The Jackobins, Ghosts. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

For anybody over a certain age and who never fulfilled a particular inventive goal, to see a great band produce quality recordings and have the absolute conviction that strides alongside the energy to pull off the artistry is something that the previous generation could only perhaps feel the tiniest bit of jealousy for. Of course the jealousy, if it appears, never lasts long, for the only thing you can do, on either side of the divide that separates one age bracket from another is too wish them well and revel in the dedication that sweat out like the fire from a jet propelled rocket.

The Jackobins, Ghosts. E.P. Review. full post

(383 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

Windmill, One More Dance. Single review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

They may be a disappearing feature from the British countryside, however there is one particular Windmill that is going so strongly that its rotating blades of lingering vocals, moodily impressive guitars and drum pattern is sure to keep offering a twirl of spirited dynamism that is surely vital and causes a breeze of content to waft through the street of Liverpool.

Windmill, One More Dance. Single review. full post

(352 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

James Patterson, Cross My Heart. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When it comes to writing Crime Fiction there is probably nobody more prodigious or capable of such a vast wealth of tension in their words than American writer James Patterson. When it comes to undoubtedly his greatest creation, Detective Alex Cross, that output generates enough steam from the ideas being poured out that it would put the weight of pressure that is ready to explode under Yellowstone Park seem like a damp dish rag ready to be put out to dry in the Florida sunshine.

James Patterson, Cross My Heart. Book Review. full post

(471 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Steve Hackett, Genesis Revisited, Gig Review. Birmingham Symphony Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The invisible but highly audible Sirens that line up and down Birmingham’s glittering Broad Street area could have bayed and bleated all night long as they watched the neon lights fade and dim to obscurity, nothing could have torn the rapt attention of the audience inside the Symphony Hall away from Steve Hackett and the band as they recreated for the final night in the U.K., the songs that entranced a generation and beyond.

Steve Hackett, Genesis Revisited, Gig Review. Birmingham Symphony Hall. full post

(725 words, 2 images, estimated 2:54 mins reading time)

Rhys Marsh, Sentiment. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Sentiment, the reaction to something that grabs the musical spirit and allows it grow over time into a positive and perhaps enlightening response that allows the human imagination to remember where they were when they first heard a particular song and the imagery that flashed before their eyes.

Rhys Marsh, Sentiment. Album Review. full post

(446 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Iain Till, The Rise And The Fall. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When Iain Till found himself back in the performance arena, not quite gladiatorial provisioned but still armed with a sense of hope, proportion and wielding a deck full of songs, he perhaps would not have expected to reach the point where the release of the E.P. was to be considered the norm. The climb is a hardy beast full of pitfalls and the descent, well that is only too carefully planned by hubris to really ever keep an eye upon. Such is fortune’s way of preparing for The Rise and the Fall.

Iain Till, The Rise And The Fall. E.P. Review. full post

(406 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

John Cee Stannard & Blue Horizon, Bus Depot Blues. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The light at the end of the tunnel is always best illuminated by missing the last bus home. The dejection and disappointment of having to walk the miles from the last chance saloon to the cold and unfriendly home is always punctuated by the chance to listen to whatever music infects your ears and take in the natural air that dances sickly in urban abundance as you walk the walk home and keeping the eyes firmly fixed on the way ahead; only your ears press ahead with learning something new.

John Cee Stannard & Blue Horizon, Bus Depot Blues. Album Review. full post

(474 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Onward Chariots, Take Me To Somewhere. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Although it will never be proved, there must be a length of rope so vast and strong, a fastening so binding between Liverpool and New York, that makes these two almost empiric like states arguably the greatest cities in which music has such a power over its inhabitants that its influence reaches back and forth over time and tide and the listener is only required to do one job, to listen carefully!

Onward Chariots, Take Me To Somewhere. E.P. Review. full post

(471 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Hancock’s Half Hour: The Matador. The Lost Episodes. 2014 Re-Recording.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kevin McNally, Kevin Eldon, Simon Greenall, Robin Sebastian, Susy Kane.

As arguably one of the finest British comedies to grace both radio and television celebrates the 60th Anniversary of the first episode, The First Night Party, being aired to the nation; Hancock’s Half Hour has suffered from the short sightedness of the time that many programmes and serials had placed upon them, the constraints of not being recorded and documented for future posterity.

Hancock’s Half Hour: The Matador. The Lost Episodes. 2014 Re-Recording. full post

(624 words, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)

Lewis: The Lions of Nemea. Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Kevin Whatley, Laurence Fox, Rebecca Front, Angela Griffin, Clare Holman, Clive Merrison, John Light, Ian East, Kitty Rich, Sian Brooke, Jason Done, Jessica Henwick, Andrea Lowe, Rosie Cavaliero, Jenny Howe, Michael Ryan.

Heracles would have perhaps laboured in vain to understand to the 21st Century condition of false self pride and murderous intent that seems to be more prevalent than at any time in history, especially it seems in the academic halls of Oxford, to the point where he might have got in touch with Sisyphus and asked if it was possible to balance a collection of rocks on top of Everest for a while, than ever help the Thames Valley Police solve crimes in the area.

Lewis: The Lions of Nemea. Television Review. I.T.V. full post

(474 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)