Originally published by L.S. Media. September 25th 2009.
Corinne West arrived in Liverpool towards the end of her short tour of Britain, which started at the Cornish Bluegrass festival and which will end on the 29th at the Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline. Such is the popularity of this artist that she could stay here for a couple of months and possibly sell out everywhere. Unfortunately the people of Liverpool only had the one night at Mello Mello to catch this Californian songstress.
Originally published by L.S. Media. September 26th 2009.
The new album by Steve Hackett has been eagerly awaited by fans for a while now and for once the anticipation of a new offering by an artist has been well worth the wait.
Out of the Tunnel’s Mouth is Steve’s 22nd solo album since leaving Genesis after the Seconds Out live album and there is no sign of Steve slowing down with his incredible work rate.
Originally published by L.S. Media. September 26th 2009.
The new album Peace Sign is a welcome return for guitarist Richie Kotzen to the rock music buying public’s ears. The man with one of the most distinctive voices around has released an album that will surely remind the ordinary person on the street how good a musician he can be.
Right from the off Richie shows his vocal talent on the opening track My Messiah, coming across as a mixture of a knowing verbal sage and a man with a message to pass on. His voice has actually seemed to have changed and improved (if that’s possible) over the last couple of years.
Originally published by L.S. Media. September 27th 2009.
For lovers of genuinely good Scottish music the new McIntosh Ross album is a breath of fresh air. Two of the founding members of Deacon Blue, Ricky Ross and Lorraine Mcintosh have taken time out from recording anything new for the band and have instead come up with an album of high quality, gentle vocals and atmospheric musicianship.
The Great Lakes is the first venture for the twosome and although Ricky Ross has had some critical success with his solo career it comes across as a more fulfilled album, perhaps due to the influence of his wife Lorraine who has a few writing credits on the album including the stirring Winter is Coming and Silver and Gold.
Originally published by L.S. Media. October 2nd 2009.
Paramore released their new album Brand New Eyes this week and after the disappointment of 2007′s Riot, the band have come back with a more mature and lyrically improved album. The band seem more relaxed with themselves, possibly more than at any other time in their career and it shows from the off as vocalist Hayley Williams comes across as a genuine contender for top female rock voice.
Originally published by L.S. Media. October 2nd 2009.
Sometimes you get invited to come along and see a band, you don’t know anything about them. You go along out of curiosity. It could go either way. You could be overawed by the superb singing, the guitarist could be the next David Gilmour or Steve Rothery, the lyrics could be amazing and heartfelt and you leave with a smile on your face and talking about the band for weeks to come.
Picture from everyman.com
Originally published by L.S. Media. October 4th 2009.
Cast: Jonathon Pryce, Tom Brooke, Peter McDonald.
Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker celebrated it’s fortieth birthday this year and thankfully the Everyman decided to take full advantage of the timing by making it part of their production schedule for the autumn. Not only that, but by making sure that one of Britain’s best and well loved actors was involved, the Everyman has hit upon a recipe for success and one that insures the crowds will flock to this production.
Photograph by Ian D. Hall
Originally published by L.S. Media. October 1st 2009.
Arriving on stage, on the second night of the tour and back in his home town, Stephen Langstaff thrilled an extra large crowd with a headliners performance. Stephen was at the Academy as part of the Academy live tour and even though he had only forty five minutes to show once more why he is being touted as a huge talent that will surely rise to the top of the music tree one day, he rose to the occasion perfectly.
Originally published by L.S. Media. October 7th 2009.
Big, brash, over the top, completely superb and unmistakably Kiss. The new album released this week by the fathers of rock theatre is the cunningly titled Sonic Boom and not one track on the album is delivered in any type of off hand sluggish way, this is an album that does what is says on the cover.
Originally published by L.S. Media. October 9th 2009.
Cast: Pauline Daniels, Mark Moraghan, Emma Vaudrey, Emma Grace Arends, Ciaran Kellgren, Colin Connor, Anthony Watson, Marie Ekins, Joyce Greenaway, Annie Walker, Gordon Hall, Ronnie Orr.
It is easy to see why the local papers announced before the play started its current run at the Empire that Twopence To Cross The Mersey had taken in over two million pounds at the box office over the last few years. With such talented performers on stage taking the various parts from the author’s life and an excellent musical score to match, there was nothing for the packed out audience to not like.