by Dontnod Entertainment who, having previously released Remember Me in 2013, are known for creating games with powerful and dependant female characters that grow and become stronger through the duration of the game.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Cathy Tyson, Chereen Buckley.
Homelessness is such a serious issue in 21st Century Britain that it should be considered a national crime, an offence by successive governments upon the people of the land to who have been let down, systematically and without hope. We are sold a pup, an image of fecklessness of people making this particular choice for themselves and that the statistics are wrong, that people are not homeless, they are just beggars, idle cheats and scroungers; this image is so far removed from the truth that it is impossible not to see the pain and division it causes, not just between the haves and have not’s bit in what was even the tightest of bonds, between mother and daughter, father and son.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The trouble is with Governments is that they never learn, that they always find a way to delve just that little deeper into the widening foundry of desperation and push more people in, to make the general population just that little more compliant by suggesting the two words that nobody ever picks upon, “You next”.
I can have the most beautiful day,
I can find birds that sing in time
with the music that sleeps
inside my head
and I can find the soprano
whose heart beat resembles a muse
in which to write such words of praise
and yet..
again and again I know that life is fleeting,
that the bird of super thunder,
of golden reflection is the heaven
and whose joy is abundant…
makes me sad, brings a tear of damnation
scurrying down my cheek
and to whom, sends me hurtling towards
The Proclaimers, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. October 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10
There was an expectant hush that gathered momentum as the wave of the Philharmonic Hall’s house lights were slowly turned down to a point where sunshine could not have penetrated even the deepest unforgiving shadow. Yet through the gathered together dark, the heart beats of eager musical premonition lit up and took notice, the strength of such force welling up and the tangible, almost pregnant explosion of what was to come almost feeling as if this was not a concert given by maestros of the popular music scene but of Gods walking on stage; such was the clamour to be audibly heard in the whispered voices of the venue’s audience.
Pete Williams at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. October 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Nerves are something you wouldn’t associate with Pete Williams, however genuine affection for a crowd’s enjoyment is something that comes across in waves, not just as a solo performer, or part as a band. Whether it is his own fused cocktail or the ever impressive Dexys but afterwards, where to many it matters just as much, away from the stage, in the even harsher glare of the spotlight when people can corner you and shake your hand and get a thousand questions in; the smile remains open, it flourishes with greeting and makes what has been on stage even more impressive.
When bandages and plasters,
the tourniquet and the dressing
are used by both genders to stop
everything from a nicked finger
paper cut to full blown emergency
amputation, the blood that comes out,
that seeps, dribbles and flows,
perhaps gushes is funnily enough
the same in both men and women
and the intersexed,
so why are tampons considered
a luxury…
An item that belongs to one,
too many, should not find itself
adding to the coffers at Westminster,
unless of course they are used by the C word
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The laughter inside the Philharmonic Hall would have been bordering on the intense as Bill Bailey regaled his fans for the second night running, yet tucked away but as bold as anything inside the newly opened Music Room of the hallowed Philharmonic Hall, a different type of evening was taking place, one that flowed with a touch of the regal, the harmonious fusing of haunting vocals and instruments and all times the serenity of the Folk machine. With Bella Hardy in Liverpool for one night only there really was no comparison to be made; the sweet lingering voice of Ms. Hardy was always going to be the most captivating event to be fortunate to witness.