From: Level42-request @ worldmachine.com (Level42 Digest) Subject: Level42 Digest V96 #8 _ ____ _ ____ _ _ ___ // //__ // / //__ // /__// __// //__ //__ \\_/ //__ //__ // /__ D I G E S T Level42 Digest Volume 96 : Issue 8 248 subscribers Today's topics: Re: Level42 Digest V96 #6 BOZLVL42 @ aol.com Re: Level42 Digest V96 #7 Rob Kadel Back In The Saddle John Edward Martin Shuford Intro & More Gary Francis Pat's taste in music Vince Mora Me being a newbie... Zak Nilsson More statistics Eric J. Hansen Jap is back from Japan.... TSonoi @ aol.com ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Level42 Digest V96 #6 From: BOZLVL42 @ aol.com Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 00:04:55 -0500 I see that Loz is putting together some questions to ask the former management of L42. I know that the popular question is bound to be " are they going to get back together"?.....for which I am sure the answer is a heavy hearted "no". But, Loz, can you find out if there is going to be any performances by Mike or Mark in the near future. I plan a trip to London sometime around March 17th or so.......and would adjust my schedule to catch them live. Would appreciate any information............maybe that "yes" answer for them getting back together (wishful thinking, huh?). Another time, another place............ BOZ ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Level42 Digest V96 #7 From: Rob Kadel Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 11:47:03 -0500 (EST) > Subject: Singles and stuff > From: "Jay Tracy" > Date: Sun, 7 Jan 1996 18:07:18 -0500 (EST) > > From: Rob Kadel > > > As far as I'm aware, "Time Will Heal" and "Play Me" were the two tracks no > > one had ever heard before the Resurgence release. "The Bends," "Heart on the > > Line," "Past Lives" and "Learn to Say No" have all been available either on > > CD-singles or on other RCA releases for over a year. > > Play Me was also on a single, for Forever Now (the blue one). Ahh, I have the red one. Or is it yellow? I don't remember. Whichever color is NOT the color of All Over You, that's the one I have. :-) ------------------------------ Subject: Back In The Saddle From: John Edward Martin Shuford Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 10:13:19 -0800 (PST) Hey MicroKids! I've been on extended holiday, so this is my first post since early December. Unfortunately, I have nothing new to report about Level 42, so I'll just brag a bit about things I found over break and other nice things! First off: New Forever Now. Yes, it DID take CDNow a piece of time to get it out, and yes, they weren't quite sure about it insofar as they didn't know the difference between the Griffin release and the Resurgence. However, it only cost me $20 through them, and once we got the mess of Griffin vs. Resurgence straightened out, it only took about a week and a half to arrive. I have had very good luck with them in the past, and nothing that I have ordered through them has been "unavailable." The one who has the problem with that, as well as GREATLY overcharging, is CDEurope. Of the online dealers I know, I'd say CDNow is best, followed by MusicExpress. And, as others have mentioned, you're going to pay through the nose for something if you buy it from Audiophile, and sometimes that just makes your nose sting! Second: Quality of new Forever Now. Interesting. The fadeouts on several songs are longer (Heart on the Line, The Bends, perhaps others), we get additional material (One in a Million), other songs are shorter (Love in a Peaceful World is 1/2 minute shorter). Audio quality is good, as good as what RCA did (which does concern me when it is a re-release, a la On The Level). As for the new songs, mixed bag. Time Will Heal is a nice song, but it doesn't particularly strike me as "Level 42" enough. It's the same complaint I have with Tired of Waiting (sounds like Bruce Hornbsby or Christopher Cross could have done it) and Romance (Robert Palmer-ish vocal line and groove). Don't get me wrong. It's a very nice song, and one of Lindup's better efforts for 42. It sounds a bit like something that should have appeared on Changes, were it not for the Mark King backing vocals and the drumming at the end. Billy's Gone leaves me in a quandry. The added vocals and lyrics make more sense of the song, but they are also a bit clumsily worded. There's musical elements that I wish had appeared in the RCA version, but there's things that