Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Mersey Wylie.

To have seen someone become the person they are artistically is one of life’s greatest pleasures. To have watched a talent flourish and blossom is a thrill that sometimes defies words. From having watched in awe as the sound of a young woman took tentative steps and be beguiling even in the realms of student radio and onto a stage infront of hundreds can only surely make you smile. For Mersey Wylie this coming weekend is going to be the biggest step yet as she steps from behind many a shadow and shows the audience at Zanzibar that the Wylie name is something that will forever associated with the city of Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Mersey Wylie. full post

(1314 words, estimated 5:15 mins reading time)

Space, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. (2014)

Tommy Scott of Space at the 02 Academy, Liverpool. 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It had all been leading to this. The moment when the re-emergence of one of the great Liverpool bands kicked off touring again, being back in the studio for the first time in years, re-connecting with those that never wanted to say goodbye to them and the songs; the epic nature of tracks that more than ever had the ring of truth and perfection about them.

Space, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. (2014) full post

(614 words, 1 image, estimated 2:27 mins reading time)

Republica, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Saffron at the 02 Academy, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Just one look from the stage down at the heaving throng of fans said it all. The perhaps half missed wink from Saffron in the general direction of fans who clambered alongside Republica for the incredible ride suggested further hair raising times ahead and yet the manner of the performance was one of electric reminisance and a love rekindled for many in the o2 Academy in Liverpool. The wink, the strut, the pulse of a heartbeat growing stronger by the second proposed the adulation of a band that were cruelly cut off in their prime but who now in the form of the stunning Saffron, Tim Dorney and Jonny Glue, were back and sounding as terrific as they did in 1995.

Republica, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(434 words, 1 image, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Jacquelyn Hynes, Silver And Wood. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9 ^1/2/10

Silver and Wood might be Jacquelyn Hynes’ debut solo album but there is no denying just how tremendous it is and like a rare bird should be left to roam the Earth sending its goodwill throughout.

The sound of folk but with the twist and feel of being somewhere else in time, of being displaced and in the hands of a woman adept at causing music to sound both sentimental, dramatic and pleasingly cynical is perhaps the finest example you will be ever to say you have listened to for many years. It is female heroism personified but with the tragedy of having met the unfortunate victim and mourning her loss.

Jacquelyn Hynes, Silver And Wood. Album Review. full post

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

Elbow, Gig Review. Paradiso, Amsterdam.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Elbow are not Britain’s hidden treasure anymore. While the band and their albums have always been the critics’ favourite, they never became really famous. Until there was their magnificent, Mercury award-winning The Seldom Seen Kid, which launched the band into stardom: they sang for the B.B.C., wrote the Olympics tune and played into sold-out stadiums. Now they have released another splendid album, The Take off and Landing of Everything, and this is celebrated with a world tour at the biggest venues. The kick-off of this tour, call it a warm-up if you like after a hiatus of fourteen months, however, starts at a very small and venue: Paradiso in Amsterdam.

Elbow, Gig Review. Paradiso, Amsterdam. full post

(397 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Arena: Whatever Happened To Spitting Image? Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Whatever happened to Spitting Image? Whatever happened to the truly anarchic satire that had the so called great quaking in their boots at the thought that at least some of the decisions they made on behalf the British population might be held up to the kind of scrutiny in which they would at least have to grin and bear the extra publicity or come out looking even more foolish than they do?

Arena: Whatever Happened To Spitting Image? Television Review. B.B.C. full post

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

The Debt Collectors, Theatre Review. Liverpool Actors Studio, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound & Vision Rating: * * *

Cast: Michael Swift, John Doull.

If you have ever wondered what kind of jobs out of work actors will do, then John Godber’s play The Debt Collectors gives you a good insight into just how desperate some people can be when looking for work. When a vacancy opens up for debt recovery, actors Spud (John Doull) and Loz (Michael Swift) think that they are the perfect pair for the role, with no hint of any acting work and broke to boot they throw themselves into demanding money from the good citizens of Liverpool. Along the way, they discover some home truths and are reminded of just how lucky they actually are.

The Debt Collectors, Theatre Review. Liverpool Actors Studio, Liverpool. full post

(340 words, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)

Kathryn Williams, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

History has a habit of colliding with the present day. Existence it seems is all about the small quirks of fate that lead a person from one place to the next and then an overlap, the brief spill into the past and an action from your childhood is bought back into plain site and a small forgotten memory lingers causing a reflection and possibly a smile.

Kathryn Williams, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

(696 words, estimated 2:47 mins reading time)

Lizzie Nunnery, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Lizzie Nunnery, Leaf, Liverpool. 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Lizzie Nunnery commands respect. Four simple words that are as exact as day must surely follow night or as life will find a way, for anyone catching Lizzie Nunnery for the first time, the heavens may have aligned just at the right moment for them to see for themselves just exactly why Mellowtone rate her so highly and why Liverpool music goers absolutely insist that the woman breathes guitar chords, she plays with such analytical and pure mind that you cannot but be helped drawn into the notes and words.

Lizzie Nunnery, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

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

No More Heroes…A Thank You To The Stranglers For 40 Years of Music.

For forty years The Stranglers have been a part of the British way of life, a group of musicians who raised a fantastic two fingers up to anyone who doubted their ability, who threw scorn upon them from every angle and who perhaps may have suggested that the band were no better than the groups around them who would perhaps disintegrate quicker than cheap soap in a washtub.

No More Heroes…A Thank You To The Stranglers For 40 Years of Music. full post

(1442 words, estimated 5:46 mins reading time)