Chris De Burgh: Gig Review. (2025). Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The appeal of Chris de Burgh thankfully never wavers, the consummate professional on stage, the twinkle in the delivery between songs, the genuine affection of his fans as they elevate the mild mannered star to the threshold of immortality…this is no glib statement, but an observation as the singer songwriter returns to Liverpool on the first night of his latest tour, and seeing him work the sense of the common man into an artform; and he endeared himself to the crowd, you could feel the drama of his songs play out, as he intends, as the audio cinematic touch overwhelms and passionately throws hearts into a flutter.

Chris De Burgh: Gig Review. (2025). Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(476 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Manic Street Preachers: Critical Thinking. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The world is full of sound bites and opinions, and they are often delivered with the kind of sickly tone that borders on nauseating and covets the attention of condescending; it is almost as we have lost the crucial ability to not only think true, but to express it in a way that is unique, the often repeated mantras somehow finding a way to remain in the public vocabulary as if insisted upon by some second rate George Orwell.

Manic Street Preachers: Critical Thinking. Album Review. full post

(463 words, 1 image, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

John Lodge: Love Conquers All. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

One of the heroes of the original Birmingham music scene, a man to whom was part of the classic line up of one of the Midland’s most progressive voices in the flowering 60s, has been strangely absent from the studio; admittedly Time as is always argued, plays a part in such things, but in honoured circumstances the audience is once more freely given access to one of The Moody Blues most inner thoughts, and it is with special delight that Love Conquers All marks the return of John Lodge to the forefront of the music fan’s mind.

John Lodge: Love Conquers All. E.P. Review. full post

(370 words, 1 image, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Superman & Lois. Season Four. Television Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tyler Hoechlin, Elizabeth Tulloch, Alex Garfin, Michael Bishop, Erik Valdez, Inde Navarrette, Wolé Parks, Tayler Buck, Sofia Hasmik, Chad L. Coleman, Dylan Walsh, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Michael Dudlitz, Mariana Klaveno, Yvonne Chapman, Paul Lazenby, Ryan Jefferson, Rebecca Staab, Elizabeth Henstridge, Michelle Scarabelli, Laara Sadiq, Natalie Moon, Samantha Di Francesco, Adrian Glynn McMorran, Douglas Smith, Tom Cavanagh, Nikolai Witschl, Dean Redman, David Giuntoli, Dominic Fugere.

Superman & Lois. Season Four. Television Series Review. full post

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

Dexter: Original Sin. Television Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Patrick Gibson, Christian Slater, Molly Brown, Christina Milian, James Martinez, Alex Shimizu, Reno Wilson, Patrick Dempsey, Michael C. Hall, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Brittany Allen, Aaron Jennings, Raquel Justice, Sarah Kinsey, Eli Sherman, Jasper Lewis, Xander Mateo, London Thatcher, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Issac Gonzalez Rossi, Chandler Lovelle, Roberto Sanchez, Amanda Brooks, Carlo Mendez, Randy Gonzalez, Roby Attal, Brayden Gleave, Caryle Tamaren.

Serial killers rarely display or grasp the idea of empathy, and we the onlookers to their crimes are often surprised by the notion that they attract a huge fan base during their lifetime once they have been placed behind bars.

Dexter: Original Sin. Television Series Review. full post

(576 words, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

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 * * * * *

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)