Author Archives: admin

The Time Tunnel: The Nightmare Begins. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Seán Carlsen, Rachel Handshaw, Safiyya Ingar, Jay Reum, Holly Ashman, Helen Bang, Edwin Flay, Nicholas McArdle, Fiona McClure, Glen McCready, Peter Rae, Flavie Ravenhill, Vitas Varnas.

There are many examples of cult American television series that have undergone the rounds of constant possible adaption for the modern eye, and most have failed to deliver upon the story first laid down in stone, instead deciding that the story had to be told again from the beginning with a brasher, edgier, and dare it be said, a more idealised portrayal when it comes to the relationships and the body of the self within the parameters of the narrative.

The Time Tunnel: The Nightmare Begins. Audio Drama Review. full post

(511 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

The Plague: The Divided States of Hysteria. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

A house divided does not stand, this lesson of history is one that rarely is learnt because we don’t understand the basic concept of the self, that the various vagrancies of the various personalities within us pull at our senses and demand not unity of spirit, but a kind of hysterical split, a fragmentation of the soul.

Self-reflection in society starts from the individual, and between mania and frenzy, and that of composed serene relief, of the enthusiasm of tranquil balance with humanity, and when we can see the rage and the fear, the chaos in ourselves we measure the equilibrium to The Divided States of Hysteria and hopefully find a truth that leads to a kind of enlightenment.

The Plague: The Divided States of Hysteria. Album Review. full post

(356 words, 1 image, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Dream Theater: Parasomnia. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

ALBUM REVIEW: Parasomnia - Dream Theater - Distorted Sound Magazine

In true fashion afforded those who find the resilience and the love to return to a former position of power, the reintroduction of Mike Portnoy to the realm of Dream Theater must feel like a dream come true, the only effects of Parasomnia in this case being one of united fulfilment, and sheer adoration as the music from one of the finest examples of Neo-Progressive Metal/Rock asserts its position and flexes a series of muscles designed to illuminate, reestablish order, and whilst Mike Mangini’s tenure in the drums overlapped with some intensely exciting albums, the sense of excitement in the returning Mike Portnoy is almost inflammable, combustible, fiercely and brilliantly overwhelming.

Dream Theater: Parasomnia. Album Review. full post

(438 words, 1 image, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Andy Fairweather Low: The Invisible Bluesman. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Andy Fairweather Low – Sweet Soulful Music

One thing Andy Fairweather Low is not, is invisible, even if the man himself has declared it so with a hopeful tongue in cheek side glance at the audience, for sheer presence does not come from being at the front of the stage always in the limelight of the employer of the day, but what you have brought to music across the decades; and in that respect alone, the man who led Amen Corner to four successive top ten places in the U.K. charts with Bend Me, Shape Me, High In The Sky, the phenomenal (If Paradise) Is Half As Nice, and Hello Susie, is not invisible, but an illumination.

Andy Fairweather Low: The Invisible Bluesman. Album Review. full post

(430 words, 1 image, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Spencer Leigh: 80 @ 80 – A Liverpool Life In 80 Chapters. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

80@80: A Liverpool life in 80 chapters

The pursuit of recording history is almost everything that is real, but it is only so because of the people that report on the present they lived through.

To live through history in any chosen field, to become part of it, weave the words that capture the moment with sincerity is to then make sure it is documented with grace, humility, and if left to the truly skilful, with more than a fair share of humour attached to the project.

Spencer Leigh: 80 @ 80 – A Liverpool Life In 80 Chapters. Book Review. full post

(579 words, 1 image, estimated 2:19 mins reading time)

Dave Potter & Retro Groove: Retro Grove 2. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Arguably for the vast majority of music lovers, the drummer is an integral part of the sound captured in the studio or live on stage, and yet we have the vision of the one sat behind cymbals and skins as being this omnipotent being shrouded by the dry ice and only appearing like some figure out of the gloom as they are called upon to acknowledge the appreciation of the whole, and rarely for their individual skill and proficiency.

Dave Potter & Retro Groove: Retro Grove 2. Album Review. full post

(425 words, 1 image, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Abigail Hopkins: Stardust. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When you evoke the image of the universal you have to make sure you deliver the empathy and emotions of the eternal struggle of being human, tempered always with the belief that through your vision, the listener is given the chance to see Stardust glimmer against the darkness of space and life.

Abigail Hopkins: Stardust. Album Review. full post

(386 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Liverpool’s Central Library Hosts A Celebrational Exhibition of 100 Years Of The Empire Theatre.

Liverpool is blessed with theatrical talent and the grandness of theatres that surely makes other city’s blush with envy, and whilst we have lost some over time, those that remain, and despite the difficulties that many have faced due to the current times we live in, stand proudly with their history on show, the memories of performances, of the smell of grease paint and the actors to have made the stage their own; and when a sizeable anniversary is reached, it should be celebrated with style.

Liverpool’s Central Library Hosts A Celebrational Exhibition of 100 Years Of The Empire Theatre. full post

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

The Last Voyage of The Demeter. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, David Dastmalchian, Chris Walley, Jon Jon Briones, Stefan Kapicic, Martin Furuland, Nikolai Nikolaeff, Woody Norman, Javier Botet, Graham Turner, Andy Murray, Nicola Passetti, Christopher York, Vladimir Cabek, Rudolf Danielewicz, Noureddine Farihi, Malcolm Galea, Adam Shaw, Jack Doggart, Joe Depasquale, Sally Reeve.

The Last Voyage of The Demeter. Film Review. full post

(662 words, estimated 2:39 mins reading time)

V: Visitation. Big Finish. Audio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Annabel Baldwin, Janie Dee, Jack Myers, Geoffrey Aymer, Nicholas Briggs, Hannah Brown, Jesse Dunbar, John H Elson, Louise Falkner, Raj Ghatak, Helen Goldwyn, Kate O’ Rourke, Gesella Ohaka, Logan Ritchie, Arabella Smith-James, Andrew James-Spooner, Holly Spooner, Sam Stafford.

The allegories and symbols that were explicitly portrayed on the hit American television series V were so plain to the naked eye that the viewer never once had to question that the sci-fi classic was truly about the representation of war, collusion, consent by power, and the requirement of all citizens to take a stand against the evils of fascism.

V: Visitation. Big Finish. Audio Drama Review. full post

(597 words, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)