the RCA version had (cleanness, crispness, REALLY grooving and sticking the bassline and snare in your face) that the "original" version didn't do. And some of the song's urgency is lost by putting "Well I'll try to keep it simple..." in the first 1:45. Ultimately, it sounds like a demo track, not a polished version. Nice to have, but it doesn't supplant the other (though I find myself missing the added lyrics). Third: Neat new toys. I bought Steely Dan's "Alive in America" about a month ago. Talk about tight and great sound quality! Unfortunately, there wasn't much there that had a feeling of "reworking" the old songs, and they were so blisteringly hot in performance that I had the same feeling as when I first listened to Gaucho--there were no more worlds for Steely Dan to conquer. But Becker and Fagen say they had a good time working together on the tour and that they're working on new material. I found Joe Jackson's instrumental album, Will Power, on CD. It's pretty hard to find these days, be it import or otherwise. I snagged it for $8.50. It's a bit Blade Runner, a bit Tucker (for those who are familiar with both soundtracks). It's also a nice hint into some of the music JJ made later (you can see things he borrowed from himself). I also found a Swing Out Sister Japanese release called Swing3. It has six new remixes of old tracks (Breakout, Surrender, Twilight World, Waiting Game, Fooled by a Smile, and another) and four new songs from them. It is a 1989 release, and the "new" material was recorded in 1985 and 1986 and didn't make it onto any other album. Picked that up for $9.50. So what does this have to do with 42? Well, besides similar roots and musical commitments, JJ, SOSister, and Dan don't have a thing to do with it really (other than Drew Barfield has worked with JJ and Sister, and John Thirkell works with SOSister). Just check these people out if you, like me, feel a longing for more Level-ish music and know that you're not going to find it in too many places. PS: Any word on the new Forever Now Live CD? PPS: Vince, still have my book? ------------------------------ Subject: Intro & More From: Gary Francis Date: Tue, 09 Jan 96 19:03:44 -0700 Fellow L42 fans, I thought I'd do a quick intro before I jump into the discussion. I'm Gary Francis and I've been on the mailing list for about the last four months (Thanks to Elson for the introduction - Is he getting paid?). Unfortunately, I've been traveling most of the time and unable to respond. The digest is very informative and has answered many questions that have been nagging me for years. I, too, was unware of their break up and the new album. The mailing list has rekindled my interest. Since reading the digest, I've picked up the FN, the Remixes and two more videos (Wembley Live & Level Best). I've been a major L42 fan since I heard the World Machine track. There's something about ... that track. I immediately picked up the 12" which was brutally destroyed by mixmaster Shep Pettibone (sp?). It almost brought tears to my eyes ;-) IMO, it sounds like he destroyed the essence of the song. I noticed it's not on the Remixes' cd. But, there is a track that's another bloody victim of Shep Pettibone. He might be a good mixmaster but his style just doesn't mix with L42. I was probably introduced to L42 in the Brit-Funk movement in the beginning of the 80's with bands like "Light of the World", "Beggar & Co", "Incognito", "Shakatak", "Freeez". BTW, there's a great cd compilation - "Soul Connoisseur - 12 Brit-Funk Classics" (all 12" versions) - that I picked up in the UK a few years ago that includes all these bands and L42 ("Wings Of Love" 6:55). I'd like to get my hands on some more music by Freeez, Hi-Tension, LOTW and B&Co. Anyone have the Best Of .. (any of these bands)? Any comments? I have most of the L42 albums up to Guaranteed (except Early Tapes). After "Guaranteed," I didn't hear anything about the band or their individual releases until now. Here's something that made me chuckle. I was looking up L42 at the CDnow site. Listed under similiar artists to L42 they had the following: Average White Band, Boy George, Culture Club, General Public, Hall & Oates, The Style Council, UB40 & Paul Young. Not the list that would roll off my tongue. If I had to, I'd probably relate them to some Brit-Funk bands but most of them are not around anymore. Hmmmm, maybe early 70's Kool & the Gang or EW&F when they were more jazz orientated. Who