Tag Archives: album review

Michael Rattray, Human Life. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 71/2/10

Human Life, so breakable, so unstable and at times the mental and physical can be held in uncertain terms, so much so to talk of the condition, to place the frailty out in the open can make people turn away through embarrassment, mainly as they struggle to understand why anyone would want to push the human thought that far, or because they feel threatened by someone reaching out to them. Whatever the reason, Michael Rattray captures the emotion of tender Humanity wonderfully in Human Life.

Michael Rattray, Human Life. Album Review. full post

(397 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Willie Campbell, Dalma, Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The call for independent Scotland may be raging around the U.K. press during this period of 2014 but for one man calling the Isle of Lewis his home, independence has come very early as he prepares to release his new album Dalma. For Willie Campbell, once of Scottish Indie act Astrid and now enjoying life as part of The Open Day Rotation, the chance to show the Gaelic heart that beats gently but fiercely proud within him to an audience must be seen as a brave and valiant step.

Willie Campbell, Dalma, Album Review. full post

(357 words, estimated 1:26 mins reading time)

Morton Harket, Brother. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Perhaps male pop heart throbs are hard to find. The teenage crush of many a young girl can disappear in the blink of an eye, they dissolve into the background and what was once fashionable and alluring is unrecognisable, both visually and aurally, in the years ahead. Such is the life of a teenage heart throb.

Following on from Out of My Hands, Morton Harket shows with his latest album Brother, that some 80s pop stars have and will fare better than many of the almost non-descript popular male acts and so called Boy-bands of the current generation will be able to claim.

Morton Harket, Brother. Album Review. full post

(439 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

The Basin Street Brawlers, It’s Tight Like That. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Jazz and swing can so easily mocked by some but at times providing the link between good music and an enjoyable time. It cannot be a coincidence that the increase in popularity over the last few years is more akin to the times we find ourselves in, the untold parallels that don’t get talked about in the hushed rooms of Westminster to those that afflicted Europe in the 1920s and 30s. Between Jazz and Blues the music certainly kept up the spirits of many of those under fire during that time and now The Basin Street Brawlers are putting up an excellent fight to keep the music flowing in the 21st Century with their new album, It’s Tight Like That.

The Basin Street Brawlers, It’s Tight Like That. Album Review. full post

(416 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Ian Anderson, Homo Erraticus. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Jethro Tull or Ian Anderson? To be fair it makes no difference what name the man who bought Gerald Bostock into the world and gave prominence to the flute being front and centre of the stage of any gig or album. He could call himself after any inventor of 17th Century or 21st Century gardening implement or seed drill as long as he continues to make outstanding albums such as Homo Erraticus and given the man’s unerring and unwavering contribution to British music in the last 45 years, that doesn’t seem to be an issue that will ever come up in polite conversation.

Ian Anderson, Homo Erraticus. Album Review. full post

(551 words, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Cody McCarver, The Lord’s Will. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

No matter what you think of the subject matter to found within Cody McCarver’s latest soul bearing offering, The Lord’s Will, there can be no denying that musically it is a great listen. Regardless of what your views on religion are, your views on certain aspects of faith and conviction are; what devotion you may bring to the table in offer, there are at times moments in life when to hear somebody pour their heart into producing something so delicate can be a little humbling. Whether you believe in a power beyond your recognition is not up for debate but you sometimes do have to listen to somebody else view or way of life to understand that your own particular road is not seen the same from even those you may call friends or lovers.

Cody McCarver, The Lord’s Will. Album Review. full post

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

The New Line, Can’t Hold The Wheel. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Not everything in life needs to be shouted, screamed at the pace of a jet fighter roaring over an oil field with soldiers protecting the peace underneath or the rush and exhilaration of a football championship decider. Not everything needs the roar, sometimes the quietest word can grip hold of life more eloquently than the damnation of a thousand rhetoric speeches of hate can ever achieve.

The New Line, Can’t Hold The Wheel. Album Review. full post

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

Robert Cray, In My Soul. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The healthy resonance of a guitar is sometimes the only sound you need to hear to understand in how every instant the world can be both beautiful and devastatingly sad at the same time. For Robert Cray that singular echo coming through the airwaves is one that haunts, chills and pleases from opening track till the time when The C.D. has been placed regretfully back onto the rack. His latest album In My Soul is no different.

Robert Cray, In My Soul. Album Review. full post

(349 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Mark Poutney, Mark One. Album Review.

First published by Liverpool Acoustic on April 5th 2014.

Rating 9/10

Some performers ooze class without even having to play a cord or a single note. Of course when they do put together the start of a new song that you just know is going to capture the imagination and playful tug at the heart strings the only decent thing to do, the only courteous action to take is to wallow in the core of something either incredible or beautiful or…if you are really fortunate, both.

Mark Poutney, Mark One. Album Review. full post

(365 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

John Bassett, Unearth. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

For a musician who creates the most beautiful sounding compositions with KingBathmat, the chance to really let go and release an album of his own work must have always been nagging at the back of his head and now John Bassett has the chance to impress completely with his debut album Unearth.

Impressed might be too strong a word to bandy around, it gives rise to the thought of confetti being thrown at a wedding or celebration or the first sight of fireworks that cling to the midnight sky high above Sydney as the clocks click over into a new year, perhaps captivated and enthralled would be better, for that is the feeling you get when listening to Unearth for the first and subsequent times.

John Bassett, Unearth. Album Review. full post

(392 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)