It is a standing joke in the house that when I first moved to Merseyside, I asked my wife if there was any theatre that I could attend in the city of Liverpool. My reason for asking was I wanted to get back to a point in life where the arts were important to me. It had been too long since I had set foot into a theatre setting and be able to watch with interest a play, good, exceptional or even indifferent, it mattered not, I just wanted to see art performed. Of course my wife fell about on the floor laughing at the idiocy of a man deprived of both the local knowledge of the city he had moved to, but also feeling great sympathy, albeit through muffled laughter, that someone had been destitute of art for so long.
A Day In The Company Of Ghosts.
I have spent the day with ghosts
and the twighlight
with spectres from a time I never wanted to let go.
I remember you all, I have felt like a bookkeeper in my heart
as each memory grows sepia with time
and the sadness I feel at the names of fallen,
hurt and punish my thoughts, deep
unyielding and untimely ends.
The pain of memory is such that in the light
offered by the shadow of a single forty watt sun
and the dim illumination of a progressive typewriter, begrudgingly
The Avengers: The Lost Episodes Volume 3, The Springers. Audio Drama Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
Cast: Anthony Howell, Julian Wadham, Dan Starkey, Miranda Raison, Peter Barrett, Derek Hutchinson, Emily Joyce, Sarah Lark, Mark Goldthorp, Geoffrey Breton, Philip Pope, Nicholas Briggs, Nick Hendrix, Angus Wright.
The third volume of stories from Big Finish concerning The Avengers team of Dr. David keel and John Stead starts with the premise of a prison break out. It is a premise that has been done before the 1960s series first aired and has been done perhaps more successfully since, notably in one of the best films ever in the Shawshank Redemption and in the highly popular Prison Break television series, and yet there is something nostalgic and homely about revisiting an idea when you take away the modern bells and whistles attached to a story.
There’s A Gig On Tonight…
There’s a gig on tonight, do you fancy going?
Should be a sell out, you were lucky I got tickets really.
It’s in my friend’s room across the hall from me, it’s in his self contained flat,
you O.K. with sitting on a worktop and don’t forget if you need to smoke,
you will have to crowd surf across at least a three people sat down
and then watch out for the girl on the ground floor
who likes to catch leavers and ask for photographic evidence
of the set-list so she can write a review of the sound that
Laurence Jones, What’s It Gonna Be. Album Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
There is no stopping Laurence Jones, you could try, by all means if it pleases you to put obstacles in the way of sheer talent then so be it. However, be warned, like a beautifully preserved early 20th Century train going at full speed and with a driver so well versed in how his machine works and what it is capable of, those obstacles will be surely smashed to smithereens, the splinters flying into the detractor’s own pathway; for nothing except Laurence Jones can get in the way of this train.
Brian Wilson, No Pier Pressure. Album Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Legends never truly lose their shine in the world of art. The odd botched single along the way, the collaboration done for artistic vale but never truly welcomed by either fan or ready to poison the air cynic and perhaps the many brushes with the law with minor indiscretions that only fame can magnify to the point there every pore is seen and every mark suffering intense analysis, all add to the legendary status being saluted with ready open hand.
Marvel’s Original Sin. Graphic Novel Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Crossovers in the world of the graphic novel are to be seen almost as often as the tides turn or as social media finds another person in which chase down in a witch hunt. There was a time when it was seen to be special, a nod to the existence in some gigantic way that for example Captain America could breathe the same air as the Fantastic Four, the Thing and The Hulk could batter themselves silly across several different issues and take in the force of Doctor Strange at the same time. Now it seems all too common place, not necessarily a bad thing but one in which a heavy laden serial such as Marvel’s Original Sin requires so much forethought to carry it off with grace.
Call.
I lose the nerve to ring you, for what can I say
that you think you already don’t know
and I know deep down that at the times that I call, your phone
will be gently snoozing in time with your need for sleep, if honour
lets you close your eyes for a single minute.
Yet you know you are going to have to ring them,
even if it’s to arrange to crawl on your knees
and be penitent, surely remorseful and contrite
for why are they suffering
when you keep yourself out of sight.
Malinky, Far Better Days. Album Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It seems there is always someone proclaiming that Far Better Days are ahead, especially if it matches with their own agenda. The promises come round quicker than an election leaflet being dropped through the door or the assurance of a less than sincere lover promising that they will learn from their mistakes and yet repeating the same clumsy moves over and over again. Yet in some ways there are always better times waiting, whether it is in the realisation that some people just suck the life out of you and all you have to do is walk away from the drama or in that one day someone, somewhere will show you the glimpse of the universe beating in harmony, some things are to held tightly and enjoyed; for there is the possibility that there are indeed Far Better Days to enjoy.
Stacey Solomon, Shy. Album Review.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
The 21st Century has not been kind in terms of putting up a barrier between the soul and media scrutiny. It has not fared well in the way that some people are perceived, maybe of their own volition, maybe because they are attention seeking so and so’s who offer nothing to the world but empty vacuous doctrine and a sample of the bile to expect if their brains should ever be examined.