Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Brian McCann.

 

Birkenhead playwright Brian McCann is a busy man. So busy in fact that I appreciate that I am fortunate to have time with him at the Leaf tea shop on Bold Street in which to chat to him about his play, Down Our Street, which is coming to the Royal Court Theatre in April. The story of Birkenhead and the Cammell Laird ship building company is intertwined with each other, with many generations of families being employed by the firm.

The play was well received when performed at the Unity Theatre and was one of the delights of the season when performed.

Liverpool Sound And Vision: The Sunday Postscript, An Interview With Brian McCann. full post

(1658 words, estimated 6:38 mins reading time)

Dave Lee Roth, Skyscraper. 25th Anniversary Retrospective.

It had been four years since Dave Lee Roth and Van Halen had released the iconic rock album 1984 and whilst the three remaining members were on a creative and production high with their first U.S.A. Number 1, 5150 and were on the verge of securing the second of 4 top spots on the bounce, ‘Diamond Dave’ was also enjoying his new found status as a solo star. There are very few people that really deserve the moniker before their name, especially when they have been so entwined with a band that had hit such incredible highs but in Dave Lee Roth, the moniker not only fits, it simply oozes polish and craves the title.

Dave Lee Roth, Skyscraper. 25th Anniversary Retrospective. full post

(861 words, estimated 3:27 mins reading time)

Phoenix Of Avalon, Reborn. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Phoenix of Avalon may not be a name that is well known in Liverpool just yet but on the back of their debut E.P. it surely won’t be long before the name of the band and the two members, Stephen Redfern and David Connor, are more common place.

Although bands such as the Wirral’s The Guardians and Mashemon have a huge head start in their respective journeys as the foremost young bands in the Liverpool area, the debut E.P. by the group, the tantalisingly titled Reborn, shows the band have much promise in their own material. The songs flow in the best possible way and on the songs Battle of Fallen Angels and Letters To No One, the ferocity of the lyrics are matched well with the beating heart that the music provides.

Phoenix Of Avalon, Reborn. E.P. Review. full post

(327 words, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

The Spin Doctors, Gig Review. Eric’s, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Judging by the rousing reception the members of The Spin Doctors got from the audience at Eric’s it might be hard to believe that New York American alternative rockers have not released an album in eight years. A lot of bands would go stale with that type of time away and even drift apart and go their own separate ways.

The Spin Doctors, Gig Review. Eric’s, Liverpool. full post

(504 words, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

Doctor Who, The Wrong Doctors. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 169

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Colin Baker, Bonnie Langford, Tony Gardner, James Joyce, Patricia Leventon, Beth Chalmers, John Banks.

Although The Trail of a Timelord, shown on the B.B.C. in 1986 introduced the future companion Melanie Bush, portrayed by Bonnie Langford, to Colin Baker’s incarnation of the Doctor, there really has never been any reconciliation to answer how they first met. For viewers of the new series, which now strides confidently towards its 50th anniversary, it would be like trying to explain how Rose ended up travelling on the Tardis without ever showing the moment she stepped on board. It is a tricky and puzzling conundrum that has never been revealed…until now and the long sighted people at Big Finish and the new audiobook release of The Wrong Doctors.

Doctor Who, The Wrong Doctors. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish 169 full post

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

Doctor Who, The Auntie Matter. Big Finish Audio Play. 2.01.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Tom Baker, Mary Tamm, Julia McKenzie, Robert Portal, Lucy Griffiths, Alan Cox, Jane Slavin.

 

Even if it just for a collection of stories, the fact that the listeners of the Big Finish Doctor Who range get to hear the one of the most celebrated companions reprise her role again, a role that she played with a sense of elegance that really has never been matched in all the years following her departure, then the second series of Tom Baker’s tales and the appearance of Mary Tamm as Romana is something to be celebrated and enjoyed. However it is an enjoyment that is tempered by the knowledge that Mart Tamm sadly passed on in the last year.

Doctor Who, The Auntie Matter. Big Finish Audio Play. 2.01. full post

(524 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

Robert Vincent, Gig Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Robert Vincent is one of the great acoustic artists playing in Liverpool right now. He also has been very busy in recent months, so busy that it makes you wonder when he finds time to catch his breath, let alone do any recording. Aside from getting ready to unleash his new album, Life In Easy Steps, he has been interviewed by the London press and those whose musical knowledge is second to none.

Robert Vincent, Gig Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Adam Ant, Adam Ant Is The Blueblack Hussar In Marrying The Gunner’s Daughter. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It will be an album that divides opinion and there will be those that try their damndest to compare it some of the most iconic albums of Adam Ant’s career. Highly unfair bearing in mind that Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner’s Daughter is the first new studio album by the British charming prince of 1980s pop for 13 years. Why would you want to try and go back to a period which you dominated and in which the scene has moved on, not exactly for the better either? Hard to be a star again, sparkling incessantly against some of the dull and tarnished pop acts of this generation.

Adam Ant, Adam Ant Is The Blueblack Hussar In Marrying The Gunner’s Daughter. Album Review. full post

(342 words, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)

Bad Religion, True North. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Like the great British post Punk band Goldblade, there are some bands that typify their genre, the big brash sound and verbal generosity that makes them just sound a cut above so many of their peers and those following in their wake. Bad Religion might not appeal to everyone, but they are truly one of the greats, live and in the studio.

Bad Religion’s latest offering, the sublime True North, follows on their rich tradition of wrapping great stories up in the heat and bitter furnace of punk’s anti authority and like Goldblade they succeed in getting you to question just what is being force fed down the throat.

Bad Religion, True North. Album Review. full post

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

Steve Lukather, Transition. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Following up from the 2010 album All’s Well That Ends Well, Steve Lukather once more comes up with guitar gold in his latest release Transition.

Transition is perhaps an apt title for the album for the former Toto man. It is by far his most biographical release and as each track flows over the listener thoughts and nestles into the conscious, the songs hit home hard that this is a man, a musician, who is looking back at his life and taking issue with the past fall outs and people and who acknowledges that he is bigger and better than any argument.

Steve Lukather, Transition. Album Review. full post

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