would you relate them to (if you had to)? BTW, Happy New Year!! Later, gary ------------------------------ Subject: Pat's taste in music From: Vince Mora Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 17:53:21 -0700 (MST) More off-topic stuff ... Pat writes: > >(Bad lyric - "Ice ice baby, Vanilla Ice ice baby...." - Ice Ice Baby - > >Vanilla Ice) > > Well, for all the slogging (most of it well deserved) that the Iceman got, > I still think "Ice Ice Baby" is a masterpiece. I'm not joking. It was > and still is a great dance song. I feel the same way about a couple of > Milli Vanilli songs, too. Believe it or not, I'd have to agree. I always thought it was too bad that Milli Vanilli's (or whoever it was that sang them) hit songs were forgotten as a result of that "scandal". Same with ol' Ice -- he was a doofus, but that track of his was way cool. And now, Pat and I will sing a medley of 80's hits ... Semi-on-topic now ... I've had good luck with CDNow myself, no complaints. They've been pretty good about getting me import CD-singles, always shipped in under a week. Anybody know what happened to BobC? He seems to have disappeared ... :-( Vince ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- vince mora aka synth oberheim http://www.swcp.com/synth/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ZenCrafters: total enlightenment in about an hour ------------------------------ Subject: Me being a newbie... From: ZNilsson @ handel.jlc.net (Zak Nilsson) Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 18:42:50 -0500 Hi, all; My name is Zak Nilsson and I love L42. I really, really do. I bought "World Machine" when "Something About You" was released, and I haven't stopped since. I would have gotten into it sooner, but nobody thought to play me any of their stuff. I've been listening to "Guaranteed" for three weeks straight now (and I do mean straight; about 4 hours a day or so) and now that I can sing "Overtime" with Mark King in the car, I decided it was time to jump into this list. I live in Milford, New Hampshire, USA; we are currently buried under a few feet of snow. I'm 24 and a musician (keys, drums) and my influences (besides the obvious) have been Thomas Dolby, The Fixx, Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, Spyro Gyra, Herbie Hancock and a few other eccentric types. :) I can't say I own anything special in the way of L42; just most of their albums sold in the U.S. I never saw them in concert (kicking myself very hard) but I've loved their music for ten years now and I still love it. My favorite album is probably... No, I can't choose. I love them all. I still love to listen to World Machine, but I like Staring At The Sun just as much. And then there's all the fantastic early stuff... Well, enough rambling. I'm just glad to be a Levelhead! Ta, Zak ------------------------------ Subject: More statistics From: "Eric J. Hansen" Date: Wed, 10 Jan 1996 00:30:44 -0500 (EST) Good people, I haven't posted this in a while, so here is the current breakdown of our subscribers by country: DOMAIN # Country ------ --- ------- AU 1 Austrailia CA 7 Canada COM 124 USA DE 2 Germany DK 1 Denmark EDU 54 USA FI 1 Finland FR 2 France IT 2 Italy MY 1 Malaysia NET 11 USA NL 3 Netherlands NO 1 Norway NZ 1 New Zealand ORG 1 USA SE 3 Sweden SG 1 Sierra Leone UK 30 United Kingdom Small world, isn't it?! -Eric -- Eric J. Hansen ...................... http://www.worldmachine.com/users/hansen SW Developer / Worldmachine Technologies ........ mailto:eric @ worldmachine.com ------------------------------ Subject: Jap is back from Japan.... From: TSonoi @ aol.com Date: Tue, 9 Jan 1996 23:33:49 -0500 In a message dated 96-01-09 07:20:12 EST, you write: Hello everyone. I'm back. I did some extensive search from L42 stuff in Tokyo, Osaka and Kobe but only found more White funky bootlegs.....my only hope is UK.... >> Whoever it was who rumoured that a song by Mark appeared >> on a compilation album in 1995 please write again and tell us all the >> info you have. > >I don't remember hearing about this...or was this the Trace Elliot CD (which >I >never saw, did this actually come out ?) which had At This Great Distance on >it >? Yes, It was the Trace Elliot CD with "At this great distance". I have this Japanese Bass magazine shows picture and song list. They gave away 10 of those to readers. I didn't get it.. I have to sleep now, I'm still on Japanese time....... see ya! Takeo Sonoi