Tag Archives: album review

Anette Olzon, Shine. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

From out of the embers of past regrets and former glories, comes a gleaming light that steers far from the edge of patina and brings back one of the great voices of Symphonic Metal, the illustrious Anette Olzon and her debut solo album Shine.

Shine it does as well and despite moments in which she may have seriously doubted herself after having to leave Finnish Metal stars Nightwish, any such fears and trepidation, the twinkle in the eye and the lustre in her voice are still very much essential in framing the type of music that many have come to expect from Ms. Olzon.

Anette Olzon, Shine. Album Review. full post

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

The Alarm, Declaration (2014). Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The art of re-imagining, of taking something so pure and sometimes corrupting it just to suit your own ideal of perfection is one the most part an art to avoid, it never captures the spirit for which it is intended and can lead to frustration in many fans eyes.

Like Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes, it can be ridiculed and derided and whilst thankfully the new stories, effectively prequels in their own right can help get over the scorn in the public gaze, the image is still there forever imprinted into the retina.

The Alarm, Declaration (2014). Album Review. full post

(509 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

Space, Attack Of The Mutant 50ft Kebab. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The hunger never really stopped. Despite leaving the main music arena for new bands to enter the fray, to take on the semi goliaths that the 1990s offered, Tommy Scott and Franny Griffiths kept checking out the view from the side of the cinema screen and took in the odd tour with new cohorts and sublime musicians, Phil Hartley, Ryan Clarke and Alan Jones. Now, they have finally decided enough is enough, the epic nature and humour that Space provide the nation as a studio outfit has finally and thankfully returned with their album Attack of the Mutant 50ft Kebab.

Space, Attack Of The Mutant 50ft Kebab. Album Review. full post

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

Jacquelyn Hynes, Silver And Wood. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9 1/2/10

Silver and Wood might be Jacquelyn Hynes’ debut solo album but there is no denying just how tremendous it is and like a rare bird should be left to roam the Earth sending its goodwill throughout.

The sound of folk but with the twist and feel of being somewhere else in time, of being displaced and in the hands of a woman adept at causing music to sound both sentimental, dramatic and pleasingly cynical is perhaps the finest example you will be ever to say you have listened to for many years. It is female heroism personified but with the tragedy of having met the unfortunate victim and mourning her loss.

Jacquelyn Hynes, Silver And Wood. Album Review. full post

(459 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Joe Bonamassa And Beth Hart, Live In Amsterdam. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa are like twin orbiting stars, the immense fire raging beneath one feeds across to the other in some sort of celestial storm and the warmth received grows in intensity and the process is reversed, a dance between two stars, both pulsating, both energetic and for whom if one was to be pulled away, circulated out of its chosen trajectory, it’s hard to imagine the other’s fire being seen as bright.

Joe Bonamassa And Beth Hart, Live In Amsterdam. Album Review. full post

(408 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Laurence Jones, Temptation. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Not since a certain young Joe Bonamassa stood on the stage for his debut performance has anything sounded this good for the very first time.

Laurence Jones is a revelation, a man who has left the murky world of desire and flown straight headlong and true into an album of incredible depth and feeling that the listener maybe forgiven for wondering at what point did they cross a boundary between fact and dreamlike narrative fiction. The lure of lute in a medieval poets hands was surely just as enticing as they made their way across the land thrilling all with stories, tales and fables, now for the 21st Century Laurence Jones entices and persuades easily as he steps out from behind the line of Blues know how and announces himself completely with the album Temptation.

Laurence Jones, Temptation. Album Review. full post

(432 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Ian Prowse, Who Loves Ya Baby? Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

In a city that has produced so many voices, so many ideas and whom all of which have added greatly to the cultural importance and passionate stand against conformity and the bland, Ian Prowse certainly stands out as late 20th and early 21st Century hero. His voice and hand on heart declarations has led to many following his footsteps and as he proves time and time every week at his the ever popular Monday Night Club, the voice cannot, nor will ever be, silenced.

Ian Prowse, Who Loves Ya Baby? Album Review. full post

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

Adrian Nation, Live At Crossroads. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The sense of wanting to belong to something hangs in the air like an unspoken memory, a thought of clarity and perspective comes through the speakers and dispels the confusion and bewilderment that comes with the fast living in which we have all become far too accustomed to, the brakes have been tampered with and each one of no longer it seems has the time to grasp the moment to breathe. Guitarist Adrian Nation winds the window down, hands you an oxygen mask and smiles as he plays and his new album Live at Crossroads is a timely reminder to see through the muck, the shattered glass and outward momentum and just take in a truth.

Adrian Nation, Live At Crossroads. Album Review. full post

(385 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

Paloma Faith, A Perfect Contradiction. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There should be no doubting the strength of the appeal of Paloma Faith. Like Holland’s Caro Emerald, Paloma Faith crosses the borders between the pop heart and the jazz soul with lots of room for the exuberance of discovery, that tingle you feel run up your spine as she starts to sing and the music that follows her every move, ever sanguine note is like a coiled cobra ready to strike out and bite you pleasantly till you submit to her whim.

Paloma Faith, A Perfect Contradiction. Album Review. full post

(509 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

The Twang, NEONTWANG. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

If there is one part of the country that can possibly rival Liverpool for its attitude to music then Birmingham waves a large flag proclaiming its music history and its adoration of those that made venues such as The Rainbow, the old now seemingly forgotten Hummingbird and the gig area of The Dubliner their home before finding the way to world-wide success.

The Twang, NEONTWANG. Album Review. full post

(446 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)