Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
With a new album being worked upon, James J. Turner is one of those fortunate and rather splendid musicians who seem to find that the creative juices just never seem to stop flowing. The words, the songs that he sings with a hand over his heart storm through like the constant majestic water that goes over Niagara Falls. An ever flowing set that incorporates beauty and time and in his 2012 album How Could We Be Wrong? this is exemplified and justified.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Joe Satriani makes a guitar bend and play to his will. Not only does he master the complex, savour the unimaginable and perform as if the instrument is letting go of all the secrets that she has kept guarded for decades but at times he thrills with the playful, that unique combination that makes him one of the legends of rock. His 14th album, Unstoppable Momentum is no different, the complexity, the moments of light hearted mischief are all wrapped up in what amounts to a great album a man who never seems to stand still.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
For any rock band to come out of Australia the unfair comparisons to AC/DC will always be bandied around like unwanted beer at a college dormitory party. For some the high expectations that the name carries forward will drag them down and cause ructions and implosions, for others they will strive to carve out their own niche and be better for it.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
In 2012, the women of Blues pretty much had it their own way, Whether American like Beth Hart with her album Bang Bang Boom Boom or the superb British Blues supremo Joanne Taylor Shaw and her brilliant Almost Always Never, the gentlemen of the genre, with a couple of exceptions, seemed far behind, languishing in the wake that the women had created.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
In a city that is overflowing with positive music and artistic vibes, one that encompasses nearly every genre imaginable and one that seems to buck the national trend in terms of venues and theatres that remain thankfully open compared to a lot of places within the U.K. it can be hard to get your voice heard. No matter what though Liverpool endeavours it’s absolute best to make sure the voices, the plays, the music gets played and heard.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It’s been a while since this extreme of Metal sounded this good, call the genre that it subsets itself into what you will but Eyrn Non Dae and their 2012 album Meliora could almost wipe the floor with anything that pretends to be its equal. The sound is exquisitely loud, brash, fundamentally outspoken and following in the tradition the likes of Slayer, Cannibal Corpse and Birmingham’s Esoteric but with that Gallic charm that overpowers the senses whilst talking sweetly and lovingly in your ear.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The U.K. had two versions of the 1960s. The first which revolved around Swinging London, Carnaby Street, the advent of women’s liberation and the pill, short skirts, sexual freedom, relaxation of antiquated laws, The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks. This world was there for the people of the U.K. to see but very few saw that glimpse of hedonistic Britain outside of the silver screen, news items and their dreams. For others, it was the second version, the world of Rita Tushingham and A Taste of Honey, The Wednesday Afternoon Play, Cathy Come Home, Carol White, Saturday Night, Sunday Morning, social deprivation and unrest, sex scandals in Parliament, train robberies, Profumo and the threat of nuclear war between two superpowers either side of the U.K. It’s no wonder that people prefer to remember the sixties as a golden time in Britain compared to real life.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There are moments when you hear an album by a band, a solo musician, a collective of seemingly mismatched performers who somehow bring everything together to make a perfect record that you end up shedding a few tears of regret that you know you will never get to see them perform live. One such solo performer is the American musician Alexx Calisle, one such band is the sensational The Cherry Bluestorms from Los Angeles.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
All that glitters is not gold, an old saying and one of the most profound. In music circles, as in politics, it is perhaps the medium that is most abused and most trusted proverb. Music that finds its way on to reality television can be a big hindrance to any aspiring band coming through that has worked their socks off, no matter the genre, to get where they are. The pain, despair, heartache and the struggle that goes hand in hand with any artistic movement is somehow by-passed in favour of quick glory, not even the 15 minutes of fame that Andy Warhol suggested. Instead, perhaps thanks to the way we live now it’s been downsized to the length of time it takes to open your mouth and start to sing.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Heavy Metal has never seemed more healthy on the continent, whether in the unusual domains of France or in the realms of the lands that come together under the banner of the Nordic, metal it seems has seen off the shackles of the 20th Century, survived the many splits in the genre and now enjoys the start of a brand new era. In the natural home of Metal, the old industrial confines in which nurtured and honed the sound of iron and steel, it has been sadly lacking. The U.K. could be seen as having turned its back on the hammering sound of crashing guitar and beating heart of the drum. That is with a few exceptions…of which Sacred Mother Tongue proudly sit near the very top.