Science Of The Lamps, Gig Review. Threshold Festival, The Picket, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

All over the Baltic Quarter in Liverpool, bands and artists had been thrilling audiences during the second day of the Threshold Festival but there can’t have been many more that were as highly anticipated, nor as keenly appreciated as Science of the Lamps. The near impossible task of getting perhaps one of the largest gatherings of musicians and singers on a stage anywhere in Liverpool over the weekend, including the ever superb musician Luke Moore on cello and keyboards and the wonderful vocal talent of Mersey Wylie alongside the woman of the weekend Kaya Herstad Carney.

Science Of The Lamps, Gig Review. Threshold Festival, The Picket, Liverpool. full post

(440 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Caroline England, Gig Review. Threshold Festival. Elevator, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The Threshold Festival had already had a successful day on the Friday and as the new day blew away the cobwebs and aching joints of the Saturday morning, Elevator, the acoustic venue for the weekend and part of the superbly run Graham Holland acoustic set up in the city, welcomed new and much loved established performers through its doors and the early part of the afternoon revelled in the music on offer.

Caroline England, Gig Review. Threshold Festival. Elevator, Liverpool. full post

(336 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Russell Parry And Mal French From The Play Wild Flowers.

Wild Flowers, Franny Conlin’s powerful play about a family torn apart due to their son crossing the picket line during the Dockers Strike of 1995, returns after a year away and will be spending two nights at the Epstein Theatre on the 29th and 30th March. This critically acclaimed play looks at the members of the Lavelle family whose son James turns away from the family and takes the path to personal destruction. It is a brutally honest play and one that deserves to be seen by a wide audience.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Russell Parry And Mal French From The Play Wild Flowers. full post

(2353 words, estimated 9:25 mins reading time)

Fallen Streams, Lookin’ Up. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

From the depths of the passing of Liverpool’s Sheerwater, Fallen Streams resurfaces. The band, which contains Mark Dawson on vocals and guitars and the superb Jack Beacall on keyboards have taken off where the previous named incarnation left off and whilst for less discerning types they may struggle with the difference and ask what does it matter what they are called, the difference is they have become even better, an improvement if that was ever possible and the name change? Well that only matters in the overall scheme of things, otherwise they still have the same fantastic attitude that first got them that all important attention in 2011.

Fallen Streams, Lookin’ Up. Album Review. full post

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

Marillion, Script For A Jester’s Tear. 30th Anniversary Retrospective.

If anyone thought that Progressive Rock was dead in the water as the 1980s began, then certainly the cowbell that had once proudly rang out was joining the fat lady in beginning to sound decidedly croaky and worn out.

By early 1983 Genesis had moved so far from the Progressive line that they were considered cool in circles they couldn’t have envisioned 10 years earlier when they bought out the pastoral sound of Selling England By the Pound. Yes were going mainstream, Supertramp were going their separate ways, Queen had long since abandoned the genre, Pink Floyd, the standard bearers of the music from 1973 onwards were about to self-destruct with what seemed one final hurrah in the opinion dividing The Final Cut and countless others such as Caravan and Camel were running out of steam.

Marillion, Script For A Jester’s Tear. 30th Anniversary Retrospective. full post

(1750 words, estimated 7:00 mins reading time)

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Stephen Langstaff.

Due to the nature of music, it can be a while between catching up with people who have made an impression on the overall music conscious of a city. In Stephen Langstaff’s case it’s not hard to see why. Over the last few years he has worked steadily and diligently in building up his songbook and it looks as though the hard work has finally paid off as Stephen is now able to concentrate fully on his passion. It is this work ethic that makes being able to pin Stephen down for a talk about music a pleasure.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Saturday Supplement, An Interview With Stephen Langstaff. full post

(1140 words, estimated 4:34 mins reading time)

Hope, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast:  Mark Womack, Rene Zagger, Scot Williams, Samantha Womack.

Hope should never be denied to anyone, take it away and you deny that person the only thing they may have keeping them sane. Hope also can be secretive and a hard but forgiving mistress and to base a production around this idea takes the slight touch of genius and adds it to a script by Scot Williams which is utterly absorbing, playful but also captures the very essence of writing

Hope, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(338 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

The Stranglers, Gig Review. o2 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The sweat and perspiration was still dripping off the audience’s clothes as they filed out of the Academy, Liverpool after yet another feast of relentless and pulsating music by one of the most potent and loved bands to come out of Britain in the last 40 years. For the Stranglers, nights such as they experience in Liverpool, are amongst the finest they can surely experience and for the fans that bounce and rock with them, the admiration is mutual. The tour is called Feel It Live and by the end of the night everyone had certainly felt that request.

The Stranglers, Gig Review. o2 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(571 words, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

Anna Corcoran, Anything Better. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is a moment, a second of time about a minute into the first track of Anna Corcoran’s E.P., Anything Better, where you realise you are not just listening to a woman so adept at her piano but that she also writes incredibly evocative lyrics. She sings them with such a big smile upon her face that she is instantly transformed from another talented woman from Merseyside to somebody who is musically attainable but also unbelievably excellent at providing a narrative that crushes any resistance you might be able to put in her way.

Anna Corcoran, Anything Better. E.P. Review. full post

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

Jeff Healey: As the Years Go By, Live in Germany 1989-1995-2000. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When Canadian musician Jeff Healey passed on, the world of blues/rock seemed to take a turn towards the bleak and dull. There was something about the man and his music that could make anyone smile and relish the notes that he played on his guitar, not only was an inspiration to many, overcoming his disability in such a way that was both admirable and succinctly praise worthy but also in the way that he carried himself in front of those that came to watch him perform.

Jeff Healey: As the Years Go By, Live in Germany 1989-1995-2000. Album Review. full post

(453 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)