From: Level42-request @ worldmachine.com (Level42 Digest) Subject: Level42 Digest V96 #163 _ ____ _ ____ _ _ ___ // //__ // / //__ // /__// __// //__ //__ \\_/ //__ //__ // /__ D I G E S T Level42 Digest Volume 96 : Issue 163 362 subscribers Today's topics: Bad reviews M. Robins WM tapes M. Robins tattoos, Q magazine etc. Nigel Collier EURO 96 Alexander Thomas Re: Level42 Digest V96 #161 LVL42 Syd and Gary and Mike plus Mark's Poop and Steel Daniel James Live at Wembley CD Julian Arnold Cool song lyric NPercival Rap, Chinese Way and other stuff ... EPartridge "Rap, rap bring it on back..." LittleHalo Re: Level42 Digest V96 #162 Axl ------------------------------ Subject: Bad reviews From: "M. Robins" Organization: the University of Greenwich Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 11:06:52 GMT Hi all, Okay, Pat, fair enough, perhaps my death threats and blood boiling anti-conspiracy theorism was a little excessive. I agree absolutely that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and that people can, I suppose, not think a great deal of L42. The point I was trying to make concerns musical respect. Some of the comments made in the press have quite clearly been made by people who love the chance to make snide, ignorant comments about bands whom they know very little or nothing about. The Q review was a good example of this. Much of it concerned the band's career, TOTP appearances etc, before the last paragraph or so finally dealt with the actual album, and it hardly went into great detail. Is it a coincidence that the only songs mentioned ( apart from Man ) were their two biggest hits? Or was it the mark of someone thinking " Oh yeah, I remember those songs, they were okay I suppose. Don't know any of the others, they must be crap " Basically it sounds like someone who doesn't know, understand or appreciate the music of L42, and that is not a good basis for making a review. If I was asked to review a classical record, or a thrash metal record, I wouldn't know where to start, because I would have no idea what constituted a good or bad performance in these fields of music. Live at Wembley is unlikely to reach a mass market audience. It will probably be a record for the fans, so why couldn't the reviews tell us what the performance was like, the mixing, the power of the songs, instead of making hysterically off-the-mark comments like comparing L42 to Genesis, as if the people who'll buy the record will fall for this or believe the songs to be " thin, skeletal tunes " I'm only attempting to justify my anger, Pat. Reviews that basically say " Ha,ha, look at those boring old gits from the '80s, haven't they retired yet, zimmerframes, Status Quo " etc. are completely pointless, weak-minded journalism. That's my opinion anyway. As for your comments on L42 fans being more open and therfore better than these people, I couldn't agree more. If they'd just release Live at Wembley in the UK and US, we could make up our own minds. Tattoo Man ------------------------------ Subject: WM tapes From: "M. Robins" Organization: the University of Greenwich Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 11:21:27 GMT Me again, The only copy of World Machine cassette I have is one with a bonus side of remixes. Is this worth a fortune? The actual album is the UK version ( much better than the US one, I think ) but there are remixes of Sun Goes Down, SAY, Love Games, Chinese Way, Sleep on my Heart, and a couplo of others. Most of them can be found elsewhere, like the remixes album. Tattoo Man ------------------------------ Subject: tattoos, Q magazine etc. From: Nigel.Collier @ ncl.ac.uk (Nigel Collier) Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 12:54:55 +0100 Tattoo ******** Matt's tattoo was impressive but one thing just occured to me - wouldn't 'Mark' and 'King' look cool tattooed across your knuckles a la 'love' and 'hate'? Q Magazine ************* I say let 'Q' magazine et al get on with it, I know it's easy to take criticism of L42 personally and feel offended on behalf of the group but who cares what pretentious and pompous critics say? Who are they to judge? What do they know and what have they ever achieved? Those people couldn't lick the band's boots and whatever they say certainly won't make me appreciate the band's music any less. The only danger is that their comments may isolate the group and prevent people from 'discovering' their music but I reckon you're born to be a L42 fan and you'll find them anyway, despite the cheap comments and brainless jibes from ignorant 'music critics' who have probably never listened to the group properly (pause for breath) and have formed opinions on hearsay for the purpose of filling a couple of column inches - if you can't think of anything to say, say something cutting and 'witty' - NOT. etc. **** During the 'Right-Oh Skip' exchange on 'The Bends', does the other person (Mark?) say, "Comb your hair"? Nigel Collier (Nigel.Collier @ ncl.ac.uk) Webmaster, Newcastle University Careers Service.(http://kalonji.ncl.ac.uk/careers/careers.html) Eater of donuts & Jedi Knight ------------------------------ Subject: EURO 96 From: Alexander Thomas Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 18:37:29 +0200 (MET DST) Non-L42-topic: Hi All European - Levelheads, just want to ask for some response concerning the european football championship in England. Who will make it ??? - Germany I think !? - ALEX - ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Level42 Digest V96 #161 From: LVL42 @ aol.com Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 14:05:27 -0400 In a message dated 96-06-09 06:06:09 EDT, you write: >>5) My favorite songs off the cd are: (in order) - "Forever Now" - "Love In A >>Peaceful World" - and "One In A Million". "Forever Now" grooves!!! I think that "Romance" should be in everyone's favorites - it kind of reminds of the "Leaving Me Now" and "It's Over" groove types. LVL42 ------------------------------ Subject: Syd and Gary and Mike plus Mark's Poop and Steel Grey From: Daniel