From: Level42-request @ worldmachine.com (Level42 Digest) Subject: Level42 Digest V97 #131 _ ____ _ ____ _ _ ___ // //__ // / //__ // /__// __// //__ //__ \\_/ //__ //__ // /__ D I G E S T Level42 Digest Volume 97 : Issue 131 501 subscribers Today's topics: Scale Relations in 42 Songs Jason Bell Re: Level42 Digest V97 #130 DonZipf L42 and Wal Mart Paul Fucito howdy DrWho333 Out of phase listening, explained Zaphod Beeblebrox ...two solitudes... Richard J. Reddick Discography Paul Fucito Rob you're right ! Paul.MAJGIER Well, I'm oughta here! Zaphod Beeblebrox Physical Presence +3 Anne Painter A real brief response Randall L Collins Baby, baby, baby, you're out of phaaaaaaase... Jeff Grous Yo dirk.vael A SAAAAAAD STORY. Jonathan Doody Level 42 and religion! MNR. CA MOCKE ------------------------------ Subject: Scale Relations in 42 Songs From: Jason Bell Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 13:18:32 +0100 (BST) Rob writes: > As I recall, this is the mode that works like a major scale, except has > a flat seventh (i.e., E - F - G# - A - B - C# - D - E). (Or, if you > play all white notes on a piano from G to G.) This is used in a lot of > their earlier stuff, particularly Love Games, Almost There, parts of Mr. > Pink, Hot Water, so on, so forth. Does this sound familiar to anyone, > or is it just me? Rob, I don't want to sound bossy or pedantic, but can I clear some things up. A lot of the early 42 material was in E, mainly because (my theory here) it's easier to slap a bass in E, instead of any other key. Stan Clarke got to slap in all keys because Chick Corea was writing in G#Minor etc etc. Lets start at the start. E Major - (E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#, E) A normal major scale. Love Games, as you pointed out has a flat 7th (the Dominant 7th) so it would look like this........ E Major (Flat 7th) - (E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D, E) Mark starts to shift the Key around a bit when he hits the chorus. It turns in to E Minor (E, F#, G, A, B, C, D, E) then modulates to F. The last phrase C, C#, D leads nicely back into E Major. Mark, as a musician is great for sticking flattened 3rds and 5ths in a major key and then reverting back to the major again. I think, now forget all this. "All I said was 'One Of The Crossbeams Has Gone Askew On The Treadle', I didn't expect some kind of Spanish Inquisition" Jason Bell Email : xdr44 @ dial.pipex.com OR Jason.Bell @ PEmail.net WWW : http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/estate/xdr44/ Chapman Stick Player and a Member Of The HTML Writers Guild ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Level42 Digest V97 #130 From: DonZipf @ aol.com Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 10:06:38 -0400 (EDT) Last Digest, Richard R. wrote: > Has anyone experimented with connecting your speakers "out-of-phase?" > This is a trick that I learned trying to learn to play Beatles songs. > I think you connect the positive terminals as usual, but you connect > the negative leads together. That sounds like amp-channel bridging to me, Richard, and I do not recommend attempting it. If you want to hook-up your speakers out of phase, simply reverse the positive/negative connections on ONE speaker. "Out of phase, out of mind...." Z. ------------------------------ Subject: L42 and Wal Mart From: Paul Fucito Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 11:19:13 -0700 Well, I was at the Kitty Hawk Wal Mart yesterday and sure enough, I heard Something About You over the speakers and started to sing along...Boy was I pissed when they interrupted the song to say "there is no line on aisle 3..." paul ------------------------------ Subject: howdy From: DrWho333 @ aol.com Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 11:45:45 -0400 (EDT) hey, did you get my e-mail, I haven't recieved a responce from ya'll..just wondering if you forgot about your dj friend in TX....hahaha!! GO ROCKETS in the 1997 NBA Playoffs!!! Jeff Fox ------------------------------ Subject: Out of phase listening, explained From: Zaphod Beeblebrox Organization: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 10:50:13 -0500 Richard Reddick offered. . . > Has anyone experimented with connecting your speakers "out-of-phase?" > This is a trick that I learned trying to learn to play Beatles songs. > I think you connect the positive terminals as usual, but you connect > the negative leads together. OK, here's what you do. The positive connection from your amplifier to speakers is connected normally. The ground connection, however, are connected normally at the speakers, but are isolated from the amplifier, and connected to one another. Here's what this does: since the positive side of most amplifiers (we're not going to get into a discussion of audio electronics here) actually provides the control which results in the music, this is necessary to provide current to move your speaker drivers. When a signal comes through the positive connection and moves a driver, however, this also creates a similar (but opposite) force which will propigate through the ground terminal (which is connected to the other speaker) and provides the ground signal for the other speaker. With this happening in both speakers simultaneously, each speaker's attempted motion is providing an opposite impluse in the other. And now what comes out