Super Stardust Ultra (PS4), Game Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating: * * * * *

Super Stardust Ultra is an arcade twin-stick shooting game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4. The origins of Stardust date back to 1993 when a Finnish studio called Bloodhouse had their first game Stardust published for the Amiga 500, while another Finnish studio called Terramarque had their first game Elfmania published for the Amiga in 1994 with both Finnish studios Bloodhouse and Terramarque joining forces in 1995 to create Housemarque which produced their first game together in 1996 in the form of Super Stardust for the P.C.

Super Stardust Ultra (PS4), Game Review. full post

(2839 words, estimated 11:21 mins reading time)

Steeleye Span, Gig Review. The Atkinson, Southport.

Steeleye Span at The Atkinson, Southport. February 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The tag line of the manner of the band may not sit well in some quarters but for others they are the undisputed royalty and arguably pinnacle of the English Folk revival and as the packed out audience at the Atkinson Theatre in Southport came to the very end of the set, the appreciation and acknowledgement of Steeleye Span creativity and fine music was palpable and endearing

Steeleye Span, Gig Review. The Atkinson, Southport. full post

(529 words, 1 image, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Broadchurch: Series Two, Episode Seven. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: David Tennant, Olivia Coleman, Jodie Whittaker, Andrew Buchan, Charlotte Rampling, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Arthur Darvill, Eve Myles, James D’Arcy, Meera Syal, Carolyn Pickles, Jonathan Franks, Tanya Bailey, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, William Andrews, Matthew Gravelle, Lucy Cohu, Shaun Dooley, Adam Wilson, Simone McAullay, Joe Simms, Tom Rosenthal, Hollie Burgess, Lucas Hare.

The penultimate episode of a long running drama is just as important as the bitter conclusion. The viewer has had the set up in the initial opening episode and stayed the course, but if the penultimate instalment doesn’t leave the viewer hanging on the edge of the chair, shouting in frustration, even if they know that answers are never that easy, then all is lost and time and tide wash away the burgeoning expectation and the final reveal is taken away.

Broadchurch: Series Two, Episode Seven. Television Review. full post

(524 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

I Have Reached The Age…My Sweet George.

I have reached the age in which the first man who made me laugh out loud,

who gave blood, sweat and tears in an effort to defy the wind,

and who by the time I was 14, could quote line for line

in an effort to be allowed to study drama at school,

decided enough was enough,

and wrote, “Things just seemed to go wrong too many times.”,

and took the next boat out to the onward great adventure.

I have reached the age in which twin greats to music were lost

I Have Reached The Age…My Sweet George. full post

(411 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

10cc, Gig Review. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (2015)

10cc's Graham Gouldman at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. February 2015. Ph otograph by Ian n n

10cc’s Graham Gouldman at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. February 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

For some the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool is a natural home, a place where outstanding music and appreciation go hand in hand; the circle of harmony forever ongoing and in time. Some artists though don’t just make the sound they deliver welcoming to the acoustically acute ears of those that walk through the entrance to the venue on perhaps arguably the most appropriately named street in the city, they give it room to breathe and nestle in the very fabric of the building’s infrastructure; they make it live.

10cc, Gig Review. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool (2015) full post

(656 words, 1 image, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

Dan Patlansky, Dear Silence Thieves. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Respect can come in many shapes and forms, some deservedly more so than others and in Dan Patlansky, respect arrives in abundance and leaves the same building swaying under the enormous adulation that has been heaped further still on the Blues guitarist from South Africa. That weighty expectation is further enhanced by the release of the stunning and outrageously gifted latest album Dear Silence Thieves.

Dan Patlansky, Dear Silence Thieves. Album Review. full post

(431 words, 1 image, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock, Spirit On A Mission. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Consistency is the hardest of all endeavours. The near creative peak is one that at times can be insurmountable, overwhelmingly impossible to try and surpass and for which even Hannibal on a good day, with elephants and gallons of vinegar in which to destroy a few thousand boulders blocking his way, might think twice before giving up and going home for a plate of cheese and grapes. For the Spirit on a Mission to entertain and thrill still looms large in one of Europe’s greatest Rock God-like figures.

Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock, Spirit On A Mission. Album Review. full post

(407 words, 1 image, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Love Is Strange, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: John Lithgow, Alfred Molina, Marisa Tomei, Darren Burrows, Charlie Tahan, Christina Kirk, Tatyana Zbirovskaya, Olya Zueva, Jason Stuart, Harriet Harris, Cheyenne Jackson, Manny Perez, Jon Cullum, Eric Tabach, Tank Burt, Daphne Gaines, Christopher King, Maryann Urbano, David Bell, Henry Crouch, Dovie Lepore Currin, Jeff Goad, Sebastian La Cause, Christian Coulson, Andrew Polk, Michael J. Burg.

Love Is Strange, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

(616 words, estimated 2:28 mins reading time)

Sunday Afternoon With A Minstrel.

The minstrel, once wandering upon many high seas,

now happy in contentment, leans over to hear the pleas

and thank you’s for bringing Neil Sedaka to life

upon a Sunday afternoon for the city and its colourful wife.

It’s the richness of the voice, the sadness in the detail

and the desire to bring some freshness to what else the month makes stale.

The delicate sound of a raindrop pouring on silk is full of love,

tickles the ears and brings praise to the lord of the voicebox from up above.

Sunday Afternoon With A Minstrel. full post

(177 words, estimated 42 secs reading time)

Paul Wilkes, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

In some respects Al Capone may have had the greatest of intentions, albeit ultimately flawed and with murderous, evil intent, that to stage a massacre on Valentine’s Day would be remembered in the headlines of the papers of Chicago and further afield forever. However in the scheme of things and perhaps arguably with more noble and cherished intentions, the day does belong to those who make the most of the moving and special quality that a card and a prohibition gun can’t quite cut through.

Paul Wilkes, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

(402 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)