The White Queen, Television Review. B.B.C. Television.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Rebecca Ferguson, Max Irons, Janet McTeer, James Frain, Robert Pugh, Juliet Aubrey, Caroline Goodall, Aneurin Barnard, David Oakes, Ashley Charles, Amanda Hale.

 

The demand for some sort of history is never truly satisfied or sated and after many years of watching Sky have a tight grip on historical dramas in screening of The Tudors, the B.B.C. finally get to dip their feet in the murky waters of the British Royal family in the adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s The White Queen.

The White Queen, Television Review. B.B.C. Television. full post

(535 words, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)

Kevin Doherty, Seeing Things. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There have been many celebrated writers throughout Ireland’s incredible literary past, Seamus Heaney and James Joyce to name but two and in both of these great men and their renowned, illustrious works can be found the template of story-telling that encompasses Kevin Doherty and his latest album Seeing Things.

Like Joyce in his seminal book Dubliners or one of Seamus Heaney’s many poems there is a construct of narrative that is almost unique to both these men and Kevin Doherty. The music, whilst hauntingly beautiful and as serene as the countryside of Ireland is almost secondary to the voice, the splendid outpouring, humbly delivered but with an exuberance, a joyful melancholy that is hard to beat or replicate.

Kevin Doherty, Seeing Things. Album Review. full post

(334 words, estimated 1:20 mins reading time)

Obstacles, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

No matter the festival, no matter the venue or size, there is a certain kudos and accepted pressure that goes alongside the honour and even though Liverpool Calling was just a day out for some, the chance to sit in the relaxing atmosphere of one of Liverpool’s memorials to the fallen of the Second World War, the iconic St. Luke’s Church, and take in the music on offer from the abundance of bands, for Obstacles the moment was precious and demanding. It was a demand they rose to.

Obstacles, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church. full post

(360 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Orange Room, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St Luke’s Church.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Like The Shadow Theatre, Orange Room remain a secret held close to the chest of their adopted city and whilst the band may hail from the other side of the world, their roots are now firmly fixed in Liverpool. They have bided their time, made all the right moves and honed their set and for those that were fortunate enough to be in the confines of St. Luke’s Church during the afternoon session of Liverpool Calling they were treated to a fine performance that will live long in the memory.

Orange Room, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St Luke’s Church. full post

(377 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Amsterdam, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

There is something about the majesty; the feel of the past and what the Bombed Out Church of St. Luke’s stands for that just makes it a great place to watch live outdoor music. The gothic look, the refusal of a city to bend its knee towards oppressors, doubters and the shameful is all around the city and the life blood in its people. No more so than Ian Prowse and Amsterdam and as the band come on stage as part of Liverpool Calling, the sound, the joy and defiance from the audience gets notably louder. If ever there was a man who can get a crowd thumping the air whilst placing one hand over their chest in remembrance of the fallen then Ian Prowse is the man and Amsterdam are quite rightly the band of the day.

Amsterdam, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church. full post

(451 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

The Mono L.Ps. Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

As The Mono L.Ps came on stage, the light changed over the Bombed Out church of St. Luke’s as if the changing of the guard was on hand and a brighter herald was needed to hail the excellence of this respected Liverpool band.

The Mono L.Ps. Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church. full post

(434 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Vasa, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

One thing audiences inside the Bombed Out Church of St. Lukes may not have been expecting as part of Liverpool Calling was for a band to travel from Scotland, to take the long route march south, and perform for half an hour and then make their way back the same day north of the border. It certainly showed commitment and the music that Vasa provided in that short time on stage was not just scintillating but pretty awesome as well.

Vasa, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church. full post

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

The Shadow Theatre, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling. St, Luke’s Church.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

You can’t keep a musical secret for long in Liverpool. Eventually somebody somewhere will pipe up and say that this band are just amazing, fantastic, unreal or sometimes but thankfully rarely don’t bother they haven’t got a clue. It is the very nature of the city that its long antennae, its fingers ever ready to feel for a new pulse to keep the lifeblood of Liverpool fresh and exciting will come across an act that has been squirreling in a basement venue and thrust them out into the open for its citizens to marvel over.

The Shadow Theatre, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling. St, Luke’s Church. full post

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

Marple: A Caribbean Mystery, Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Julia McKenzie, Robert Webb, Antony Sher, Charity Wakefield, Hermione Norris, Alistair Mackenzie, Daniel Rigby, Montserrat Lombard, Oliver Ford-Davis, MyAnna Buring, Anele Matoti, Joe Vaz, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Charles Mesure, Piipa Bennett-Warner, Warren Brown, Jeremy Crutchley, Charlie Higson.

Not even in the Caribbean are you safe from Miss. Marple, the woman with the scent of murder in her nose even when she is sent abroad to recuperate after a bout of illness always finds the murderer in the end.

Marple: A Caribbean Mystery, Television Review. I.T.V. full post

(431 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

King King, Standing In The Shadows. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Sometimes it seems that you can come across a band that you instantly fall for when you weren’t even looking. As when you stop looking for that one special person and just concentrate on the small things that make you happy and take life on a day to day basis, out of nowhere they come and take root in your life. Such is the effect of Glasgow band King King and their Blues styled rock and their album Standing In The Shadows on the heart that for a while you cannot think of anything better to listen to every night.

King King, Standing In The Shadows. Album Review. full post

(399 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)