Last night I dreamt of the potato fields again.
The early Sunday mornings, the damp mist creeping over long grass
from the River Rea and finding breathing
space in the surrounding mud of the neglected bank and glistening dew filled
spider webs that criss-cross and weave
through the rusty ailing railings in which many a leather football found its
untimely end.
The Sunday mornings in which my dad would don his early 1970’s style
Aston Villa top, the era of undisguised dejection for many a fan
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Tom Baker, Peter Davison, Colin Baker, Sylvester McCoy, Paul McGann, Louise Jameson, Sarah Sutton, Nicola Bryant, Sophie Aldred, India Fisher, Geoffrey Beevers, Carole Ann Ford, William Russell, Frazer Hines, Peter Purves, Maureen O’Brien, Jean Marsh, Anneka Wills, Wendy Padbury, Katy Manning, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson, Benedict Briggs, Nicholas Briggs, Oliver Hume, John Dorney.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Even a torrential downpour hitting Liverpool throughout the day could barely dent the anticipation of Brit Floyd’s welcome return to the place in which it all started. If anything, it only heightened the expectation of what was to come, what time would allow the people of the city and its neighbourhoods to revel in, the feeling of wonderment and nostalgia that the music being skilfully recreated of Pink Floyd’s greatest moments by the finest musicians and one very special guest.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There are many places in which the soul may take you during the hours of dark in Liverpool. The abundance of theatres is only beaten by advantage that London has in its sheer size and with a venue to fit almost every occasion and almost every band that could ever hope to find its way to the city that defines culture in England. The night life is there for the taking. What happens during the day light hours when those who find solace in the brightly lit confines of the theatre or music venue find themselves in the heart of the city and in need of a different type of comfort, namely the pleasant surroundings of somewhere that offers good food and refreshment?
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris, Orto Ignatiussen, Phaldut Sharma, Amy Warren, Basher Savage.
There are seminal moments in cinema, moments of pure genius that you have to applaud and make note of to tell your grandchildren just how exceptional the film was so they can be inspired to find their own defining film moment. The instant when you knew that all your cinema going days had been but a test for your senses to get acclimatised to for the sheer majesty that is about to hit them in Alfonso and Jonas Cuaron’s mouth-watering, jaw dropping, heart thumping spectacle, Gravity.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There is no such thing as an overnight success…not if they are worth anything of true value and not if they have come through everything the world can throw at them and still shrug their shoulders and smile with a glint in their eye and a mischievous song in their heart. For nearly 30 years that sense of beautiful mischief, the sense of wanting to impart some sort of musical heritage onto their fans has seen The Lennerockers celebrate the release of 14 albums and now their 15th studio recording, the superb Rustin’ and Rollin’, will surely have the fans clambering over each other to be taken in hand once again.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Joanne Shaw Taylor simply has nothing to prove, with a simple guitar riff and sultry voice she shows why she’s not just the cream of the Midland’s Blues scene but also one of the finest exponents of the craft this side or any side of the Atlantic Ocean. From her previous scintillating album, Almost Always Never to her first live recording, Songs From The Road, and throughout her career she has made the very most of what she has to offer the wider music world and the outcome has always been nothing short of fantastic.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: David Suchet, Simon Callow, Morven Christie, Nigel Lindsay, Tom Chabdon, Tom Austin, Rupert Evans, Stephen Frost, Richard Katz, Sandy McDade, Nicholas McGaughey, Isobel Middleton, Fiona O’ Shaughnessy, Patrick Tomlinson, Tom Wlaschicha.
With the last ever set of detective stories being filmed for I.T.V. involving David Suchet as the indomitable Hercule Poirot, audiences could be forgiven for feeling as if they are saying a fond farewell to the Belgian sleuth who has graced the screens of the nation for the last 24 years. A farewell not born out of happiness but for the gracious way in which David Suchet has portrayed the man with honour in all that time and has for all intense purposes, been the embodiment of Agatha Christie’s greatest literary creation.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenberg, MyAnna Buring, Joseph Mawle, Clive Russell, David Wilmot, Anton Lesser, Damien Molony Gillian Saker, Nicholas Woodeson, Tom Brook, Elva Trill, Paul Ready, David Dawson.
The past certainly is another country, not only do they do things differently there, but when it comes to Victorian society and the way they treated the more unfortunate members of society it may as well be on a land mass on a another planet in a far off galaxy.
Bryan Ferry at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall in 2013. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
From the moment Bryan Ferry purposefully steps foot onto the Philharmonic Hall stage, there didn’t seem to be a single female fan in the audience who has remained seated for the former Roxy Music icon. Such is the sheer magnetism, the undiluted animal appeal of Bryan Ferry that despite the fact that it has been an incredibly long time without him coming to Liverpool, his music, the way he makes his fans, of either gender, feel, you can only applaud his stature as he performs the music that made him one of the great stars of his generation.