From: Level42-request @ worldmachine.com (Level42 Digest) Subject: Level42 Digest V96 #18 _ ____ _ ____ _ _ ___ // //__ // / //__ // /__// __// //__ //__ \\_/ //__ //__ // /__ D I G E S T Level42 Digest Volume 96 : Issue 18 253 subscribers Today's topics: Wotcha Richard Lowe Re: VH1 in Europe Zaron Michael Frumin Pennance.. GVermette @ aol.com exams over. Time to party. Laurence Green A stupid thing to ask for, but... atburns Vocals on The Bends Eric J. Hansen The Chef Jonathan E Frumin Various Things Lazlo Nibble Hallo Level`s (fwd) Eric J. Hansen Re: Level42 Digest V96 #17 TTrudell @ aol.com Time will heal the police Brent Kroon L42 In The USA? Canada? Fabfriday @ aol.com New Wave....A DJ Note..... Fabfriday @ aol.com ------------------------------ Subject: Wotcha From: Richard Lowe Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 10:58:39 +0000 Hi, Since this is my first message, I'll introduce myself briefly. 1. I've been a Lev-head since the World Machine album, where I first heard 'Something About You'. It was then, and still is my favourite album. Quite like Beezer One as well. 2. Play the bass, and one day hope to have Mark King saying 'Oh Richie, that's amazing. Can you teach me one of your riffs?'. But I'll probably settle for being able to play a few of Level 42s basslines. I'd like to ask a few questions? Why are Level 42 called Level 42? I've heard a couple of versions: 1. Something to do with the number of levels in the biggest car park in the US. 2. The meaning of life, the universe and everything, from Douglas Adams 'Hitchhikers Guide To The Universe'. I'm pretty sure it's 2, but can anybody confirm this? - Richie ------------------------------ Subject: Re: VH1 in Europe From: "Zaron Michael Frumin" Date: Wed, 17 Jan 1996 23:50:21 -0500 (EST) Hi, All - Last time, Daniel Lloyd told us about European VH1; he said: > As far as I know, there are two flavours of VH-1 in Europe - UK and > German. The only time I have ever seen anything close to Level 42 > was when they showed the best of the Prince's Trust concerts > recently. Music is mostly 80's and 90's mainstream stuff, eg Simply > Red, Phil Collins, Elton John, UB40, etc. The play list can be a bit > limited from time to time - Soft Cell's Tainted Love keeps popping > up again and again. > > At weekends they run a couple of concerts. They also show repeats > of The Tube, The Old Grey Whistle Test, together with their own Ten > of the Best / Request type shows. I pose this question to folks in the US and CANADA: Anyone else feel like we're being deprived? Anyone else wish OUR VH1 was more like the one just mentioned? I mean, think about it: A *REQUEST* show??? Wouldn't that be great?! But wait a moment - what the heck am I thinking here? That would require admitting that there *ARE* people that like groups other than HOOTIE & HIS FRIGGIN BLOWFISH, MELISSA ETHERIDGE and BLUESTRAVELER. Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking. Also, I'm not happy to hear about this 'Bronzing' and 'Golding' of CDs; aren't they supposed to outlast us - no matter how many times they're played? Sorry about my sarchasm and harshness in this one - guess I just have to vent my disappointment sometimes; it helps knowing 250 or so others (or at least some of you) might agree. "I won't stop until I'm holding Heaven In My Hands..." Zaron -- fruminza @ pilot.msu.edu ------------------------------ Subject: Pennance.. From: GVermette @ aol.com Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 10:42:51 -0500 Hi Folks! >Speaking of contributions, for best 42 song, my vote goes to "People" from >Staring at the Sun. >Uhhhh, you mean from "Standing In The Light," right? Yes, yes, I know, I commited the cardinal error of giving the wrong album title! I'm starting a fast right now that will continue until I have fully atoned for my sins. In the meantime, identify the following Level 42 lyric.... "I stayed alone, for too long, with an empty heart, emotionless. You came to dry my tears. Comforted, I gaze upon you." I know it doesn't exactly rhyme, but that should give you a clue. Well, that's all for now. -Greg Vermette (Bad Lyric - "In the desert, you can remember your name. For there 'aint no one for to give you no pain." - A Horse With No Name - America) ------------------------------ Subject: exams over. Time to party. From: Laurence Green Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 12:27:04 PST Hi Everyone, Just had my last exam. It went really well. Some answers: Turn It On: 7" version, found on 7" single. Album version, found on 'Level 42' vinyl + cassette, extended version, found on Turn It On 12", 'Level 42' CD. Freedom, Freedom a gogo, not two mixes of a single song Pat! Freedom is listed as being by Mark King, Freedom A gogo by Mark King and Mike Lindup, Freedom A Gogo has more of that latin/Brazillian stuff that Mike likes in it. As for some of the compilation shortening songs, check out 'On A Level', it is the only place in the world where you will find 'Standing In The Light' with the original lyrics ie 'An empty house he calls his home, the place becomes a temple to a silent dream, sometimes he will clap and sing then deep in fascination he will learn to be..........' also the CD contains Dream Crazy remix and many other short 7" version that are elsewhere unavailable on CD, so in some respect, the compilations have been a good thing, esp WRT Standing In The Light the song, its good to hear the unbutchered version. Polydor/RCA quote M.King "Basically, knowing their business better than we did, they said we should go away and write some more singles. Now hand on my heart I can honestly say I wouldnt have the slightest idea how to go away and write a guaranteed number 1 single. So when we started bringing the lawyers in and quoting he contract bills were running up so we decided to part company, which was a shame after having 9 good years there and making a lot of friends. But it exciting to move on to a company like RCA with staff all over the world. The thing about Level 42 is that its the sumn total of the parts (laughter) we do just what we do and thats it, we cant be anything else. MIKE "I think it was a little unfair by Polydor to say 'right if this album doesnt sell well then this is a start of a permanent decline in your careers' which was kind of the accustaion they made." BTW it was usual on the Running In The Family single release to call the full length album tracks 'extended versions' when they came out on vinyl, as opposed to butchered 7" version (see To Be With You Again). This was done for all single releases except Lessons which was extended for the 12", and Children Say which was remixed and had a guitar solo by Mark added. When we delve into the world of remixes and names we are really treading on thin ice. Lessons In Love (shep pettibone remix) and US remix are almost identical. Something about you US dance mix and shep pettibone remix and US mix are almost identical. Micro kid special remix and Micro US remix ARE identical. The point I am making is that on many many occasions mixes have been given different names for the same mix. Take another example, on the promo 12" set 'Level 4', there is All Over You, Mother dub, K-klass full on instrumental mix, K-klass club instrumental, Mother slap and tickle remix, K-klass vocal mix. But On the CD single of All Over You there is track entitled All Over You instrumental, now they could have at least told us which of the 7 mixes in total it was, even I dont know yet. Oh yes, Jakko also does the music to JO Brand, through the Cake Hole, which is currently running on Channel 4. If anyone wants to find out more about Jakko and hs band 'The 64 spoons' your can write to an address, if anyone wants it, Ill bring it tommorow. Well see you all soon............................................LOZ "if you lead I will follow" ------------------------------ Subject: A stupid thing to ask for, but... From: atburns Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 03:22:23 -0800 I lost my server last night and with it the last 10 issues of the Digest. Is there a chance you could e-mail them again either as a grouo or as a zipped file? Thank you for your help. Sincerely, Anthony [Use the archive server!! Send mail to level42-request @ worldmachine.com with subject "archive help" to get started.... -Eric] ------------------------------ Subject: Vocals on The Bends From: "Eric J. Hansen" Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 11:29:54 -0500 (EST) Hey folks, just got my Resurgence FN+4. So who sings the vocals at the end of The Bends? I figure it's got to be either Phil or Wally. Also, does anyone else think that Mark is looking a bit "chunkier" than before? And what's with the cheesy text graphics on the cover of this release?! Could they possibly have put _less_ effort into designing cool fonts? (Pat, even *I* can do better than this with PhotoShop!) -Eric Your friendly List Administrator -- Eric J. Hansen ...................... http://www.worldmachine.com/users/hansen SW Developer / Worldmachine Technologies ........ mailto:eric @ worldmachine.com ------------------------------ Subject: The Chef From: Jonathan E Frumin Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 14:16:27 -0700 (MST) > From: Cliff Barua > Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 09:42:25 +0000 (GMT) > > Jakko J is given a musical credit on the British show > "Chef". I think the theme song "Serious Profession" could > be the subject of a great 10-minute jam for Mark/Mike/Wally > and a couple of "Serious Musicians" (maybe the Goulds' > "understated playing" would do). > > Cliff Barua > baruac @ aestor.am.doe.ca I *LOVE* that show! We used to get it here in the states, on the public station. Is it still around? Last time I saw an episode of it was this past summer, then they took it off! BTW, the song is credited to Omar in the closing credits. Anyone know who he is, or what Lee Henry is doing now (he was "The Chef!" wasn't he)? Regards, Jonathan ------------------------------ Subject: Various Things From: Lazlo Nibble Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 10:02:57 -0700 (MST) lgreen @ pine.shu.ac.uk writes: > Some of the CDv's are the only places where you will find some of the > rarer mixes on CD. EG Running In The Family CDV contains a remix of Micro > Kid. Actually Micro Kid is on the "Lessons In Love" CDV. (Can someone who has this CDV compare that mix to the one on "Level Best"? The times are pretty close.) Unfortunately many of the CDVs use different names for otherwise-common remixes (i.e., calling the Shep Pettibone remix of "World Machine" the "u.s. remix", etc.) This is yet another thing I'm trying to clear up in the next rev of the discography... clstamps @ piper.hamline.edu writes: > I only have the tape of "Level 42" and it has a shorter version of Turn > It On. Is the longer version on CD or is this some hard to find remix? The CD of Level 42 (the first album) has longer versions of the following singles: Turn It On (5:36 instead of 4:42) Love Games (7:25 instead of 5:50) Starchild (6:52 instead of 5:58) -- ::: Lazlo (lazlo @ swcp.com; http://www.swcp.com/lazlo) ------------------------------ Subject: Hallo Level`s (fwd) From: "Eric J. Hansen" Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 17:26:32 -0500 (EST) Folks, I just got this message, which was addressed to , an alias I set up to receive business inquiries for Worldmachine Technologies. I am _assuming_ that it is Level 42-related (seeing that it lists "Level 42" as the only English words), but I can't read it since I don't sprechen ze deutch. Can someone translate and repost!! > From SCHEIBI @ aol.com Thu Jan 18 17:11:33 1996 > To: info @ worldmachine.com > Subject: Hallo Level`s > > Ein German-Fan mit schlechten Englischkenntnisen will euch wissen lassen, das > es in Tubingen einen der groSSten Level 42 Fans aller Zeiten gibt. Schade das > man nicht`s mehr von euch hort. > > Bis dann -Eric -- Eric J. Hansen ...................... http://www.worldmachine.com/users/hansen SW Developer / Worldmachine Technologies ........ mailto:eric @ worldmachine.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Level42 Digest V96 #17 From: TTrudell @ aol.com Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 19:51:11 -0500 Glee is mine. Previously, I stated that "Heaven in my Hands" was my favorite L42 song. I know all of you were wondering, "Has Tom finally got his copy of "Forever Now" from CDNow yet? I know many of you spent restless nights. So, yes, I finally got it, and I haven't been able to get past song number 4, "The Sunbed Song" - it's my new favorite. For those of us U.S. fans who hopped on in 1985 when "Something About You" broke, if you went out right away and bought "World Machine", you probably got the UK version, as I did, thankfully. I can't imagine something lame like "The Chant Has Begun" mixing into the later, better "World Machine" stuff . . . Ouestion: I have the Live at Wembley video, which is pretty darn good, and the Fait Accompli video, where Mike acts shy and Mark acts up to compensate, but what is this Level Best Video? Is it just a compliation of music videos of the songs on Level Best? Another Question: CDNow, my favorite online music service, has a Level 42 video listed, from a Japan concert, for $99. Wow, what a price - does anybody have it and if so how good is it? Finally, I was disappointed when I tried to get people to go out on a limb and list their favorite song. Many whined, "I just can't choose!" It's asking for a bold commitment, I know, but to make it easier, we could put together a Personal Top Five. I'll boldy offer mine . . . 