Tag Archives: Cal Ruddy

Cal Ruddy, The Edenhurst Session. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The essence of art is in the shrouded mystery that precedes the reveal, for until it makes itself public, till it is announced with either flourish and fanfare, or tentatively, shyly with as much belief but without the certainty of reception, it is an enigma that heeds only to the performer’s mind, the imagination that seeks release from the shadow, but also is content to hide a while, almost dictate the timing of its release and away from the will of the artist at large; a session released with glee.

Cal Ruddy, The Edenhurst Session. E.P. Review. full post

(421 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Cal Ruddy, Gig Review. Studio 2. Liverpool. (2019).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cal Ruddy at Studio 2, Liverpool. October 2019. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

There is no greater sense of satisfaction in the eye of the gig attendee or fan than to witness the musician-songwriter emerge fully into the light, the cocoon shed, the wings spread out as wide as possible and the flight they are about to urge you to join them on. A journey that has been practised and perfected upon and then with visible joy etched upon the faces of all who present, the artist earns their wings; all you can do now after all the support, all the concerns and applause is to wish them well, for the next time you hear about them it might be with a personal postcard sent from Elliston Place.

Cal Ruddy, Gig Review. Studio 2. Liverpool. (2019). full post

(527 words, 1 image, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

Cal Ruddy, Gig Review. Studio 2, Liverpool. (2017).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If Science Fiction teaches us anything, it is that Time is but an illusion, a structure devised to keep order, to make sense of the day to day and the minutes that come and go as easily as lightning captured on a camera. Time though is about what is in between, the second hand giving way to the power of the one that speeds by rapidly, not for some the elongated minute or hour, but instead the infinite; for it does not take a day or an hour to fall in love, but the second, fleeting, invisible and beautiful.

Cal Ruddy, Gig Review. Studio 2, Liverpool. (2017). full post

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

Cal Ruddy, Gig Review. Paradise Street Stage, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cal Ruddy in Liverpool. April 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

If there is a gentleman to admire in this world, a young man of stature and beaming smile at all life has to throw at him, then a photo fit arrangement of the face would surely have the very likeness of Cal Ruddy attached to it. The same facsimile would also urge anyone close by enough to hear him take on the acoustics of an indoor or outdoor arena to revel in the artist’s work, to realise that to be at the very start of a flourish is only to regret not being there before the guitar was ever picked up and see the first signs of intrigue that blossomed in its early infancy.

Cal Ruddy, Gig Review. Paradise Street Stage, Liverpool. full post

(506 words, 1 image, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

Cal Ruddy, Communication. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Communication, it can either break down, be misinformed like a game of Chinese Whispers, so much so that it tears minds and friendships apart, or it can restore faith, it can bleed truth, it can be awkward. It can be devastating in its silence and it can be beautiful, something that will make your heart stop and make you sit in the shade of quiet for a while; it is Communication that makes us human and it is the simplicity of it that brings out the finest belief in us all.

Cal Ruddy, Communication. E.P. Review. full post

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

Cal Ruddy, Gig Review. Studio 2, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The moment will strike unexpectedly and without warning, the musician on stage will look down upon the crowd that has gathered before them, perhaps so large that they can no longer see their eyes glimmering with hope, perhaps so intimate that the windows to the soul are all they can focus on. In the end it doesn’t matter, all that is significant is the true moment in which the musician gives the best of nights and you sit in the corner, breathless and broken, buoyant and a believer; it is the moment in which Cal Ruddy supplied at Studio 2 in which the venue arguably witnessed one of the finest ever performances inside its hallowed frame.

Cal Ruddy, Gig Review. Studio 2, Liverpool. full post

(466 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Cal Ruddy, Gig Review. Johnsons’ Pavilion, Bootle.

Cal Ruddy in Bootle, July 2016. Photograph By Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Amongst the bright young things of Liverpool’s all encompassing music box is the spirited and genuinely skilful Cal Ruddy, a man to whom a song holds only mystery, the suspense of glory and to whom obscurity is just a word destined for those who will not try, who give in before they have even started. The song is in the D.N.A. of Cal Ruddy, he presents it to the audience as if holding aloft a laurel made of silk and gold, the pleasure of the sensuous mixed with the desire for beauty and it is one to relish being amongst.

Cal Ruddy, Gig Review. Johnsons’ Pavilion, Bootle. full post

(380 words, 1 image, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Cal Ruddy, Maria. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is the sound of an old but vibrant soul, of the appealing echo that resonates around the air of authority that hangs around the personality and playing ability of Cal Ruddy which makes him so incessantly cool; for the young man has a natural tendency to come up with a song that not only captures the attention of the listener from the very first hook, he does it a way which makes you think.

Cal Ruddy, Maria. Single Review. full post

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

Cal Ruddy, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Cal Ruddy, Zanzibar, Liverpool. February 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To become a hero, to wallow just for a short while in deserved applause, the aspiring musician need not sell his soul to sit in the reflected glory of a highly profitable television programme, all they need to do is come through the possible agony of a live performance in front of friends and family in which some difficulties, otherwise known as real life, are met head on and beaten by sheer force of will and the demeanour of one born to succeed.

Cal Ruddy, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

(521 words, 1 image, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

K’s Choice, The City Of Music Two. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The humble compilation album can take many forms. In now what seems at times the dim and distant past, as distant to the younger generation coming through now as Sir Edmund Hilary’s and Tenzing Norgay’s ascent of Everest to those growing up in the 1970s, the past when to have your say in music meant taking the pick of the songs you may have proudly bought or even embarrassingly hidden away due to the absurdity of the song and placed onto a C90 tape and perhaps even then handed over with much ceremony to the person you perhaps fancied, the compilation stood for something pure.

K’s Choice, The City Of Music Two. Album Review. full post

(641 words, estimated 2:34 mins reading time)