Stealing Sheep, Into The Diamond Sun. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. August 2012.

Anybody that has managed to catch the incredible Stealing Sheep in the last couple of years, be it supporting Emmy the Great on tour or even their own shows will already know how dreamlike and sensational they are.

For others who have yet to experience the tremendous vocal arrangement, backed up by some of the most unusual but spine tingling music conceived since the early days of Pink Floyd, then Into the Diamond Sun by the three women who make up Stealing Sheep is not just essential listening, it’s an album of ethereal beauty, a glimpse of what is achievable outside the safety bubble of corporation pop and mass produced noise.

Stealing Sheep, Into The Diamond Sun. Album Review. full post

(403 words, 1 image, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Scarlett’s Secret Snowglobe, Theatre Review. The Lantern Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Daniel Jones, Lucie Rice, Sally Smithson.

 

Scarlett’s Secret Snowglobe is written and performed by the one of the smaller scale theatre companies that has made Liverpool home. With the three members of the collective, Daniel Jones, Lucie Rice and Sally Smithson having enjoyed the hospitality of the city, they have given back in spades and in this latest production prove more than ever that all theatre is necessary, especially if it is able to grab younger visitors to the theatre with a poignant message of hope and redemption.

Scarlett’s Secret Snowglobe, Theatre Review. The Lantern Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(354 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

On A School Playground…

We first met on the playground of Moor Green.

Cowboys we played, cops and robbers, later football became our game

With tennis balls or with Christmas presents that would sail unseen

Into the old people’s homes, who up to the wire fence they came

As they complained that we had broken a window with our balls.

Small we were, so ready to take on the world but yet

Not the grandparents who had fought in bigger wars than any of us

We resorted to collecting stickers, shouting scramble for a bet

On A School Playground… full post

(184 words, estimated 44 secs reading time)

Humbucker, R.O.C.K.S. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Coming across a set of music that seems to have been sorrowfully neglected by the British public at large is sometimes a rare and agreeable hour of indulgence, the pleasure grows as it takes root and before you know it, the music is as infectious and you begin to feel bad that you never have had the chance to enjoy it before. Such is overall feeling of satisfaction that the listener can lose themselves in on R.O.C.K.S. – Humbucker’s 2011 album.

Humbucker, R.O.C.K.S. Album Review. full post

(391 words, 1 image, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

The Petite Bay.

A gentle breeze rolls through my black hair as an albatross sings in my head.

The bluffs of the petite bay hold back the autumn within its beached grasp

As the holy hidden wonders are heard in their repeating echo

And they remind me of their regal, inner beauty with rumours and a gasp.

I have laid there on the timid beach, a book, music in my ears holding back time,

And many a woman I wooed within my head as I listened to waves

That crashed into sand, swallowing grains whole silently in mime

The Petite Bay. full post

(193 words, estimated 46 secs reading time)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Ian Holm, Andy Serkis, Ken Stott, Benedict Cumberbatch, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Sylvester McCoy, Barry Humphries, James Nesbitt, Stephen Hunter, Mark Hadlow, Dean O’ Gorman, Aiden Turner, Jed Brophy, Adam Brown, Aiden Turner.

 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Film Review. full post

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

Steve Hogarth, Gig Review. St. Bride’s Church, Liverpool.

steve hogarth at St Bride’s Church, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Steve Hogarth and Liverpool are made for each other. In the past few years he has made the pilgrimage-like trek away from the touring with Marillion and delivered shows with just himself, a piano and an array of compositions, much loved songs and the odd story in which to regale and entertain audiences with.

Steve Hogarth, Gig Review. St. Bride’s Church, Liverpool. full post

(408 words, 1 image, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Shadow Of The Sun, Monument. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Born out of fire and created with a South Welsh attitude, the latest band to come from that thriving musical part of the U.K., the superb sounding Shadow of the Sun have finally released their debut album, Monument, and it is a colossus.

The energy that comes through every pore, every fibre that the group possesses is drenched in the sweat and power of this recording. Loud, extremely loud and pulsating with class, Monument is an album that typifies the raw power that is available at the hands of musicians who strive to show that good music doesn’t slot into just one typical genre, it can be instinctive as it wants to be or as those creating it want it to be.

Shadow Of The Sun, Monument. Album Review. full post

(373 words, 1 image, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Cinderella, Theatre Review. St Helens Theatre Royal.

Richard De Vere as Dandini. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tina Malone, Leanne Campbell, James Waud, Charlie Griffiths, Richard De Vere, Marc Lawlor, Simon Foster, Nick Cochrane, Schnorbitz.

The village of Stoneybroke and its love deprived prince are in need of good fortune and a princess to bring love to its desolate and poor people. They certainly don’t come any poorer than Baroness Hardup and her daughter.  It may be a fairytale but for those that go along to the St. Helens Theatre Royal to catch one of the classics of the panto season, the tremendous Cinderella, it will be impossible not to feel touched and elated at the grand piece of theatre on offer.

Cinderella, Theatre Review. St Helens Theatre Royal. full post

(366 words, 1 image, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Ian Skelly, Cut From A Star. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Ian Skelly may have already tasted and enjoyed incredible success with The Coral but that doesn’t mean that the man ever sits on his extensive laurels and waits for the new long-awaited album by the band to take shape. If anything he has been kept busy by the release of his own album, Cut From A Star, and whilst fans of The Coral wait patiently for a new studio album, the anticipation will be made all the more worthwhile by listening to this excellent recording.

Ian Skelly, Cut From A Star. Album Review. full post

(332 words, 1 image, estimated 1:20 mins reading time)