The Velvet Hands: Caller. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Beware the Caller who knocks with hands unwashed and that are wrapped in closed fists, and shake the hand of those with velvet gloves and the willingness to open your eyes and mind; it could be seen as a prejudice to admit but keeping your hands from the dirt and the damage is the cornerstone of having a soul that can just as innocent and willing to listen to a new point of view, a sound that is as unexpected as that which raps on the door at midnight holding champagne in their velvet gloves.

The Velvet Hands: Caller. E.P. Review. full post

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

Messiah Paratroops: Legions Of Tomorrow. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The legions of war must fall silent in order to assert peace in which to regroup and put the sword to the disciples of hatred; but first we must always send in those troops to who have the patience to appear when the world needs them most, those angels dressed in swathes of undisputed talent and raw emotions to whom the Legions Of Tomorrow hold no fear.

The back story to the Finnish Death Metal group, Messiah Paratroops is one that reads of perseverance and the refreshing notion that belief in one’s own destiny can attain a high level of integrity and legendary status.


Messiah Paratroops: Legions Of Tomorrow. Album Review. full post

(354 words, 1 image, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Adrian Smith/Richie Kotzen: Black Light/White Noise. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The clamour and the disturbance of the air as the combination of legends meets should come with a warning for the unaware and ignorant that serious listening may damage your ill-concieved perceptions.

For in the uproar across a small divide of talent and history which fuses together in a way that was polished and unexpected as Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith and the prodigy and multi- talented American artist Richie Kotzen, and once again cause mayhem and beauty in equal measure for the senses as the genius of their second collaboration, Black Light/White Noise, seizes the initiative and coaxes the soul of the listener from its shell with the force of giant thunderstorm gathering ominously overhead.

Adrian Smith/Richie Kotzen: Black Light/White Noise. Album Review. full post

(328 words, 1 image, estimated 1:19 mins reading time)

The Marlow Murder Club: Series 2. Television Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Samantha Bond, Jo Martin, Cara Horgan, Natalie Dew, Hollie Dempsey, Phil Langhorne, Tijan Sarr, Niall Costigan, Ella Kenion, Rita Tushingham, Sophia Ally, Ian Barritt, Amelia Valentina Pankhania, Ethan Quinn, Tegan Imani, Lizzie Roper, Emily Bevan, Raphael Akuwudike, Sam Janus, Abigail Cruttenden, Caroline Langrishe, Nina Sosanya, William Willoughby, Hugh Quarshie, Dominic Mafham.

A second season of The Marlow Murder Club was always on the cards, but sometimes popular doesn’t always reach into the depths of the crime that begs to be solved by the armchair detective; sometimes the presented piece is too warm, too cosy to be anything other than a distraction offered with the best intentions of drama.

The Marlow Murder Club: Series 2. Television Drama Review. full post

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

Bobhowla: What You’ve Lost Isn’t Failure. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We look upon failure as an ending, and not as we should as the chance to begin again, too often even the thought of other’s opinions, though weighty and well meaning they may be, can have us careering down a path, fuelled by excessive self-doubt and insecurity, and it is often driven by the feeling of what we have lost; not the tangible, the physical, or even the definite, but the construct, the evidence of the corporeal that brings meaning to that which we create.

Bobhowla: What You’ve Lost Isn’t Failure. Album Review. full post

(337 words, 1 image, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

Harem Scarem: Chasing Euphoria. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is no middle ground, and we must do all we can to avoid the turgid despondency of the grey and misery heaped upon us by politicians, moguls, and billionaires, and in an age where happiness is a commodity that we slavishly exchange for the chance to draw breath, so the opportunity to pursue a moment of bliss becomes an act of rebellion.

Chasing Euphoria with the blast of ecstatic feeling powered by one of Canada’s most industrious melodic rock bands, Harem Scarem, is one littered with meaning, connection, and significant appreciation for the art of entertainment.

Harem Scarem: Chasing Euphoria. Album Review. full post

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

Deacon Blue: The Great Western Road. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

A sweet ballad to our journey, that is how we should be able to look back upon the road we have travelled, with poignancy, with affection, and with the occasional pair of tinted glasses that scrub out the worst moments of life when the moment and the muse were missing from our side; or the times when we found ourselves in melancholic ‘let’s remember’ and being terrified with an intensity of longing; that is the sum of our life as we drive along the highway to the music created and which gave our life meaning, purpose, and pleasure.

Deacon Blue: The Great Western Road. Album Review. full post

(509 words, 1 image, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

Pete Townshend: The Studio Albums. Boxset Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

As with the enormously in-depth posthumous box set that covered the solo career of his band mate John Entwistle, the output of guitarist and main songwriter of The Who, Pete Townshend comes under the glorious scrutiny of the fan and listener alike in his own comprehensive collected edition, The Studio Albums.

Pete Townshend: The Studio Albums. Boxset Review. full post

(409 words, 1 image, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Tina Turner: Private Dancer. Box Set (2025) Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Private Dancer is arguably the album that saved Tina Turner’s career, widely credited in many circles, one that reignited her standing within the rock circuit, and one that gave others the right to call her the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll. It could have all been so different, she could have flatly refused to record the song Mark Knopfler offered her, she could have stuck to her guns and disappeared without a trace after a less than successful album run that had seen little faith bestowed upon her from the public after she was able to separate herself from Ike Turner, both in marriage, and more importantly as a woman abused by a system and a name.

Tina Turner: Private Dancer. Box Set (2025) Review. full post

(529 words, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

Jenn Butterworth: Her By Design. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10


To be Her By Design is to rip up the rule book and the historic illusion passed down in traditional forms that do more than suggest that womanhood in storytelling was fraught by the magnitude of being overlooked as pandering to a stereotype that consisted of a limited number of possible outcomes; from fairy tales to folk music, there were so few ways in which a song for example could capture the essence of a woman, the complexity and viewpoints beyond heroine or princess requiring rescue, the old and disfigured witch like queen, or enchantress shunned by society…as award winning musician Jenn Butterworth rightly conveys in her new album, Her By Design, with authority and meticulous observation.


Jenn Butterworth: Her By Design. Album Review. full post

(423 words, 1 image, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)