of the speaker: any signal which occurs in both speakers (mono, like some lead instruments, lead vocals, etc.) will have a similar negative force also acting on it, it is cancelled out- this is the 'kareoke > Most records give you a karaoeke (sp?) effect--it takes out the vocals. > Sometimes it takes out a lead instrument, too, so you often get a totally > different sound. effect which you notice. Furthermore, the side specific signals, and ambient information becomes more prominent due to the stronger signals being suppresed. In effect, this is a simple circut for making surround speakers from a stereo amplifier. If you want to try this with a couple pair of speakers in your house, here's the plan: 1) hook your normal main speakers up normally (was that also redundant too?) 2) hook up the speakers you want as surrounds as outlined above. These should be placed a bit behind you, if possible. 3) play your music/movies as normal. You'll have to experiment with placement of the surrounds to get it all working right, but you will get a crude version of surrond sound! **Note- this should not damage most amplifiers. If you have a very cheap amplifier, like one that comes in a $200, all-in-one box, make sure that the impedance of your surrond speakers is no lower than that of your main speakers (normally 8-16 ohms, an omega). If you hook your system up like this, and it sounds distorted- turn it off and undo what you've done! Also, you may not be able to play your system quite a loudly like this. > I like to listen to SATS in this method, because I can hear the guitars > more distinctly. Also you can hear Mike's backing vocals at the *front* > of the mix! I've been known to listen to the albums of This Mortal Coil in a similar method. Thier albums were mixed three track- left, center, right. As a result, you can listen to left/right channel only, normal, or non-center. Each way you do it, the albums sound completely different! > It seems that many Digesters are techno-dudes (and dudettes), so forgive > me if I'm advocating a method for ruining your speakers or whatever, or > if I explained it wrong. I'm just wondering if anyone else has tried it. > It's really cool to sing Mark's parts and have Mike on the backing vocals! Don't worry about it. In all but the strangest situation, this will cause no damage to your electronics, and I can't think of a way to hurt your speakers like this, unless it kills your amp and it then decides to take it out on your speakers! Later! Zap ------------------------------ Subject: ...two solitudes... From: "Richard J. Reddick" Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 11:15:27 -0500 (CDT) Whoops! I gave you an incorrect track title... thanks, Pat. I knew it looked weird when I typed it. What I meant to say was, "Two Solitudes!" Great track, very lush... And thanks to Matthew and DonZipf for enlightening me on the lyrical meaning of FN. That's quite clever! And to think I thought it was just rhyming filler... John, it's just a bizarre coincidence that the bloke from Living In A Box has worked with our boys... I remember the title track: "I'm-a-living in a box, I'm-a-living in a cardboard box..." Thought it was good, but that's the last I heard of 'em. Which reminds me... there was a band out at about the same time called Red Box (I think) that was also pretty good. Anybody ever hear of them? Rich ------------------------------ Subject: Discography From: Paul Fucito Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 12:51:25 -0700 Where can I find the latest discography on the band? The one I keep looking at hasn't been updated since the fall of 1996.... paul ------------------------------ Subject: Rob you're right ! From: pmajgier @ triton.unice.fr (Paul.MAJGIER) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 22:37:22 +0200 For Rob Kadel ...... I like analyse level 42's songs and i find they even play in mixolydien mode. it seems mark , mike , & goulds like very much this mode ..... we can put on this mode a lot of others notes , for example , if you play DO7 ( mixolydien ) , you can put the note DO# it make a effect "arabe" and in "I don't know why" mark use this effect , i find it's very beautiful . "A floating life " too , personnaly I enjoy this mode too , it's a reason I listen to LEVEL ....... But the Levels enjoy make change modes too. An example easy , "SAY" , : Do , Re , Mi , Do Major Re Major ----- > Mode Mi Minor Mi Major ----- > Mode Mi Major It's very beautiful feeling . "seven days" , ( i find the mike's keyobard very beautiful ) Re Major ----- > Mode Re Major Sol Minor La Minor ----- > Mode Re Minor We can see a change of mode too ... "Standing in the light" , in begin , a very beautiful bass line , FA# Major , FA# minor , with the boon's guitar riff . "Dune tune " : mark & mike playing in mode MI7 , after in the end they playing FA Major , SOL Major , ( live ) , I find it's boring to listenning to a song who keep the same mode . And the songs of level 42 have even changing modes .... "Children say" , in the end of song , boon plays notes in Major Mode , after in the same tonic note he plays in Minor Mode , it's a beautiful easy riff guitar . it's for these things i enjoy Level 42 . ( Sorry for the bad-English ) Paul Majgier ( University of Technology , Nice France , etc ... bla bla bla ..... ) pmajgier @ triton.unice.fr ------------------------------ Subject: Well, I'm oughta here! From: Zaphod Beeblebrox Organization: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 19:11:39 -0500 Hey Everyone! This will be my last post to the digest until June. As of noon tomorrow, I'll be on a plane for Germany. I sent out AYGB discs to the following people: David Withers Bill Miller Kristen Lage John Brindley Dean Cavill Don Zipf Terry Primus You all should be receiving your discs shortly. To those of you who want an AYGB disc, well, search the digest archive for the latest ordering info. All of it should be correct. I'll finish burning AYGB orders when I return. Then, Past and Presence, vol. 1! Please note, when I begin burning P&P, I'll only burn AYGB once a month- this is to be fair to the people who 've had their names on the waiting list for months now! Also, when I return, I'll put my database file in burning order so that people will know when to expect a disc. For those that missed my itenerary, I'll be in Paris from May 13 through May 23, Budapest May 24 - May 26?, and Prague until late on the 30th. If you's like to try to get in touch with me, write me, and hope that I've had the chance to check my email! For those of you in Paris (Morgan, and anyone else?), I'll have plenty of time for a Paris Levelfest. Morgan, je te telephonerai a mercredi ou jeudi. To everyone else, I'll see you when I return! Zaphod PS- I graduated yesterday! Now all I need is a job! ------------------------------ Subject: Physical Presence +3 From: Anne Painter Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 21:23:03 -0400 Levelheads: I just ordered the "new" Physical Presence from CD Now. It will be great to hear the Three edits on CD! Thanx Nate for the post & the Jakko come to think of it. Winman: Wish I could go to Vegas. I know it will be a great time! Keith Stingray, Stingray ------------------------------ Subject: A real brief response From: rcol @ ix.netcom.com (Randall L Collins) Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 21:03:17 -0500 (CDT) Rob writes: > Is it me, or doesn't the band play a lot of songs in a particular > mode, namely Mixolydian. One of the songs you mentioned (Mr Pink) does seem to use the mixolydian mode and you're right about it being a major scale with a flat 7th and it's built on G (in the key of C). As for other level songs..... well, I've never really listened to L42 music as an assemblege of "applied" theories. If I need to do that, I will. I just want to enjoy the song. That's all for now....really. Randall "I'm here for an argument." ------------------------------ Subject: Baby, baby, baby, you're out of phaaaaaaase... From: Jeff Grous Date: Sun, 11 May 1997 23:27:04 -0700 Hello, everyone! Richard writes: > Has anyone experimented with connecting your speakers "out-of-phase?" > I think you connect the positive terminals as usual, but you connect > the negative leads together. > Most records give you a karaoeke (sp?) effect--it takes out the vocals. > It seems that many Digesters are techno-dudes (and dudettes), so forgive > me if I'm advocating a method for ruining your speakers or whatever, or > if I explained it wrong. What you are actually doing is reproducing only the difference information contained in the recording. A stereo recording can be broken down into two component parts: information that is common to both channels (mono or L+R), and information which is NOT common to both channels (difference, or L-R). Lead vocals (and bass) are usually mixed mono, and hence disappear when you only reproduce L-R. This is essentially how those "vocal eliminator" boxes work. Connecting your speakers this way (known as a "Hafler connection," the poor man's surround sound) will not hurt your amp or the speakers (of course, doing something stupid like having the amp on while you make the connections probably will!). However, you need to make one minor change in your hookup- you've got both the negative (ground) terminals on the speakers disconnected from the amplifier and tied together. This indeed gives you difference information, but the speakers are out of phase with each other. The correct way to do this is wire the speakers in series and connect them like this: LEFT SPEAKER + TERMINAL: To amp's L channel + output LEFT SPEAKER - TERMINAL: To right speaker + terminal RIGHT SPEAKER + TERMINAL: From above RIGHT SPEAKER - TERMINAL: To amp's R channel + output Amplifier's - (negative) terminals are NOT CONNECTED! BTW, this is the exact circuit utilized for home Dolby Surround and Dolby Pro-Logic Surround with the addition of a 15-30ms delay and B-type NR applied. Yes friends, non-AC-3 surround is, gulp, MONO! If you can live without the delay and have another amplifier and pair of speakers lying around, you can get yourself full-bandwidth surround sound without spending any money! Interested (or confused) parties can E-mail me for more details and/or a wordier explanation. -Jeff "America was calling me, you said I was shoes..." ------------------------------ Subject: Yo From: "dirk.vael" Date: 12 May 97 10:17:23 In comparison to the latest postings, this will be a very short one :-) - The new Prefab Sprout CD is wonderful !!! Totally in line with Jordan. too bad to think that when Jordan was released, L42 still existed... - msg to Lars-Ove : goodies (including the extra one ;-) are on the way - msg to Eric: my CD-writer is