Subject: Level 42 Digest, #420 ===================== * LEVEL 42 DIGEST * ===================== Digest 420 Tuesday, 06/13/95 165 subscribers Today's messages: Mike's ramblings... The Early Tapes Re: All this promotion stuff For all U.S. Levelheads Re:Level Effort-PLFlan/Shuford BACK FROM EUROPE... ------------------------------ From: Michael BROOKS Organization: Technology Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 13:07:18 GMT Subject: Mike's ramblings... Well. after 4 years of hard labour, I have finally graduated from Kingston Uni with a BSC Honours Degree in Computer Information Systems Design.....now it's time to rock n' roll!!!! Can I think all those who wished me luck along the way....much appreciated. I am playing with The Sugar Plums, a 70's glam rock covers band for the next 6 months and my first gig is this Friday at York University followed by marlow in Buckinghamshire on Saturday and Berkshire College of agriculture on the 23rd of June. Anyone who wishes to attend gigs, can mail me and I will put them on the guest list or alternatively if any of you can attend at any time, come up and say hello......levelheads unite and all that. Also, to all those who wanted tapes, vids, etc., please feel free to contact me now as I have the time to do whatever you want from my list......after all, I have very little reason to wake up now. By the way, Incognito are playing at The royal festival Hall on Monday 10th July....and to really piss people off, I have free tickets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All those (it will be a small number!) attending the Freak power gig on Wednesady, enjoy and maybe I'll see you there. Cheers, Mikey ------------------------------ From: lolita @ InterServ.Com Date: Mon, 12 Jun 95 06:37:10 PDT Subject: The Early Tapes Hey all: Jeremy Theal sent me a copy of The Early Tapes and put On A Level on the flip side (thanx a lot, Jeremy!). I really liked most of the songs on The Early Tapes, but listening to it made me see that they must have been amazing live because Mr. Pink and 88 sound 100% better on Physical Presence live, and Sandstorm sounds much better on The White Funky. Also, I love jazzfunk music, so I liked their playing, but I have to say their voices sucked on The Early Tapes. They have come a long way vocally. Speaking of vocals, I have a question: Who is singing lead on Wings of Love? It doesn't sound like either one of them. Actually, it does sound like Mike on a _really_ bad day. The song sounds just like Starchild to me, which is why I think it is Mike. By the way, I really dislike the song Take Care of Yourself. It sounds kind of corny. Is that song only on On A Level, or is it a b-side or something? Please fill me in. Later! Lolita ------------------------------ From: Rob Kadel Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 11:40:17 -0400 (EDT) Subject: Re: All this promotion stuff Hey, all! Well, I've got three things to say here. First of all, someboday said yesterday (was it you, Pat?) that you could see perhaps a Mark-n-Mike project in the future, but not an actual return of L42. Well, for the last three albums, hadn't it been Mark-n-Mike who really were L42? Despite the picutre of Husband, et al. in Guaranteed which was captioned "The Band" -- that really wasn't the band. That was Mark and Mike with replacement musicians for Boon and Phil; at least that's my opinion. Okay, second thing is, it is indeed a problem when a band's sound doesn't quite fit a particular genre. I can give one fine example: Frank Allison and the Odd Sox. They're from Ann Arbor, MI, and good friends of my sister. Frank has already produced three CD's on independent labels, and has had contracts in the works with a few big-time labels. But things have seemed to fall apart for him in the past because his sound varies from country to folk to folk/rock to straight-up rock-n-roll. Record company exec's have actually told him, they don't know where to put his albums in the CD racks at places like Camelot/Tower/HMV/etc. Third and final note: if we really want to press for getting the band more exposure in the U.S., has anyone actually thought of trying to contact Mark or Mike? I mean, I realize they seem like some great gods who are unreachable save climbing Mt. Olympus, but they're not. They're just a couple of guys who happen to live slightly more secluded lives than the rest of us. All this talk about RCA and Crockford makes me think we're ignoring the two most persuasive allies we could have in such a battle. That is, if they're willing to get involved. ??? Rob ------------------------------ From: BobC971 @ aol.com Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 12:23:30 -0400 Subject: For all U.S. Levelheads Hi all. I have an important message for all US Level 42 heads. I am pleased to announce that I have acquired some extremely rare video footage of the band from a contact in Scotland who probably has the largest video collection of the band in the world. For many of us, this is the kind of stuff we've been looking for years! I currently have about 12 hours of footage which includes a lot of live concerts from the pre-World Machine years, loads of tv appearances, profiles and interviews. There are also tons of little extras that don't really fit into the aforementioned - lots of home video footage of the band, Mark in a comedy skit, Mark in a "supergroup,'' Mark in a show called "Driving Force,'' lots of Mike solo interviews and performances, and rehearsals of the band. In short, it's lots of great stuff I thought I'd never get access to. And now I"m making it available to the Level heads in the states. To recoup the losses of buying the tapes, shipping, and format transfers, I have to charge (something I've never done while helping some of you add to your Level audio collections). It won't be much mind you, mostly because some of the quality isn't top notch. But the deal will be extremely fair. Currently I am compiling my lists and I am accepting email from all of you who are interested. Email me at bobc971 @ aol.com by week's end and I'll send you a list complete with contents and prices. Then we can go from there. Take Care of Yourselves, BobC ------------------------------ From: Rack1SPC @ aol.com Date: Mon, 12 Jun 1995 21:55:33 -0400 Subject: Re:Level Effort-PLFlan/Shuford I had to comment on the extraordinary effort that Flanagan/Shuford have made in trying to push L42 from a grass roots level. It is equally frustrating to me that a band of Level 42's talents can go on so unnoticed here to so many. However this in my opinion is just so typical of American radio stations. If the music doesn't have some simpleton three minute hook to it and it defies the traditional catogories it just won't get played. I can't stand the same classic/top 40 rock crap I hear on 90% of the stations-wherever I may be! What I've always thought would be a good idea would be to BUY a radio station and introduce a real variety of a format, i.e. rock/jazz/pop/alternative,etc. The question is, "Is, or will America ever be ready to listen to something other than the standard pop that we're constantly spoonfed from execs that don't really care??!!" No one ever tries it because it would probably take a fair amount of time and effort to establish (and $$$), both of which are lacking in the music industry. I don't know of any stations that have ever tried this or even attempted to. This doesn't include public radio stations whose formats tend to be either all jazz, folk or classical. Occasionally a public station here in Cincinnati (WVXU) has something called "World Cafe" that will play from Neil Young to L42, but it lasts all of an hour or so on the weekday afternoons. Obviously not promoted enough and theres no $$$$ from commercials. Another frustrated Level 42 fan! Later-SEAN ------------------------------ From: Elson In Europe! Date: Tue, 13 Jun 1995 03:38:38 -0700 (PDT) Subject: BACK FROM EUROPE... Hello Level-heads! I just got back from cold, rainy London to back home in sunny, hot Los Angeles this afternoon. I had a ball of a time in London, as I got to jam with a band in one of London's big acid jazz clubs, the Blue Note (on Hoxton Square, near Old Street). I also did crazy CD and T-shirt shopping, and I even got in contact with some folks at Acid Jazz records who let me into their stockroom where I could buy everything at cost! Levelwise, unfortunately, I didn't do much. I did get to talk to our very own Mike Brooks (hi, Mike!) on the phone, and we planned to meet, but it unfortunately never materialized. However, I sent him 30 pounds to get me Mark King's "Influences" and Mike Lindup's "Changes" to send in the mail. Hey Dave Crowson, I gave you a ring, but no one was there! I also couldn't find any L42 shirts...Mike told me that right now, L42 is basically "old news" even in England. We originally planned to make a pilgrimage to the Isle of Wight (Mark King's territory) and visit his Joe Daflo's cafe, but hey, maybe next time! I did find their first album for a mere 5 pounds at a record store near Carnaby St. I did find Lindup's album at an Amsterdam record store, but didn't feel like paying the 40 gilders for it...European CD prices are extremely expensive! What we pay for $13 in the US costs $30 in France! It's just too bad L42 isn't around. Damnit, if I only took this trip 10 months earlier I might have caught one of their shows! Elson