Subject: Level 42 Digest, #396 ===================== * LEVEL 42 DIGEST * ===================== Digest 396 Saturday, 05/20/95 156 subscribers Today's messages: Demograghics LEVEL 42 REINCARNATION? Changes demographics, L42 split, solo projects Re: Level 42 Digest, #395 ------------------------------ From: lolita @ InterServ.Com Date: Fri, 19 May 95 06:10:00 PDT Subject: Demograghics Hey all: I will answer for myself and Kim Ivey, since she is my best friend. We are both African-American females originally from Somerset, NJ. I went to the University of Pennsylvania (Marketing & Chemical Engineering double major) and am currently a sales analyst/software developer for Dean Witter in NYC. Kim is now a graduate student at New Mexico State and attended Rutgers University undergrad (Biology). Musically I am heavily into straight ahead and acid jazz, but I will listen to anything (except heavy metal, opera and country). I have played bass clarinet, tenor sax and the drums, I sing and I am about to start playing bass. I too hate just about everything I hear on the radio (my CD collection reflects mostly 70s and 80s stuff) and love this digest. Someone yesterday asked for Forever Now opinions. I feel that Forever Now is one of their best albums, and I think it is definitely their most balanced album. There are a number of different musical genres going on [jazzfunk (The Sunbed Song), hardcore funk (Past Lives), top 40 (Forever Now), adult contemporary (Tired of Waiting), semi-house (Learn to Say No), and R&B Slowjam (Romance)] but they don't clash like Guaranteed (I know there are some hardcore Guaranteed fans out there, but you have to admit, that album doesn't come together very well; some good individual songs but lousy cohesion). Boy was that a long sentence! Anyway my point is that the diversity shown in this album proved to me that the band had come full circle into their own, and I will never understand why they chose that definitive moment to break up. Lolita P.S. Pat Flanagan, you have been entirely too quiet! Please say something soon; your posts always make me LOL. ------------------------------ From: Jazz Monkey Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 08:10:30 -0700 (PDT) Subject: LEVEL 42 REINCARNATION? > Did they simply decide they'd had enough after 14 years? > AND THE MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION- > Is there any chance that the band ever work together again? Well, I see it this way - Led Zeppelin broke up years ago, right? But now, one of the biggest concert tours this summer is the "Paige/Plant" tour. I can't see any reason why there can't be a "Lindup/King" project in the future. Elson ------------------------------ From: Kim Ivey Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 13:10:39 -0600 (MDT) Subject: Changes Via fellow digester Lolita Jackson, I finally got copies of Forever Now and Changes. Forever Now? It took two listenings before I could honestly say I liked it. After three, I was like: this bad boy is the BOMB! Most people have been saying it's probably the groups best album. I would have to agree. SAve for the little country ditty, (I think it's called "Don't Bother Me", but i've only had the tape for one day and I don't have it in front of me, thus I can't remember the exact titles of all the songs). Love In a Peaceful World, Tired of Waiting, The Sunbed Song, Learn To Say No ... and above all ROMANCE are all simply out of this world. I really like this album ... but ... BUT not as much as CHANGES! CHANGES CHANGES CHANGES ... where have you been all my life??! Oh my GOD, I love this album. THIs is literally the first album in my possession where I love ... not like ... but LOVE EVERY SINGLE CUT. I take back everything I've ever thought about Mike ... which was bascially that most of the songs he's led with the group were pretty lame (I like Weave Your Spell, Starchild, and The Sun Goes Down ... but everything else ... um, asi ... asi). And I was looking at my CD jacket for LEVEL BEST and saw that Mike was the main composer for Something About You, which I guess means (please correct me if I'm wrong), that he created the basic melody for the tune. And since this was the first song which I heard by the group ... and indeed the melody was why I love the song so much, It goes to say that Mike is the main reason why I got into the Group in the first place. I'm probably stretching it, but I don't care! I LOVE CHANGES. And if this album is a testimony of what Mike can do on his own, well I hope that he has some more solo stuff in him waiting to spring fourth. I just can't wait!!! It's a Lovely Day Today ... KIM ------------------------------ From: John Edward Martin Shuford Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 13:10:14 -0700 (PDT) Subject: demographics, L42 split, solo projects My demographics: I am a 25-year-old white male, living in Eugene, Oregon. I attend the UofO as a graduate student in their Philosophy program. I am undecided whether I am going to earn my Ph.D. here or finish up with my Master's, and then move on somewhere else. My areas of concentration are moral theory, philosophy of law, social/political philosophy, and feminist theory, and generally pushing the envelope so to speak on what counts as doing philosophy. I am unmarried, but I do have a partner who may marry me once I actually figure out where and when I am going to continue/curtail my education. Then again, it's the partnership that's most important, in my eyes, not the ring, piece of paper, or state sanction. I'm not going to grad school so I can call myself a Ph.D or hang another diploma! But hey, that's just me. :) L42 Split: As I understand it (and others who know more can certainly fill in the details), they were REALLY upset with the way RCA handled them. Not only did they not give the band adequate exposure and support world-wide, but they were really pushy and involved in mixing and remixing everything. L42 felt like they lost creative control over much of what they were doing. Phil became especially disgusted by it (if I am relaying this wrong, someone who knows better please correct me) and bailed. Danny Blume, who played guitar on the album, was going to tour with them, but he got the gig through Phil and felt that out of loyalty to Phil he shouldn't take it. The band was pretty well fed-up by the whole thing, and they called it quits after they did their tour. Now, I think there's more to be said here than this. I have an interview that Mark did in "Punch" where he is asked point blank how many more albums he thought L42 would do (this while L42 were on the third leg of the Guaranteed tour). The writer was expecting a slippery response. The answer he received was: "Two more." Well, cut that in half because they got tired of RCA. The only way they could regain creative control over their music was to split up. They'll continue to work together, as I've heard. But I also think this is a case of growing beyond the L42 vehicle. Mark frequently expressed his frustration with having to play to expectations in the form of saying that many things he's written are good songs but they are "not quite right for L42." That is to say, they have an audience and a label that expects a certain kind of sound from them, and you can't deviate too far from that without losing your audience. By shrugging off the name "L42" they now have some freedom to explore further musical options. As for upcoming projects, Boon's first CD "Tin Man" is supposedly coming out next month on VoicePrint (an indie label out of Austria). Mark was rumoured to be starting his own record label and recording at The Summerhouse (though didn't I hear recently that he gave his manorial house to his parents when his dad recently retired?). Either way, I'm sure he can still use the recording facilities he built there. He's currently working on a project with Midge Ure (Ultravox) and Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Asia). Mike is also supposedly working on his own project, but I don't know anything about that one (it probably includes Dominic Miller, however). Finally, Gary Husband's solo project is either done or soon to be done. Hope this helps... ------------------------------ From: "Nobody's Child" Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 13:35:09 +0000 ( ) Subject: Re: Level 42 Digest, #395 Demographics? Here ya go: 30, Black, American, female, single, work as a programmer for JPL (yup, I'm the lone .gov person on the list), born and bred in California. I also dance for a community troupe. If I were nine years younger, I would have graduated from USC with Elson. :) I've never hated a Level 42 song....Something About You just blew me away, as did Running in the Family, when I first heard them. I'm slowly building up my collection, and I'm just as pissed as all those on the list that never got to see them live. My other favorite groups are ELO, anything produced by Jeff Lynne, Supertramp, and Manhattan Transfer. That's about it...happy listening! Jan