Rob McGuffin, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

From ashes does life grow, it can and will flourish given the right space, the right temperament and in music terms being somebody who cares deeply about their passion for picking up a guitar and taking an audiences hand through some great rock numbers.

When the fabulous Kids With Lighters unfortunately went their amicable separate ways, there could have been the usual fallout of genuine talent falling by the way side and emerging as some do many years later looking for a second stab at the profession. Not so with Rob McGuffin, the highly likeable and intelligent musician has carefully and with a large amount of skill attached to his superb disposition been making inroads again and has already proved himself of all places in the heart of Birmingham with his chosen musical weapon.

Rob McGuffin, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

(350 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Sophie Dodd, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To be nervous is to expected, it is the little butterflies that growl hungrily and gnaw at you which define those that can do what they do in front of audience and those that can’t. In the raw, unrestrained and beautiful sounding Sophie Dodd it is something she may carry but she succeeds in taming them as if they were rampaging lions reduced to mewing helpless kittens.

Sophie Dodd, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

(307 words, estimated 1:14 mins reading time)

Michael And The Lonesome Playboys, Bottle Cap Sky. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

One listen to Bottle Cap Sky is all it takes to understand why Michael Ubaldini is called The Jack Kerouac of Americana. Even half way through the first track, Walk Through Fire, really is enough to wallow in the ensuing imagery and words that glide that through the air and smack you as if hit by the aftermath of water from someone dive bombing into a swimming pool.

Michael And The Lonesome Playboys, Bottle Cap Sky. Album Review. full post

(405 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Miss Marple, Greenshaw’s Folly. Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Julia McKenzie, Julia Sawalha, Fiona Shaw, Robert Glenister, John Gordon Sinclair, Judy Parfitt, Vic Reeves, Kimberley Nixon, Rufus Jones, Matt Wills, Joanna David, Bobby Smalldridge, Candida Gubbins, Sam Reid, Martin Compston,

Rarely does Miss Marple stray into the domain held dear by Agatha Christie’s other great creation of Hercule Poirot, that of the understated darkness in greed or supposed glory. Mostly whatever deeds have been committed in the cases of Miss Marple it has been for love or lust. Greenshaw’s Folly though perhaps sees the elderly spinster at her very best as she deals not only with horrifying aftermath of spousal abuse but the very worst case of murder, premeditated and for gain.

Miss Marple, Greenshaw’s Folly. Television Review. I.T.V. full post

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

Doctor Who: Prisoners Of Fate. Audio Drama Review, Big Finish 174.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Mark Strickson, Sarah Sutton, Sarah Douglas, Alistair Mckenzie, Anjella Mackintosh, Jez Fielder.

Never mind a woman scorned, when a Tardis gets rejected, she really does have a long time to brood and plot her revenge on the one person she has bonded with, namely the Doctor.

Doctor Who: Prisoners Of Fate. Audio Drama Review, Big Finish 174. full post

(519 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: The Dalek Contract. Big Finish Audio Play 2.06.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, John Leeson, David Warner, Toby Hadoke, Dominic Mafham, Jane Slavin, Nicholas Briggs, John Dorney.

It is rightly considered one of the classic moments of Doctor Who ever; faced with the opportunity to eradicate the evil of The Daleks forever, Tom Baker’s incarnation of the man from Gallifrey chose to set them back 1,000 years in their evolution rather than commit genocide of the most hated race and feared in the universe.

Doctor Who: The Dalek Contract. Big Finish Audio Play 2.06. full post

(545 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Queensryche, Queensryche. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Obituaries that had been written can now be filed, shredded and destroyed, the king may have seemed to breathe a final terminal breath, outdone by seeing double at the last but Queensryche lives on. In some bizarre way there are now two Queensryches fighting for the crown as if stuck in some York/Lancaster melodrama for the nation of England. Geoff Tate, the former vocalist of the band Queensryche, now with his own band…Queensryche in one corner and the carriers of the flame with Todd La Torre at the helm ready to storm battlements and carry this new rejuvenated band forward. There really can be only one winner, the King is dead but Queensryche will survive.

Queensryche, Queensryche. Album Review. full post

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

Lloyd Cole, Standards. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Some people don’t need to have big charting hits to know that they are loved by their core audience, what they release will always seem to be taken to the crowd’s heart and much played, that though doesn’t pay the bills in a world that has become increasingly, despairing and depressingly about how you are defined is by what you are worth in monetary value to others and not for the enjoyment or sense of love you may install in others.

Lloyd Cole, Standards. Album Review. full post

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

Kerry Ellis And Brian May, Acoustic By Candlelight. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are many things that are worth repeating in life so soon after first experiencing them; your first passionate kiss, the first book that spoke to you and awoke something deep about yourself, the first play that made you laugh so hard you forgot you were in a different set of company and a gig that delighted and entranced you.

On the back of their tour in 2012, Kerry Ellis and Brian May recorded songs from various venues and have released them in time for the 2013 Born Free Tour on a delightful new album, Acoustic By Candlelight.

Kerry Ellis And Brian May, Acoustic By Candlelight. Album Review. full post

(392 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

World War Z, Film Review. FACT Cinema.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Fana Makoena, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, David Morse, Ludi Boeken, Peter Capaldi, Matthew Fox, Abigail Hargrove, Sterling Jerins, Fabrizio Zacharee Guidoas, Pierfrancesco Favino, Ruth Negga, Moritz Blebtreu, Ernesto Cantu, David Andrews, Elyes Gabel, Lucy Aharish, Julia Levy-Boeken.

There is nothing like a good apocalyptic film to send people in their droves worrying about the next big thing that will decimate humanity to the point of extinction. Rising sea levels and the air stream suddenly going into meltdown, asteroids that will leave big holes in the round and Morgan Freeman as the last decent man on the planet, a rampaging monster destroying half of Japan (take your pick) or perhaps the daddy of them, nuclear Armageddon in which Sheffield gets destroyed in perhaps the finest example, Threads.

World War Z, Film Review. FACT Cinema. full post

(630 words, estimated 2:31 mins reading time)