Subject: Level 42 Digest, #382 ===================== * LEVEL 42 DIGEST * ===================== Digest 382 Saturday, 05/06/95 147 subscribers Today's messages: Box Set? Allan Holdsworth Re: Least favorite Video ------------------------------ From: MSchnei497 @ aol.com Date: Fri, 5 May 1995 17:52:17 -0400 Subject: Box Set? Does anyone know if any record company is going to release a box set of Level 42 recordings? Now that they have broken up, it would be a great time gather together some of their popular and obscure material together. I'am new to this list, so it has probobly been mentioned before, but I saw a Saturday Night Live (US version) rerun on Comedy Central and Level 42 was the musical guest. They played Something About You, I didn't think they sounded that great, but then again it wasn't in stereo and that can make a world of difference. ------------------------------ From: "Jody McDonnell, esq." Date: Fri, 5 May 1995 19:16:40 -0300 (ADT) Subject: Allan Holdsworth About Alan Holdsworth: I guess I know probably about as much about him as you guys do, though maybe a little more. Like you guys, I started wondering who he was when I heard him touted as a "guitar god" by other people on the net. I looked at a few back-issues of the Atavachron digest, and it did appear that he had a big following. Allan Holdsworth most certainly is a guitar god. I have two of his CD's (Hard Hat Area, his latest, and Atavachron). Overall, his fans consider Atavachron or Metal Fatigue to be his best (actually, probably Metal Fatigue is widely considered to be his best). The thing with Allan Holdsworth is that his GREAT guitar playing is offset by possibly the worst case of low-self-esteem that you could imagine. Even though he continually puts out great music, he is VERY hard on himself, and what you or I (or Mark King) would consider to be genius playing he considers to be crap. As a result (or maybe becuase of other things), he has a realtively small cult following, mainly in the western U.S. For w while, his instrument of choice is the Synthaxe, a special cross between a guitar and a synthesizer. It's quite an instrument. he used it almost exculsively on Atavachron, but he doesn't use it as much lately. Eddie van Halen is said to emulate Allan Holdsworth's playing, if that gives you an idea of how good he is. I seriously doubt that Allan considered himself to be "lowering" himself any by playing on _Guaranteed_. He's not that egotistical. From what I've read, he considered his stint with Level 42 to be a fun time, and he thought the guys were great. But he's not a band-kinda guy, so he didn't stay permanently, but instead continued to pursue his solo career. From what I understand, Mark King was just as surprised to hear that Allan Holdsworth was playing with them as we were. Well, I hope that helps. I'd like to say that I like both CDs that I have of Allan, and I'd recommend them to you, although you guys all seem more interested in "groove" and "funk" and they're more on the jazz or jazz-fusion side. If I have told any lies, everyone else feel free to correct me... :) REgards, Jody -- Jody McDonnell [z6c6 @ unb.ca] "Just so you don't have to explain, University of New Brunswick Just a way to push the truth away, For now more than ever it's a Time to turn away..." (Water Can) ------------------------------ From: Rack1SPC @ aol.com Date: Sat, 6 May 1995 01:10:19 -0400 Subject: Re: Least favorite Video Since we're all on the video thing what about your least likely to succeed?! I had "Family of Five" just on and have concluded that the vid for "Running in the Family" just doesn't have it. The band playing on one giant Rubik's cube does that song no justice! ****John-do you happen to know if the book you mentioned is still in print? Sean