Tag Archives: album review

Texas, The Conversation. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Texas have been away for an eternity, the self-imposed hiatus that the group have kept to religiously looked like never ending and since 2005’s release of The Red Book, it looked as if the hiatus was going to end up as a permanent closure. One of the finest Scottish acts would be no more. Never doubt though, always believe that as long as a band have the willing then at some point they will come back together and make a near masterpiece that Di Vinci, Constable or Pitman would have been proud to take ownership of. Where The Red Book faded away, The Conversation never looks as if it could be stopped being talked about.

Annie Soulshine, I Hate/Love My Brother. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Although released a couple of years ago by Annie Soulshine, the album I Hate/Love My Brother seems to be only just doing the rounds here in the U.K. Like some phantom that wafts in and out of sight, to appear when you are least expecting it, it seems word of mouth keeps the album, at least on these shores going. It is a shame as the acoustic style of the pair, Annie and Felix, is quite beautiful and yet with that little hint of burning desire, the moment of anger, that worms its way through each song as if there is unfinished business needed to be resolved.

Filter, The Sun Comes Out Tonight. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Richard Patrick is back to his very best as Filter prepare to release their sixth album The Sun Comes Out Tonight. It seems an absolute age since Filter come out with all guns blazing, the music a weapon ready to be exploded onto the music buyer’s consciousness and turn their emotions inside out with the pulsating and riveting sound which is only matched by some of the great lyrics that was a hall mark, even if did court some controversy in songs such as Hey Man Nice Shot.

Chthonic, Bú-Tik. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In amongst all the areas in which the Metal world resides, whether the old guard of the U.K. and America through to the new emerging and sometimes surprising steel fortresses of France, Norway and Sweden, it can be quite easy and utterly shameful, to forget that Metal in any guise is loved all over the world. It is not something that just purely belongs to one particular set of fans or even one country. Perhaps nowhere is this better typified than in the Taiwanese band Chthonic and their fast paced, vocally crunching and bitter but well placed rage that chokes the life out of pretenders to the throne of Eastern Metal.

Beth Hart And Joe Bonamassa, Seesaw. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If any woman around today can cope with the pressure, albeit pleasurable and gratifying, of performing alongside producer Kevin Shirley and perhaps the finest Blues/Rock guitarist of the last 20 years in the form of Joe Bonamassa then Beth Hart is that woman. The gutsy and fiercely independent lady matches the intensity of Joe Bonamassa’s guitar and the strength that he quietly carries around, a man who could walk into a room and turn heads but would be reserved enough to point to his musical weapon and say that’s the star.

Schemata Theory, Dry Lung Rhetoric. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Dry Lung Rhetoric and Schemata Theory, a marriage of names that combined could make the listener of the great days of British Metal and the world of thrash just that little bit more excited for the future of the genre and not look with envious eyes abroad to the Nordic lands and to France where the scene is burgeoning and being treated with the respect it deserves.

Alison Moyet, The Minutes. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It has been six years since Alison Moyet, one of the greats of 1980’s electro pop, last released an album. During that time though she has not sat still, put her feet up and pined for a time which saw her at the forefront of female music icons from the U.K. the music has been carefully worked upon and time has been taken to make sure that the new album, the minutes (sic), is of the same high quality that her previous albums have had thrust upon them.  

Caro Emerald, The Shocking Miss Emerald. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Whisper it quietly, for the music and voice will do the rest, Ms. Caro Emerald is a force to reckoned with and someone who on the strength of her debut album and this new offering, The Shocking Miss Emerald might just bring a new set, numbering in the multitude, back to the fun and honest immorality of  Swing/Jazz.

Pistol Annies, Annie Up. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

There seems to be a new revolution in the heartlands of American Country Music. In the same way that in 2012 women led the way in revolutionising Blues to the point that nearly every album released by a woman outweighed the influence of their male counterparts, American Country Music has taken note, learned from the new rules and come up with some scintillating and interesting albums. Kacey Musgroves undoubtedly holds the pivotal position so far of for album of the year in the genre but Pistol Annies, a tight collection of three of the great new things of women of country, give an excellent account of themselves and make the genre such a pleasure at times to listen to.

Roy Dahan, Some Of This Life. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When Roy Dahan has something to say it is better to switch off every appliance that can disturb your train of thought for an hour, get whatever beverage you need to sustain you for the period of time allotted, close the curtains and sink back onto your bed or favourite chair and take in every word of Some Of This Life because at the end of the day the man’s hauntingly beautiful words will transport you far beyond these shores and to a land of mystique and tranquil repose.