A Final Goodbye From Liverpool Sound And Vision.

It’s time to say goodbye…

It was thanks to an old next-door neighbour from my childhood, Andrew Coleman, that I wrote my first ever review in the February of 2004. I was still recovering from major spinal surgery, and I had been out of the house for six months. My life had reached rock bottom, I had no prospects, almost nothing to live for, no chance of work. The offer came to review a hero, write about 140 words about the former Marillion frontman Fish as he performed at the Bilston Robin and if it was good enough then it would appear in the next day’s Birmingham Evening Mail. It was thankfully not only good enough to appear, it led to more gigs to review, and it introduced me back to writing; a dearest wish of mine to be a writer of words since before I was a teenager.

A Final Goodbye From Liverpool Sound And Vision. full post

(418 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

David Bowie: The Shel Talmy Recordings. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

David Bowie was never going to be the type of artist to stand still, to languish in the times he was born into and stay safe, to be seen as a harmless product of the 60s and then fade like so many others as the following decade altered the landscape of British music forever.

David Bowie: The Shel Talmy Recordings. Album Review. full post

(469 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

D E McCluskey: Unborn. Book Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Horror should never be trapped inside a package that has on its paper surface the words polite nor pleasant, if that is the book you are looking for within the genre designed to make us feel the damnation of our existence then we perhaps should be exercising caution on just how such writing can be gleaned as influential and considered a worthy inclusion into the realm of nightmares and existential dread.

D E McCluskey: Unborn. Book Review. full post

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

Jon Anderson And The Band Geeks. Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When we find ourselves in the company of a legend the least we can do is applaud the time and the word they have left written in stone for us to follow, to ponder and debate, and to marvel at as we perhaps have only toyed with existence, as they have shaped it in their image.

Jon Anderson And The Band Geeks. Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(448 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Robin Trower: Shine. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

You either continue to strive for the elusive and the passion, or you stop in your tracks and look around you and wonder where it all went, that the blessed talent you were born with somehow just disappeared one night and left you bereft of reason, to be, to do, to see anything but ice in the rear view mirror where the sun used to reflect a Shine so bright it would be blinding.  

Robin Trower: Shine. Album Review. full post

(362 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Heretic. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher, Chloe East, Topher Grace.

The point is that there is nothing original left, every thought is a variation of something already stated, every belief is a faded carbon copy of another that had already been venerated and discussed by others, some with a more persuasive edge to the words than others, and it perhaps shows that we have become a species that cannot think without a baseline of consideration already in place. Whether in politics or religious discourse we are now arguably nothing more than phrases that are well rehearsed and which have lost all meaning.

Heretic. Film Review. full post

(399 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Rumours Of Fleetwood Mac: Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2026).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The rumours have always been true, never more than certain, always delivering with absolute polish and insight into the realm of one of the greatest bands of all time, and whilst the chances of seeing the band that is the definitive article perform on stage again is perhaps low, bordering on non-existent, the fact that Rumours Of Fleetwood Mac are still capturing the inherent beauty, the haunting mystique, and the sheer scope of the ideas laid down originally by Peter Green, Jeremey Spencer, and Danny Kirwan, pushed forward by Christine McVie, Lindsey Buckingham, and Stevie Nicks, but always framed by the bass and drums of the two men who’s names encapsulated the drama and cool of the group; is never to be doubted or disputed.

Rumours Of Fleetwood Mac: Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2026). full post

(392 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

The Vampire Lestat. Television Drama Series Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Sam Reid, Jacob Anderson, Jennifer Ehle, Eric Bogosian, Ryan Kattner, Seamus Patterson, Sarah Swire, Assad Zaman, Joseph Potter, Delainey Hayles, Gopal Divan, Sheila Atim, Christopher Heyerdahl, Damien Atkins, Vince Kesavamoorthy, Justin Kirk, Amaka Umeh, Shepherd Munroe, Jeanine Serralles, Noah Reid, Andrew Musselman, Guy Maddin.

Arguably Anne Rice’s The Vampire Lestat is one of the finest examples of the modern gothic horror to exist from the 20th century, and to attempt to capture it in a form that does it justice could be beset with issues that might not be apparently noticeable until one finds themselves completely absorbed into the world of 1980s excess and the glut of superfluity that resonated and was heavily underscored by the literature of the time.

The Vampire Lestat. Television Drama Series Review. full post

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

Bookish: Memento Mori. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Mark Gatiss, Polly Walker, Elliot Levy, Connor Finch, Blake Harrison, Jason Watkins, Sarah Crowe, Saffron Coomber, Rosie Cavaliero, Amanda Lawrence, Sorcha Groundsell, Sid Sagar, Nadia Albina, Gerard Horan, Buket Kömür, Youssef Kerkour, Rupert Graves, Nory Goderis, Jan Van Ryckeghem, Rob Oldfield, Simon Callow.

The dead always leave behind something in the dust for others to spoil, to use in their name, and create deeds by the living that leeches off the bereaved as they grieve and grasp any sign of hope that those they have lost might still be found.

Bookish: Memento Mori. Television Review. full post

(455 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Toyah: Revelations. Box Set Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

King’s Heath in Birmingham might not be that well known to anyone outside of the second city, but it has produced an astonishing number of people to whom art and sport have been fortunate to have graced the suburb, to have been influenced by the leafy green former village and the possibility of being part of a new breed of hero for the post-war generation.

Toyah: Revelations. Box Set Review. full post

(370 words, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)