Rob Jones & Rob White, Thirty. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Some acts just exude a sense of calm proportion to the daily grind, to the stuttering headache caused by the constant bombardment of noise that comes out of every office block, tin pan alley and thoroughfare. The insanity that a shrill voice at the end of a telephone or the damaging bluster of those who see the price in everything but for the life of them cannot see the value of a moment of gentleness that is worth more than whatever they earn over the course of a day.

Rob Jones & Rob White, Thirty. Album Review. full post

(459 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Revenge Of The Swarm. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sylvester McCoy, Sophie Aldred, Philip Olivier, John Leeson, Mandi Symonds, Maggie Service, John Heffernan, Phyllida Nash, Siobhan Redmond, John Dorney, Paul Panting.

Revenge is a dish best served cold, preferably being poured from a bucket with ice cubes the size of Norwegian glacier formation and over the head of someone you don’t like whilst they are sunbathing. Failing that, to be mastered in the form that Science Fiction adores, with plenty of back story and with an enemy that doesn’t quite fit the top echelons of master criminals or war mongering civilisations.

Doctor Who: Revenge Of The Swarm. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(651 words, estimated 2:36 mins reading time)

HammerFall, (r)Evolution. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It almost feels as if there an element of greed attached to the way the Scandinavian countries have dominated the world of Metal in recent times, greed or perhaps something more profound, something that would have been seen as verging on the edge of musical insanity only three decades ago. If the late 70s saw the emergence of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, then the epoch that we live in, this time of feeling of global communication but complete disconnection from the way we live our fleeting lives should be seen as the time of a new dominant force, the second Viking Invasion, a lot more Metal, and the only pillaging is that of the U.K.’s and America’s ever loosening grip on the title of the home of the genre.

HammerFall, (r)Evolution. Album Review. full post

(357 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Rachel Newton, Changeling. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Folk tales have immense power, they somehow have a way of burrowing below the skin and becoming part of the fabric of the inner workings of the mind. They nestle at the heart of worry, of being something that somehow Humanity is susceptible to other worldly influences and transformation, the trick of the fairy folk is the way they can steal a baby and leave one of their own in its place causes suspicion and distrust. Whether in the Cornish tradition of Mên-an-Tol or other Gaelic influences, the Changeling is something that captures the fertile imagination.

Rachel Newton, Changeling. Album Review. full post

(415 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Velocity 2X (PS4), Game Review.

Game Review: Velocity 2X (PS4)

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Velocity 2X is a part twin-stick shooter, part platform game available for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4 and PS Vita. The game is the much anticipated sequel to the multi award winning Velocity that was originally released in May 2012 as part of the PlayStation Minis range before receiving an overhaul under the title Velocity Ultra and releasing natively upon the one year anniversary of the original game for PS Vita in May 2013 and on PS3 in November 2013.

Velocity 2X (PS4), Game Review. full post

(3751 words, estimated 15:00 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Breaking Bubbles And Other Stories. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Jemma Churchill, Andy Secombe, Allison McKenzie, Janet Henfrey, Jessica Knappett, Paul Panting, Anjella Mackintosh, Phil Mulryne, Johnny Gibbon, Toby Fountain.

 

There are times when Big Finish pulls something rather terrific out of the bag and what the listener hears is the culmination of endeavour, love and devotion mixed with the art of excellent story telling. There are many full length stories that fall into the category, some with so much ease that they feel as though the writer has had the moment of divine interpretation placed between their ears. On the rarer occasion, it falls to four separate writers to bring out the special in the speciality in providing a voice for the much loved Time Lord.

Doctor Who: Breaking Bubbles And Other Stories. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(655 words, estimated 2:37 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Zygon Hunt. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, Michael Maloney, Gillian Kearney, James George, Steven Alexander, Nicholas Briggs.

It only takes one of the finest creations from the classic television series and all seems well within the Tom Baker range of audio dramas from Big Finish.

Doctor Who: Zygon Hunt. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(657 words, estimated 2:38 mins reading time)

Mudcats Blues Trio. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Sheffield is famous for many things, especially its music. From the Human League to Pulp and all points in between and all those to come after, the silver runs through the veins of its people like a smelting pot of finely cast talent and bronzed off honesty.

Mudcats Blues Trio. Album Review. full post

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

One Man, Two Guvnors. Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Emma Barton, Derek Elroy, Shaun Williamson, Jasmyn Banks, David Verrey, Edward Hancock, Gavin Spokes, Alicia Davies, Patrick Warner, Elliot Harper, Michael Dylan, Lace Akpojaro, Owen Guerin, Mark Hayden, Katherine Moraz, Catherine Morris, Joseph O’ Malley.

Nobody can serve or be beholden to two people at the same time. Loyalties are not just split but they create a chasm so wide that even Eddie Kidd would have found it impossible to cross. However a single production to cater to the comedy needs of 2,400 people, especially if it is the National Theatre’s gem One Man, Two Guvnors.

One Man, Two Guvnors. Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

New Tricks, Deep Swimming. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tamzin Outhwaite, Dennis Waterman, Denis Lawson, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Anthony Calf, Barnaby Kay, Charlotte Cornwell, Patricia Potter, Clare Higgins, Ian Redford, Kika Markham, Rosie Biggs, Stuart McMilan, Amy Jayne, Laura Patch.

In arguably one of the most relevant episodes of New Tricks since the programme was devised, the UCOS team are charged with looking into the distant past and the events of a man’s death on a protest march in London in the early 1980s.

New Tricks, Deep Swimming. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

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