Suzi Quatro, The Girl From Detroit City. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

To take a gentle walk through an artist’s life is one of the greatest pleasures that anybody can really hope for. The collected works of Constable, Turner or Van Gogh in an art museum for all to see, an entire volume of Shakespeare’s sonnets in which to let the heart sing, a marathon run of Richard Burton or Pam Grier films at your local art house cinema or a night spent in listening to the recordings of Harlem sensation Gladys Bentley, all art is a series of seeing the performer from first breath, through magical momentum to a hopeful ovation at the end. To walk in their footsteps should be seen as an honour.

Suzi Quatro, The Girl From Detroit City. Album Review. full post

(515 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Michael Palin: Travelling To Work, The Auditorium, Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The world never seems to have enough of Michael Palin. From the early sprouting of comedy genius that resided in the Yorkshire soul, to the creative overload that burgeoned in Monty Python to becoming one of television’s leading travel presenters, throughout it all he remained one of Britain’s favourite and captivating sons.

Michael Palin: Travelling To Work, The Auditorium, Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

(440 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Mummy On The Orient Express. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Peter Capaldi, Jenna Coleman, Samuel Anderson, Frank Skinner, David Bamber, John Sessions, Daisy Beaumont, Janet Henfrey, Christopher Villiers, Foxes, Jamie Hill.

Death stalks the Orient Express, an unseen killer picking of the passengers one by one and with the bodies starting to stack up, it can only be time for the stiff upper lip and slightly lunatic outlook of a madman in a blue box and the mysterious beautiful companion to address the situation and tie up the loose ends.

Doctor Who: Mummy On The Orient Express. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

(558 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

Under A Banner, Gig Review. The Flapper, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Serendipity has a much underrated effect on the human psyche. There are just those friends of yours that only ever want to see the main band, the one they have shelled out their hard earned money for, and for the rest of the evening they are quite happy to sit in the bar, holding a sort of court and quietly and perhaps intentionally chatting about the beer on offer behind the bar, then there are those that find by chance a group or a couple of bands that peak their interest and makes the overall evening one in which to remember. Call it what you will, chance, the fickle finger of fate or fortunate providence or just an understanding that support artists can be just as enjoyable as the main act.

Under A Banner, Gig Review. The Flapper, Birmingham. full post

(629 words, estimated 2:31 mins reading time)

Capital Sun, Gig Review. The Flapper, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Broad Street in Birmingham has long been the resting place of those wishing to dance the night away, to fulfil every possible legal desire they wish to bestow upon themselves and perhaps a little more if the chance arises. Just off Broad Street lays The Flapper, a venue of repute and in which perhaps arguably remains a stout defender against what could be seen as the rising tide of apathy all-round the country of smaller independent pubs, bars and clubs losing a reputation in showcasing new talent in favour of the crass commercialism offered in other places, the overwhelming abundance of cover bands that seem to strike at will like a python sizing up its options in the face of a mongoose, and like the Bilston Robin takes pleasure in being able to do so.

Capital Sun, Gig Review. The Flapper, Birmingham. full post

(488 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Amsterdam, Gig Review. The Flapper, Birmingham.

Ian Prowse of Amsterdam. The Flapper, Birmingham. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Sometimes you have to go back to where it began to understand why you are where you are now. Sometimes the journey can be a little painful; it can be exciting and almost certainly overwhelming. For Ian Prowse and the energetic ensemble of musicians that make up the band Amsterdam, coming back to Birmingham after a five year absence proved not only to make the wonderfully vocal crowd’s hearts inside The Flapper grow as fond as a father’s love for his daughter but also showed exactly why lovers of music in Birmingham and Liverpool share a common thread.

Amsterdam, Gig Review. The Flapper, Birmingham. full post

(647 words, 1 image, estimated 2:35 mins reading time)

Electric Wizard, Time To Die. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The thought of being alone in the dark, whether in the physical world or the memories that lay heavy as you tuck your blanket over your head, can be a world in which some never come back from fully intact. The dark is somewhere in which the guide books never tell you how to behave or what to do. To alleviate the problem, the only thing to do is place the earphones over the head and fall completely for arguably one of the best British Doom Metal merchants around and their eighth studio album, the stunning Time To Die.

Electric Wizard, Time To Die. Album Review. full post

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

Fables: March Of The Wooden Soldiers. Graphic Novel Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When those who drove you from your home, took your families hostage, killed, murdered, those you love and destroyed everything you have peaceably raised and seen flourish begin to come into the land you have settled in, made new homes and lives but with always a rememberance to the past in your heart, then do you make a stand and draw the biggest line possible; do you say no more or do you run once more?

Fables: March Of The Wooden Soldiers. Graphic Novel Review. full post

(485 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Bright Phoenix, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Rhodri Mellir as Spike in Bright Phoenix. Photograph by Jonathan Keenan.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Carl Au, Paul Duckworth, Rhian Green, Penny Layden, Rhodri Mellir, Mark Rice-Oxley, Cathy Tyson, Keiran Urquhart, Laura J. Martin, Vidar Norheim.

Somewhere over the rooftops of Liverpool, a haunting soliloquy is sang softly by one of the people the new renaissance taking place in the city couldn’t touch. In Lime Street an old ghost comes home to face the past and a group of children’s memories are re-awoken. The Futurist Cinema may be gone but its soul still resonates in those that made it their home and for the future, a Bright Phoenix stirs from the ashes of a crumbling society.

Bright Phoenix, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(570 words, 1 image, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

Orfila, Writing On The Wall. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Writing on the wall is normally a phrase that signifies an abrupt ending, a sense of closure if a wrong, and sometimes inevitable, turn is made. The thought of all chances gone and it is just a matter of time before the clock heralds an unsatisfying conclusion to what could have been something magnificent.

For the threesome that makes up Folkstone’s Orfila, it’s not that the writing is on the wall, eulogies being prepared and a service of rememberance being arranged, the opposite is true, the writing is done with a flourish and heralds loudly that there is a band around who can offer a night in listening to music which is both gentle and sincere; the script is still being added to and it looks great so far.

Orfila, Writing On The Wall. Album Review. full post

(387 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)