Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Paul John Walker in Liverpool, April 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

The constant revolution that transpires across Liverpool’s music scene is almost a daily walk through just what makes the area such a magnificent beast to appreciate; the impact of the past, the blast created by the sound of The Beatles still reverberating round the city over 50 years on, its echo enthusing the new generation of musicians, either born in the city or those that make their way from obscurer pastures, that keep making sure that Liverpool retains its place as the holder of song writing love.

It is in the fibre, under every door, in the shadows, the cold and the disregarded, the urge to make music, to look in the mirror and see not a human being ground down by fate and Government but instead someone who might just change a person’s mind. In the softness of the voice lays the greatest weapon available, the march of a song created with fighting back in mind and for  Paul John Walker, the fight is one that is clean but powerful, creative and illuminating and wildly cool. It is in the voice, always down to the projection that catches the ear and for that the young man is a man to be reckoned with musically and not messed with intellectually.

The cold that raced down Liverpool’s Paradise Street may have been the type that if personified would have been aloof, distant and full of rage but the force it hit the midweek shoppers was nothing to the warmth emanating off the stage as he took his set out for a spin and left those willing to steer from the moment of shopping, with a glow of heartfelt pleasure.

As songs such as Look In Your Eyes, Friend or Foe, The Feeling, One Day and a rather enjoyable version of T.L.C.’s No Scrubs batted every sheer glass fronted gust of wind, the cool response of the artist was there to be seen, the smile in the face of the inclement ever broader and whilst he stayed in view it was possible to believe that the sunshine, doing its best despite the April chill, would shine all day; a memory of a time when you could go during the day and not be bombarded by advertising slogans but be relaxed by the sound of music, a greater effect on the well being of many than any sale.

Paul John Walker is a delight, a welcome as broad as the summer thought, and one that caught the time perfectly.

Ian D. Hall