The Party On 77th Street (Or When The Barmaid Knows You Best).

The party was in full swing as beer and whisky were downed as if the world was ending.

I happily drank more than most and sat in the corner, the internal haze of my time

Gazing back at me through frosted glass and my smile,

Permanently plastered on this English face, for a while stopped beaming.

The noise outside the Manhattan window, the cars driving down 77th Street, the people

On the sidewalk, cheering in humour, some shouting in pain

At the arguments that fuelled the city. The sound of a distant gunshot

The Party On 77th Street (Or When The Barmaid Knows You Best). full post

(844 words, estimated 3:23 mins reading time)

Jago And Litefoot: The Theatre Of Dreams. Series Two, Big Finish Audio Play.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Christopher Benjamin, Trevor Baxter, Lisa Bowerman, Duncan Wisbey, Conrad Asquith, Jennie Stoller, Alex Mallinson.

It seems that the theatre can be bad for the health; especially when it involves the Theatre De Fantasie and Henry Gordon Jago’s desire and yearning to be back on top of the impresario game.

Series Two of Jago and Litefoot’s enquiries into the world of the infernal and nefarious leads neatly to the stage where a slight supposed diversion, a chance for the action to become diverting enough before the final curtain comes down with an enjoyable story by Jonathan Morris which tests the wits and friendship of the two investigators in The Theatre Of Dreams.

Jago And Litefoot: The Theatre Of Dreams. Series Two, Big Finish Audio Play. full post

(558 words, estimated 2:14 mins reading time)

Magnum, Wings Of Heaven. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

For the best part of a decade Magnum had been considered one of the finest melodic/progressive rock bands that had come out of Britain during that period and especially one of the best to ever come out of the Midlands area by the time Wings of Heaven came out in July 1988.

Magnum, Wings Of Heaven. 25th Anniversary Retrospective. full post

(1119 words, estimated 4:29 mins reading time)

In No Man’s Land.

I squat and shiver here in a trench just yards from No-Man’s Land

In place of my brother

Who refused to fight for King

And country or for the comradeship.

He would have been proud to wear a white feather

But I got the better of his conscious and made him

Let me take his place, even though I was too young to fight.

Now I see No-Man’s Land and

Its squalor, filth and sound of death that fills my ears

As people die for a blade of grass no longer there,

In No Man’s Land. full post

(158 words, estimated 38 secs reading time)

Newsted, Heavy Metal Music. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

From out of the cold realms of darkness comes something seriously fresh, an addition to realms of Metal…something new in Heavy Metal Music. Jason Newsted hasn’t sat around doing nothing since splitting apart from Metallica over a decade ago but he hasn’t quite hit the heights that he did during the period of which arguably Metallica were one of the highest rated and musically dominant groups on the planet. His tenure with the band coincided with the release of …And Justice For All and the so called Black Album/Metallica and in some respects he was the only person worth listening to during the groups torrid time between 1992 and his withdrawal at the start of the new century.

Newsted, Heavy Metal Music. Album Review. full post

(425 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Rachael Wright And The Good Sons, Dig. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Although the first words out of your mouth when the album finishes might well be the breathless exclamation of wow, or perhaps something more akin to anything considered vaguely Anglo-Saxon, it really shouldn’t be a surprise to hear that Rachael Wright and The Good Sons new album Dig is nothing short of fantastic. It is roller coaster of supreme sound, unblemished and rigorous to the point that the listener is not just gasping for breath as if supremely exhausted by the effect but revelling in its mastery. A collection of songs that leave you consumed and overjoyed is a rare feat but Dig achieves it in spades.

Rachael Wright And The Good Sons, Dig. Album Review. full post

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

Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War, Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Larry Hulme, Travis McMahon, Abe Forsythe, Caribe Heine, Peter Houghton, Clayton Watson, Dominic Gameau, Matthew Le Nevez, Ryan O’Kane, Brendan Cowell, Richard Davies, Alexander England, Nicholas Coghlan.

It could possibly leave younger viewers stumped at the fuss, however Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War is one of the finest pieces of television plays concerning cricket ever conceived for the medium. That though is not hard; as pretty much anything that tries to capture the intrigue, drama and microcosm of life that goes on within the test arena has been fairly awful. Unless it is one of those great documentaries narrated with elegance and knowledge of the game by the actor Jim Carter, then they tend to go the same way as the rather disappointing Bodyline miniseries from 1984, forgotten and not worthy of the moment in time it was ungraciously trying to capture.

Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War, Television Review. B.B.C. full post

(596 words, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)

Julia Fordham, Under The Rainbow. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Perhaps it is with deep regret that Julia Fordham was never as big or seemingly taken as seriously as she should have been. There are many women whose presence on popular music has kept them so entrenched in the British public psyche that even well into a new a century they are still spoken about with hushed reverential tones or outlandish and bullish feelings of near greatness, Julia Fordham and perhaps the great Sam Brown, daughter of the superb Joe Brown, are unfortunately only remembered when they bring out an album or one of their earlier songs deems play worthy on the radio…days in which seem too few and far between.

Julia Fordham, Under The Rainbow. Album Review. full post

(410 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Matt Breen, Gig Review. Camp And Furnace, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Whether Matt Breen is performing acoustically or as part of some big electric effort which blows the cobwebs from the eco-system around him, there is no doubting this young man’s incredible appeal and honest likeability when watching him on stage and off it when you are in his company.

As part of the afternoons musical entertainment laid on at Camp and Furnace and with the craft fair in full swing, Matt Breen once more showed his mettle, his guile and charming disposition as he followed Gary Edward Jones and Nighthowl onto the stage and gave his usual high octane, even for an acoustic set, performance.

Matt Breen, Gig Review. Camp And Furnace, Liverpool. full post

(370 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Arkham Karvers, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

As the temperature rises in Liverpool and fully announces that Britain is going to at least have some sort of summer in 2013 and the heat increases at Wimbledon to fever pitch levels, those two elements feel like a cold winters day compared to the music that has been generated by the bands in Zanzibar which has been slowly going off the scale.

Chief amongst these was Arkham Karvers whose polished and wild set was not only a joy to take in but as they hit the ground running with the blistering opener Heisenberg, the stage was set for a new set of hero’s to burn themselves into the hearts of those attending the evening’s Hunger Games session at Zanzibar.

Arkham Karvers, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

(331 words, estimated 1:19 mins reading time)