Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Charlotte Cornwell, Alex Waldman, Joanna Horton, Jonathan Slinger, Nicolas Tennant, Cliff Burnett, Kiza Deen, Greg Hicks, David Fielder, Mark Holgate, Chris Jared, John Stahl, David Fishley, Karen Archer, Natalie Klamar, Rosie Hilal, Michael Grady-Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *
Paul Simon, whilst quite rightly regarded as one of the most important and influential American musicians and songwriters of the 20th Century, has had moments in which, no matter how much you love him, you have to take a long hard look at his creative output and suggest that some albums really should have been left locked away in the vault and only ever released as a set of curiosities long after the gifted musician hangs up his guitar for the final time. Such is the fate that should have befallen the 1983 Hearts and Bones release.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
For those that found themselves in the company of Simon Crowe and Garry Roberts in the Bilston Robin 2 as they thrilled discerning audiences as part of From The Rats in August 2008 the thought that 4/5ths of The Boomtown Rats line-up would tour together during 2013 would have seemed like a dream that could never come true in a million years, an impossible fantasy you would have bet against from the start but slowly and surely the superb Garry Roberts and Simon Crowe have been joined by Bob Geldof and Pete Briquette and with the very talented Darren Beale adding a touch of youthful exuberance to the cause on guitar, The Boomtown Rats took the packed Newcastle 02 Academy and with just a couple of songs performed from a top notch set list, you could see that they had gone down a storm.
Birmingham, damp, soaking wet
And I feel the
Rain
Teem and rinsing at
My every pore
But welcoming me back with open arms
In greeting to a prodigal son
As I leave the bright modern station
Of New Street.
The autumn darkness shields me
Like an roughly made cloak and I remain invisible
To all who once played like I
In the Costermonger’s basement. The sound of an air guitar
Straining at the leash as the crash of a new beat
Hit our 14 year old minds.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There is an aura of the prolific, of almost inexhaustible abundance when it comes to Francis Dunnery’s career. Certainly when a listener takes in his output of solo recordings and then weighs them up in time honoured fashion against his fantastic live sets, it is enough to leave you dizzy and overwhelmingly impressed with his work ethic.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Whether you are a dedicated music fan or someone who goes once a month in search of something to listen to to avoid the endless repetition of uninspiring music talents shows that television produces in the name of making money, occasionally you can’t help but feel that you may just have witnessed the finest gig by the artist you are ever likely to see them do. It doesn’t matter if it is the second, third or tenth time you have seen them perform on stage, something whispers to you at the back of your mind, “Wow, you will never beat that for a superb night.” Your instincts maybe correct but there is always hope that the artist may surprise you.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Good things come to those who wait…so it is said. Like a punishment handed down from your parents or school teachers as they try to impress upon you the art in queuing, a particular skill that is required to be British it seems, waiting is a virtue.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There can be no arguing that the city of Birmingham and its suburbs have contributed much to the fabric of Britain, from poetry to industry, Trevor Francis to Dennis Mortimer, Heavy Metal to the works of W.H. Auden and Tolkien, Birmingham has hand in it, even if it imports most of these from other places and like Liverpool cherishes it enough to claim it as their own. Like Heavy Metal though, which is as Midlands as the River Rea or The Sports Argus, a current band of Blues players, the very likeable Brothers Groove, are very much entrenched in the Birmingham ideal and their album Play The Game has that essence of Midland mindful music winding through it.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Mark Arends, Tim Dutton, Stephen Fewell, Christopher Patrick Nolan, Matthew Spencer, Gavin Spokes, Mandi Symonds, Hara Yannas, Richard Bremmer, Joshua Higgott.
To do justice to arguably one of the finest pieces of English Literature of the 20th Century on stage takes a team so immersed into what they are trying to achieve, that all else is secondary. To bring to life the horror that awaits Winston Smith from the spectre of Big Brother that is stamped like an impregnable tattoo all over the face of decency in 1984 takes a fantastic director, an adaptor of work who can make the simmering tension boil over again and again and two men you can believe in from start to finish to capture the spirit of a nation, of a world that has become the stuff of nightmares.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: David Suchet, Zoë Wanamaker, Sean Pertwee, Stephanie Leonidas, Martin Jarvis, Rebecca Front, Sam Kelly, Chris Gordon, Richard Dixon, Francesca Zoutewelle, James Anderson, Rosalind Ayres, Daniel Weyman, Emma Hamilton, Ella Geraghty, Sinéad Cusack, Eliot Barnes-Worrell.