James Organization: Statistical Sciences Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 11:48:42 -0700 > anyway heaven only knows what mike was doing there! for a start > he's not into big band jazz and i really don't think he'd betaken > seriously in any proper jazz context judging by his playing. Well, I don't know if this is the reason, but there is another connection between Level 42 and the Syd Lawrence Orchestra--Gary Husband used to play for them. Check out the interview with him at http://www.serv.net/~djames/garyHusband.html for more info. Speaking of which, Synth... I haven't had time to do the silly things like add the italics as they appeared in the Article. I don't think that these are really that important to the context of the interview, so you may well just want to grab the html source from that URL and post it on the Home Page. Of course, you'll need to search for all the IMG tags and change them so they point to your images (there's only about 5 of them). > What were Mark and Mike smoking before they posed for the back cover? Mike's > upside down, which I can deal with, but Mark looks like he just took a good > right cross to the gut. I thought it was decided that he looked like he just dropped a load in his pants. > hy does the CD " forever now" I just ordered have a pic of Mark And Mike > on the front standing near the old world fair ball??????? > I thought it was steel grey!!!! You just ordered the Resurgence version (FN+4) - the Steel Grey is the original RCA version ------------------------------ Subject: Live at Wembley CD From: "Julian Arnold" Date: 10 Jun 1996 11:58:58 -0700 Hi Guys, Excellent to hear about the World Machine cassette, that was the first Level 42 album I bought ever and it still is my ALL time favourite album. I have since bought the CD version and it's the same as the (UK) cassette. I was inspired to buy it from the version of Coup D'etat on the 7" B side of SAY. Fabulous album. I have a very important request. Being an Irishman in San Francisco I don't find it as easy as I used to, getting Level stuff. How do I get the new Live at Wembley CD??? perhaps one of you chappies in the ol' UK might be able to help..? I doubt it's available here in the US ..(?). If you'd like to mail me directly go right ahead (jarnold @ farallon.com) Thank Guys, Julian ------------------------------ Subject: Cool song lyric From: NPercival @ aol.com Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 17:02:04 -0400 A remarkably cool song lyric, in that it's the only lyric of the whole song: From 'Return of the Los Palmas 7', by Madness: "Waiter..." Neil Percival ------------------------------ Subject: Rap, Chinese Way and other stuff ... From: EPartridge @ aol.com Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 17:56:11 -0400 I just thought I'd mention one particular 'rap' that everyone seems to have forgotten, or are just not mentioning, and that's the Something About You one, found on the live videos, and on the remix ..... Alright, so it's not got that certain rap quality (whatever that is ..) but I do like Mark's little bass workout underneath it on the 'Guaranteed - Live' video. As for The Chinese Way, I don't like the album or single version, sounds dated now, but then it is 14 years old, but I love the live versions, again especially the 'Guaranteed - Live' version. Is it me, or did L42 used to start their mid-80's shows with it? I seem to remember a different opening theme, Thunderbirds and Stingray, sounding a lot like Mark singing it, then the going into The Chinese Way. And while I'm on the subject of 'different' live tracks, I've got a bootleg concert from 1986, where 'Running in the Family' is being played for the first time to an audience, and it has completely different lyrics .... Any idea why the change of lyrics? And finally, does anyone know where I can get 'Live at Wembley' in London? I've tried the big mega-stores, but with no luck ..... With a little love, TCOY Ed. ------------------------------ Subject: "Rap, rap bring it on back..." From: LittleHalo @ aol.com Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 22:40:52 -0400 I've just read the last four digests all at once and I was surprised that, while on the subject of raps in Level 42 music, nobody mentioned the raps in the remix of Tracie and in Freedom. Those are raps whether you like it or not. Much more than the spoken word in Kouyate, Man, At this Great Distance, and Past Lives. There is a big difference between Rap Music, which the lady from Los Angeles (what's up homegirl?) was pointing out and a "rap." A "rap," I believe, is talking along with the rhythm of the beat and it is usually in a rhyme. Level does have "raps" in the aforementioned songs but that doesn't make it Rap Music and that doesn't mean that us Levellers are likening it to that style of thumping music. That's my two cents. Since someone already transcribed the Tracie rap, I thought this would be an opportune time to type the Freedom rap for y'all. Feel free to correct me (if you ARE sure you are correct :-) ) and fill in the places I'm not sure about. Rap Rap Bring it on back Say What? Shut up and cut the cliches It's a scat rap, rat trap, strapping on the good Sit the strength of ten (I listened to this line a million times and that's the closest I could come) A set of ten 'Cause they've gone, they've gone, they've gone but the music carries on Are you the one? Are you the one that put the trap (track?) in the rat (rap?) on the hill? Sit still Shut up shut up shut up........[miscellaneous scat syllables here] Someone had said they though the end of the Tracie rap was "Joe's the guy they always said was better" Well, "better" couldn't be right because it doesn't rhyme with "glad" in the previous line and heck, it just sounds more like he says "Bad". See y'all, Angel ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Level42 Digest V96 #162 From: Axl Date: Tue, 11 Jun 1996 01:05:49 -0400 Does any one have a CD version of TRUE COLOURS?? that the want to part with??? Dave