Author Archives: admin

Jethro Tull: RökFlöte. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Music should find a way to always surprise you, even if it by the margin of a raised eyebrow rather than the full overblown slap of connectivity that you hope for.

There is a lot to take in when confronted by the appearance of Jethro Tull’s latest album, RökFlöte, so much to unpack that whilst the idea should come as no surprise, the delivery is one of quietly drawn respect and admiration for pulling off the spectacle. Not only is it the shortest turn around in between albums, coming hot on the heels of 2022’s The Zealot Gene, for 40 years, its central device is that which keenly involves itself in ways that hark back to the band’s early concept albums to which they made, in their own surprised way, a huge impression on the Progressive genre.

Jethro Tull: RökFlöte. Album Review. full post

(421 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

The Selecter: Human Algebra. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

We are taught, quite rightly, as a child to not judge a book by its cover, but as we get older, more in tune to the universe, we cannot help in the field of art to gaze upon an album, a novel, a painting, and define it to our aesthetic enjoyment and be more likely to purchase the offering by the creative because of the way the cover stands out.

The Selecter: Human Algebra. Album Review. full post

(420 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Nope. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Brandon Perea, Michael Wincott, Steven Yeun, Wrenn Schmidt, Keith David, Devon Graye, Terry Notary, Barbie Ferreira, Donna Mills, Oz Perkins, Eddie Jemison, Jacob Kim, Sophia Coto, Jennifer Lafleur, Andrew Patrick Ralston, Lincoln Lambert, Pierce Kang, Roman Gross, Alex-Hyde White, Hetty Chang, Liza Treyger, Ryan W. Garcia, Courtney Elizabeth.

There may be many inspirations behind Jordan Peele’s latest cinematic offering, a whole wardrobe stuffed full of motivations and muse like stimuli, but in the end, it has to be observed what a sizeable contribution to the world of mystery and suspense the talented director has brought to the screens in the pulsating Nope.

Nope. Film Review. full post

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

Neil Campbell: Journey Into Space. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If we are to endure and thrive as a species, we must look further than our own home as a means of survival, we must continue to stride onwards, to take that often secluded Journey Into Space and seek out companionship in the darkness, in the void of that which surrounds us.

To ignore the beauty of what is directly above, to not want to see what lays beyond the clouds and reflective blue, is to not feel the inspiration that the heavens create with a sense of majesty and mystery. That inspiration is always there, it is deeply embedded within us, and to take that step is to understand that we are captivated by endearing magnificence and the persistence of Time itself.

Neil Campbell: Journey Into Space. Album Review. full post

(363 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Dean Johnson: Hip Shrapnel. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Loss is a great leveller, and a source of untold inspiration.

It may not feel like it at the time, but those personal bullet marks, the shrapnel that breaks our heart from the moment we learn of a life of a friend, a lover, a parent, has been taken by Time, give us a reason, should we wish to observe it, to honour the person that was. Be it a stranger, a fantasy figure, a respected artist, or any other soul that has in one way or another touched us, blessed our mind as well as our heart, we take that shrapnel and mould into a finer piece of reflection…no longer able to hurt us, it serves as an aide- memoire of the divine and the beautiful.

Dean Johnson: Hip Shrapnel. Album Review. full post

(380 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Magpie Murders. Television Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Lesley Manville, Tim McMullan, Conleth Hill, Matthew Beard, Alexandros Logothetis, Michael Maloney, Daniel Mays, Claire Rushbrook, Ian Lloyd Anderson, Karen Westwood, Jude Hill, Harry Lawtey, Joel Birkett, Pippa Haywood, Nia Deacon, Dorothy Atkinson, Chu Omambala, Karl Collins, Lorcan Cranitch, Sanjeev Kohli, Sutara Gayle, Danielle Ryan, David Herlihy, Nathan Clarke, Paul Tylak, Adam Ewan, San Shella, Azeem Alahi, Daniel Costello, Phina Oruche, Killian Donnelly, James Flynn, Kate Gilmore.

Magpie Murders. Television Series Review. full post

(536 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Renfield. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage, Awkwafina, Ben Schwartz, Shorreh Aghdasloo, Brandon Scott Jones, Adrian Martinez, Camille Chen, Bess Rous, Jenna Kanell, Danya LaBelle, Rhonda Johnson, Christopher Matthew Cook, Michael P. Sullivan, Rosha Washington, James Moses Black, T.C. Matherne, Caroline Williams, Marcus Lewis, Derek Russo, Marvin Ross, Gabriel Rodriguez, Dave Davis, Keith Brooks, Joshua Mikel, Chloe Adona, Stephen Louis Grush, Christopher Winchester, John Cihangir, Krystal Tomlin, Camden McKinnon, William Ragsdale, Miles Doleac.

Renfield. Film Review. full post

(482 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Metallica: 72 Seasons. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Almost forty years from the point of studio album introduction and the colossus and near unstoppable juggernaut that appeared in the hearts of Heavy and Thrash Metal fans, Metallica have encompassed almost every sphere at their disposal, and still the fans keep coming back, year after year, season after season.

Metallica: 72 Seasons. Album Review. full post

(508 words, 1 image, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

George Sansome & Matt Quinn: Sheffield Park. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The prospect of union is always exciting, it proves that we can combine with another to realise a dream that could take place anywhere from a studio in South Wales, to a plush apartment that overlooks the Hudson Bay, and to the soul and folk gathering place of a Sheffield Park with little distraction and a mountain of energy urging us onwards.

That is the point of combining forces of wot and candour, of like with like, and with the sheer industry that sometimes comes with opposing sides; for even those armies of declared intent gather together, the world can still find harmony in their unlikely connection.

George Sansome & Matt Quinn: Sheffield Park. Album Review. full post

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

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans. Television Review. (2023).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Will Poulter, Lucy Boynton, Daniel Ings, Jonathan Jules, Alistair Petrie, Nicholas Asbury, Maeve Dermody, Nia Trussler Jones, Christian Patterson, Morwenna Banks, Richard Dixon, Benedict Wolf, Leon Ockenden, Amy Nuttall, Miles Jupp, Paul Whitehouse, Hugh Laurie, Rufus Bateman, Nicholas Banks, Joshua James, Patrick Barlow, Carlie Enoch, Conleth Hill, Alfie Bottley, Tim Treloar, Tom Farrer, Maxine Evans, Sam Farrer, Dan Tetsell, Maggie McCarthy, Timothy Harker, Robert Rhodes, Martyn Ellis, Trevor Cooper, Andria Doherty, Bob Goody, Simon Markey, Jim Broadbent, Emma Thompson.

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans. Television Review. (2023). full post

(553 words, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)