1) Sunbed 2) Heaven in my Hands 3) Good Man in a Storm 4) Freedom Someday 5) Starchild 6) Kansas City Milkman (live version) 7) World Machine 8) Follow Me 9) Take Care of Yourself See, picking the top five is easy . . . Bad Song Lyric - "I wish that I could be the President, so I could tell you how yer money's spent" from "Why Can't We be Friends - WAR ------------------------------ Subject: Time will heal the police From: Brent Kroon Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 00:57:39 -0800 (PST) I just got my copy of the Resurgence FN today, and as I was listening to "time will heal", something sounded oddly familiar. First, the very end of the song, where they groove a bit, sounds very much like "Every little thing she does is magic" by the Police. Also, a bit more of a stretch, but the brief section where Mark is singing alone in the background reminds me of a Duran Duran song "Save A Prayer". Not so much the vocals, but the chord changes. I haven't made up my mind what I think the verse and chorus sound like yet, suffice to say it doesn't really sound like a Level 42 song. It doesn't sound quite finished. Any thoughts? Brent ------------------------------ Subject: L42 In The USA? Canada? From: Fabfriday @ aol.com Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 00:24:53 -0500 Aside from filming videos for the Staring At The Sun album, when was the last time the band was ever in the USA? Were they ever featured on on American television, such as David Letterman, The Tonight Show, etc? I know MTV featured Live At Wembly in it's full length comercial free sometime in 1987-88. Did they ever tour the US as a headline act rather than just an opening act (Madonna, Steve Winwood)? For those in Canada, I'm looking to get a hold of The Family Edition that everyone keeps talking about... Can anyone help me to get a hold of it on CD? I will help locate CD's for anyone who can get me the Family Edition (new or used). For those in the UK, I'd like to set up some contacts in the country I'd like to one day make my home for a few years... That's all for now.. "I've been working on this overtime...." FAB ------------------------------ Subject: New Wave....A DJ Note..... From: Fabfriday @ aol.com Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 23:31:27 -0500 I've asked once before, but got no reply, I'd like to know what everyone listened to in the 1980's. As a dj and fan, aside from L42, I also gave the following 80's groups plenty of US airplay: ABC, A-ha, Adam Ant, Marc Almond, Alphaville, Art Of Noise, Arcadia, Assembly, Big Audio, Big Country, Blancmange, David Bowie, Bronski Beat, Buggles, The Church, Clannad, Clash, Climmie Fisher, Cure, Damned, Depeche Mode, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Thomas Dolby, Double, Duran Duran, Echo And The Bunneymen, Enya, Erasure, Everything But The Girl, Bryan Ferry, Fiction Factory, Freur, Falco, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Flock Of Seagulls, Freiheit, Peter Gabriel, Go West, Jan Hammer, Heaven 17, Human League, Rupert Hine, Icehouse, Icicle Works, Inxs, Japan, Howard Jones, Joy Division, Kajagoogoo, Kraftwerk, MARK KING, LEVEL 42, Limhal, M, Madness, Men At Work, Men Without Hats, Midnight Oil, Modern English, Morrissey, Naked Eyes, New Order, Gary Numan, No-Man, Philip Oakey, OMD, Mike Oldfield, Pet Shop Boys, Plus One, Police, Pretendrs, Psychedelic Furs, Queen, Q-Feel, RE-FLEX, Roxy Music, Simple Minds, Spandau Ballet, Smiths, Soft Cell, Squeeze, Split-Enz, Stranglers, Sugarcubes, Talk Talk, Taco, Tears For Fears, Thompson Twins, U2, Ultravox, Midge Ure, UB40, Visage, When In Rome, XTC, Yazoo (Yaz), Yello, Hans Zimmer, and plenty of other groups that spanned the globe during the 1980's. I would include all of these into a current "Alternative" format, and they all fit in quite well and the shows did very well.... I'd hardly call Level 42, or a majority of these groups Alternative, yet 80's New Wave and it's off-shoots, all seem to do well in this format.... The increase in the popularity of 80's music is on the rise again, and radio stations are answering the call with specialty shows for 80's music.... From time to time, LEVEL 42 can be heard..... Something About You is still common on the air waves in the USA. Surprisingly, at least in the NYC area, you'd be hard pressed to hear Lessons In Love. Americans seemed to have forgotten that one...... Random notes from an American DJ who likes to expose people to more music than the American top 40 ever will.... FAB PS: If any of you are fans of any of the groups I mentioned, or 80's New Wave music, E-mail me.......