Madness dwells within each of us, for some
the normality of the sacrifice to the death of Kings
reveals itself in their actions, the jealous zeal
in which they covet everything but life itself
and the dishonesty of their envious desires.
For others though it unwraps and unfolds like a
forgotten parchment,
a map of places unseen, of continents lost and drowned
far below the surface of Earth’s majesty;
of a building with secret time decayed, narrowed
dusty and cobwebbed tunnels that bid warning
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There are not many bands or artists who would be comfortable with releasing a new set of songs in the same box as 20 of their previous hits and instantly recognisable songs, the pressure of comparison, of easily accessed contrast is perhaps a release too far for most groups to skip round. Having a best of is all right, especially if it does introduce a newer crowd to the table and have them bathing in what is effectively some of the great songs of the genre; but to put them alongside in the same packaging with a brand new experience, that perhaps is taking the point of dedication too far. Not for the Bellamy Brothers though as their new and old recording of 40 Years :The Album attests.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Vienna is seen as one of the true birthplaces of European culture, a place of romance, of music that powders the soul and alludes to setting the explosive keg of at all times and a city that has been as much divided by strife, politics and internal divisions for centuries. It has suffered and it has been glorified, it has been in many cases forgotten and it has been celebrated and any music that comes out of that resurgent city should be seen as powerful reflection of the dominant and prevailing times that it is living in.
There was a time
before time,
somewhere around the end
of the decade of lost hope
that was known as the 1980s
in which being given a phone number
by the girl
you liked
was as prized as any medal
or award handed out by the state
or the unsaid respect of your mum and dad.
That number was hard won,
it was the mark of envy
perhaps in other’s eyes and the sudden realisation
that what came next was love’s equivalent
to standing in a closed forbidding
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The feeling of the fancy of the notions of spectral unseen beings are abound throughout the new album from Emily Portman, so much so that Coracle is more than a set of songs loosely tied together by packaging and a set of songs that glide across the listener’s attention; Coracle is arguably the philosophy of the spirit transformed and given life.
Philosophy is always subjective, like the thoughts of an English Literature student groping in mid air for the one true reason of why a poet’s work fits the ethos of existence and yet when the answer comes, it blinks wildly with the excited charms of a robin fending off a seagull from its nest.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The idea of Utopia is based upon equality, a brotherhood which is unbreakable and insurmountable, a breath in which all come to together as one and the equilibrium cannot be challenged.
The Spirit Level, the machine on which all sturdy foundations are built, the simplest but most invaluable of all tools reflects that harmony of which Utopia is based. If the bubble, the spirit in the level is even just a fraction out it can lead to disaster. After all ethanol may produce a straight line in which life must be balanced but it can also be a volatile mixture placed in the wrong hands.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Tim Driesen, Sam Ferriday, Lewis Griffiths, Stephen Webb, Amelia Adams-Pearce, Charlie Allen, Damien Buhagiar, Henry Davis, Leanne Garretty, Matt Gillett, Dayle Hodge, Sean Kingsley, Dan Krikler, Sinead Long, Nathaniel Morrison, Luke Morton, Dominic Smith.
Truth is always stranger than fiction, especially it seems when it comes out of the state of New Jersey. From the shores of Cape May, through to the boulevards and gambling houses of Atlantic City to the alter ego and sometimes expensive reminder of American life in Newark. Truth is what keeps you out of harm’s way, talent, talent gets you noticed and when you have the ability to combine both truth and talent, that’s when you have a sure fire hit in Jersey Boys.
They called the poet a fool for running to Italy
on the day he broke a thousand hearts,
yet even as the last maiden cried out in a mournful
repose and beat her now discarded breasts,
her long fingernails
biting deep down under that velvet, ivory white skin
and drawing blood that eventually found its way
to the oblivion of the dusty floor, licked clean by mites
and the might not haves running through her brain,
the fool, the poet and the madman all
became as one.
Surely the measure of a man is not to confined
to the quality of his actions
on the battlefields of life, the swift response
to the spectre and dark shadows of looming war
or in how he holds himself when dining out in the company
of a young woman for the first time;
It must be seen above all in the dignity in which he holds
himself aloft when he prepares to say goodbye
to his father for the last time, it is the moment
in which a man becomes a giant.
The Moody Blues at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool. June 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool sound and Vision Rating 9/10
For 51 years The Moody Blues have given their audiences, no matter where in the world, the night of their lives over and over again and judging by the style, the warmth and the outpouring of genuine affection between capacity crowd and the band, that reign of musical beauty really never seems likely to end.