The Wolverine, Film Review. Crosby Plaza Cinema.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tao Okamato, Rila Fukushima, Ken Yamamura, Famke Janssen, Will Yun Lee, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Haruhiko Yamanouchi, Brian Tee.

The Wolverine has barely got going when perhaps one of the most explosive and thought provoking starts to a film ever hits the screen. From that point on, the film is exactly what you want from a motion picture depicting one of Marvel’s most loved characters, it is also exactly what you expect to get with just a few fine touches to separate it from the X-Men origins film which now seems lacklustre and filmed in a fairly half-hearted and to set up the next instalment of Marvel’s mutant team.

The Wolverine, Film Review. Crosby Plaza Cinema. full post

(664 words, estimated 2:39 mins reading time)

The Fireflys, Embers Of The Autumn. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Runcorn may be famous for one thing in particular but the bridge that crosses the Mersey and brings people from the south of the country into the heart of the cultural heartland of England also brings forth its own scene, its own art that fends off the thought of being completely absorbed and overwhelmed by its near neighbour. In The Fireflys, there is the talent to give the town its own home sprung heroes and in their latest album, Embers of The Autumn, there is a voice, a displacement of rich guitar and a beat that goads others into following them and sounds just utterly cool and insatiable.

The Fireflys, Embers Of The Autumn. Album Review. full post

(363 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

6,000,001 (The Play).

6,000,001…

By Ian D. Hall.

Cast: Mr Kitson: An old man scared by images of war.

Nurse: Mental Health worker.

Ruth: Mr Kitson’s daughter.

Stan: A soldier with the Royal Army Medical Corps stationed at Belsen.

Young Dutch Woman, Elke.

Soldier: Private Ruggs.

Ruggs, Elke and Ruth are all played by the same actor.

 

 

Act One

6,000,001 (The Play). full post

(9046 words, estimated 36:11 mins reading time)

Joe Symes And The Loving Kind, Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are some bands that just typify a new way of thinking by recognising and acknowledging the past. The sound they create and bring together is the special blend that others strive for but quite often gets lost in a murky and heady fog of ideas. For Joe Symes and The Loving Kind, the amalgam of 21st Century life in their home city of Liverpool and the consideration of what made the city stand out as the musical powerhouse of the country go hand in hand on their exciting and astonishing self-titled debut album.

Joe Symes And The Loving Kind, Album Review. full post

(439 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

80 Miles From Home, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ceri Wyn, Alyson Marks, Callum Roberts, John Risley, Joel Clarke, Robert Williamson, Hannah Thompson, Eden Kane, Olivia Coleman, Rhiannon Davies-McCabe, Grace Boundy, Toni Swords.

For the United Kingdom, the social upheaval that various cities faced with steely and grim determination as its children were taken away from the danger of daily bombardment and  death from Hitler’s onslaught during World War Two thankfully, has never had to be repeated again. For every city, its children were sent to the country to keep them safe and in Lyn Wakefield’s touchingly beautiful 80 Miles From Home the audience meets a selection of children from the most bombarded city outside of the capital and how they dealt with homesickness and being in a strange land.

80 Miles From Home, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre. full post

(471 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Natalie McCool.

In one of the hottest and keenly contested categories in this year’s Liverpool Music Awards, Natalie McCool, Anna Corcoran and Eva Peterson are all strong contenders for Female Artist of the Year 2013. Ms. McCool has had a phenomenal year with the release of her debut album and several high profile gigs in which she has wowed audience members and critics alike.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Natalie McCool. full post

(930 words, estimated 3:43 mins reading time)

Melic, An Hour To Anywhere. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

One of the shining lights of new music to come out of London, the outstanding Melic, is an experience that if left unheard for too long could cause the listener to hang their head in shame at the sound they have let go past them. Now there really is no excuse to let them pass anybody by as they release the incredible and timely An Hour To Anywhere.

Melic, An Hour To Anywhere. Album Review. full post

(464 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

Risa Hall, Second Chance. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When a musician from New York makes a statement it usually pays to shut up, listen intently to what follows and then take in the enormity of what they have said or sang about. Just like Liverpool, New York, the cities on each side of the Atlantic are perhaps the closest comparable ones in the world. Never mind the size and scale of the two respective places; it is the beating heart, the artistic underbelly that drives the two seemingly polar opposites together.

Risa Hall, Second Chance. Album Review. full post

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

Metallica, Kill ‘Em All. 30th Anniversary Retrospective.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

For many it was the album that was the beginning of Thrash Metal. The next logical step from Heavy Metal that found its way from America as in an exuberant recognition that British Heavy Metal had stolen a march on the genre. Metallica’s Kill ‘Em All certainly stands out as being part of the genre but it’s overall feel 30 years after its release is more of being the  partially formed conception, the gestation period before the moment of truth with Metallica’s Ride The Lightning coming in 1984 and the genre exploding in its classic era between 1985 and 1992 when bands such as Sacred Reich, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax easily stood head and shoulders above anything coming out of continental Europe and in some respects the U.K.

Metallica, Kill ‘Em All. 30th Anniversary Retrospective. full post

(827 words, estimated 3:18 mins reading time)

Dana Fuchs, Bliss Avenue. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Where others fall and drown in their lyrics, Dana Fuchs takes it all in her stride. With a voice that endears itself to the listener as she soaks up the intensity and passion afforded by the generous musicianship by Jon Diamond, Jack Daley, Shawn Preston and the superb Glenn Patscha and in return her gravelly smoky voice blows tenderness up the backside of those who might dare to dismiss her and her latest album, the fantastic Bliss Avenue.

Dana Fuchs, Bliss Avenue. Album Review. full post

(368 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)