in upgrade/maintenance, so expect your Nervous HowZe CD back within three weeks only, plus the mayhem Garage 2CD - I bought the 12" vinyl from the African Dream 'Young & Free' on Eightball Records, NY, featuring samples from Starchild. Now I have all house with sampled L42 in them - CD blanks went down again over here! Only $6 for a blank disc (any brand, but I prefer Maxells now, since these are totally gold (front & back) and do not have those ugly white stripes on the front like TDK has.) MDs are priced just the same now. Ole! - another msg to ERiC: bought some awesome vinyl this weekend... Plus GrEaT drum'n Bass, like Logical Progression II and more... whooohohohohohoooooo!!!! - msg to Dr. Dre: I definitely need to see you, for more reasons you can ever imagine! Tried to phone you, but your mobile number was down - third msg to ERiC: digitally reconstructed Classic from Mellow Man back to it's original 6:00 state, using an old tape dub from radio as reference. MAGIC!! Dirkies ------------------------------ Subject: A SAAAAAAD STORY. From: Jonathan Doody Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 02:01:49 -0700 About two years ago, things got bad for me. Marriage broke up, I was made redundant and ended up living in a crappy bedsit. I hadn't eaten for about three days cause I had no money. I had nothing.......apart from my 42 collection. No Stereo to play them on. This got sold long before. I then undertook the most heinous crime imaginable........I sold my collection to a second-hand shop. Man, I was so pissed off. He paid me a measly £2 each for my CDs and £1 for the videos. It was the most depressing day of my life. I got about £20 for something that I love. Many of you would say that it wasn't worth it. But when you are stuck in a small, dirty room ( exactly like Jake and Elwoods' room!), things get to you, I was so hungry, I guess your mind doesn't work properly. Anyway, I bought food, but for some reason, it tasted bitter. I sat there and took in what I had just done. I had slid down to my lowest point. It affected me so much, that a screamed in desperation. What happened next, I can only say is something of a higher force working. A feeling of anger, frustration, a sense of purpose and hope. I washed, showered, put my best clothes on. I walked into town, determined to better myself. I visited over 20 employment agencies, baring my soul, showing the real me. I felt so determined. But after about three hours, nothing came up. I was just about to give up, when I saw an advert in our local paper. It was for a company who was looking for people who had my experience. Well, to cut a very long and sad story short, I got the job. I met a beautiful girl called Jolanta at work and now we are living together and very much in love. Today, I have a great job, a wonderful house, a fantastic partner and I am happier now than I have ever been. I believe that my Level 42 collection saved me, their music, their ideals, their power. I told my girlfriend this sad story, after we sat down on Friday night and got a little drunk on red wine. I had always been very embarrassed about selling my stuff, so I hadn't told her before. She cried with me. She told me that she had never met anyone who had been so affected by music ( and she plays in an orchestra!!!!!). On Saturday, she took me into town, and with her hard earnt bonus, she bought me every 42 CD that we could find!! Is she cool or what???!!! I then spent the whole evening listening to 42, most of the tracks I hadn't heard in over two years. The emotion welled up inside me. I burst into tears......we went to bed, "Lying still in her arms"..........I fell asleep............contented..........In love. "I dream in colour, we paint each other black and white" Jon P.S. "Winston Churchill was a secret bogier" ------------------------------ Subject: Level 42 and religion! From: "MNR. CA MOCKE" <9413693 @ narga.sun.ac.za> Organization: Stellenbosch University Date: Mon, 12 May 1997 11:56:44 +0200 Hi all... It seems religion and Level 42 are getting on the digest agenda, and I would just like to reply to the following... > But Rich, the song "Forever Now" is a philosophical statement for secular > cosmologists (like me - that's why I love it so). The use of the traditional > coloquialisms "Holy grail, holy cow..." followed by "I just want to live > forever, now!" adds a point of tongue-in-cheek irony, with 'holy grail' and > 'holy cow' being, not only popular expressions, but religious icons as well > (the grail from Christianity, the cow from Hinduism). And, of course, the > whole theme of the song is that there is no eternal life, so get on. To my > knowledge, no-one in Level 42 is religious, and it would seem a bit of clever > songwriting, if a bit of a dig at...ahem..."true believers." At least, > that's my take on it - glad to hear anyone else's interpretation.... It is true that the band are not believers? This is very interesting, I would really like to know more about this.... :/ Is the song intended to "religiously influence" fans in any way? (some sort of a "hidden message") ? Also, in "Take a Look", Mark sings, "You will surely know... man made heaven and man made hell...". Does this sustain the possibility that Mark and co doesn't believe in heaven? Comments/interpretations/opinions please ppl, I am in the dark about this. Cheerio! .... Charl ..