From: Level42-request @ worldmachine.com (Level42 Digest) Subject: Level42 Digest V98 #119 _ ____ _ ____ _ _ ___ // //__ // / //__ // /__// __// //__ //__ \\_/ //__ //__ // /__ D I G E S T Level42 Digest Volume 98 : Issue 119 557 subscribers Today's topics: L42 Clones... The Saint Marcus Miller Lolitaj Phil Wayne Tumpkin Dennis Chambers! Will Greer Mr. Mister and Neil Peart Will Greer Re: Level42 Digest V98 #118 LOZ Green Re: IOW Festival '70 Adam Hankinson Hello all N Collier Stars in their eyes on video Adrian Bond Physical key changing Wally Alex Friesen Anything for trading?? Nick Brazier IOW '70, Radio "snobbery" (long post) Barua, Cliff [Ontario] Level 42 CD's for Sale: The Saint UK TV Brian Re: Level42 Digest V98 #118 Terek Richie tape-recording issues BHConrad Listen Mister john c vaeth more drummie jeff mahoney ------------------------------ Subject: L42 Clones... From: The Saint Date: Tue, 05 May 1998 07:27:40 -0400 I know this has already passed, but I think the following groups, although NOT true clones of Level 42, have some common parts with the band: Go West (This is obvious) Spandau Ballet (The early tracks like "Chant #1", "Highly Strung", "To Cut A Long Story Short", "Instinction") Wang Chung* (Sound like some of the World Machine tracks) Simply Red (Jazz and soul....) Simple Minds* / Duran Duran* (More World Machine like) Tears For Fears* (Same as above, with high and low vocals) *These groups share common sounds, textures and patterns likethose found on the World Machine album (the most commercial of L42's albums) and all thier albums (by the * mentioned groups) from 1984 through 1986 would work well......... That's just my opinion and is CERTAINLY subject to debate...... paul F PS: I'll be at the Culture Club/Howard Jones/Human League show in NJ this August wearing my Level 42 shirt from the digest last year........... I'm going back in time.... ------------------------------ Subject: Marcus Miller From: Lolitaj Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 09:10:19 EDT For the person looking for the Marcus hat-trick, he was also on the cover of Jazziz magazine last month as well. Live and More is an awesome CD - his playing on Panther is outta sight. I also love the version of Summertime that Lalah Hathaway sings on. For all you bassheads, this one is worth it. I like it better than Tales and almost as much as The Sun Don't Lie. Could Byrdman, Bill Wilson and Matthew Blackmon get me headcounts on Friday for their fests as Laurel is doing? Please also send me your address and phone number in the message. Winston and I plan to send out the first batch of shirts this weekend, since Jerry has them done already (that was fast!). Anyone who has already gotten in touch with me is guaranteed a shirt, so send the checks. I am calling Ria as we speak (she is only at Joe's on Tuesdays apparently) to make sure she remembers we are coming. Who knows - she may convince Mark to show up for a bit if I sound sufficiently sincere. Wish me luck. Later, dudes (and dudettes). Lolita ------------------------------ Subject: Phil From: WayneTV @ webtv.net (Wayne Tumpkin) Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 09:36:36 -0400 Several years ago, I read a magazine article in which Mark stated that Phil left because he felt that the band's use of the sequencer interfered with his creative input. It seems as though tape loops were used instead of sequencers on the FN album. Perhaps that was Phil's idea. ~Wayne ------------------------------ Subject: Dennis Chambers! From: "Will Greer" Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 08:38:32 -0600 Joey Said: > Dennis Chambers: Another P-Funk alum, he too could deliver The One > with power, but he was very jazzy as well with lightning hands. Just > listen to some of his single-stroke fills. He never played too many > notes in my opinion. His style of play would have been right at home > with the Level 42 we all know and love. Oh, yeah. Why didn't I think of Dennis Chambers? He would sound fantastic with L42 in the rhythm section. Very one-oriented, and knows exactly when to leave space. That in my opinion is the number one quality in a funk drummer. Great call! For everyone's info, Dennis Chambers also sounds great playing with Mike Stern on a few of his CDs, notably "Jigsaw". =================================== Will Greer Empower Solutions, LLC Denver, Colorado (303) 888-7154 mailto:Will_Greer @ EmpowerSolutions.com http://www.EmpowerSolutions.com =================================== ------------------------------ Subject: Mr. Mister and Neil Peart From: "Will Greer" Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 08:38:36 -0600 > > Neil Peart would be interesting since like Phil, also writes lyrics. > > I'm quite sure he would never "lower" himself to playing with a Pop band, > you should have heard some of the snotty things he said about the Rush > tribute album from a couple years ago. Jeeze, relax a little Neil! Aaah, but remember that Neil spoke _very_ highly of Phil Gould and Level 42 in general in a 1989 (?) interview in Modern Drummer magazine. He mentioned Phil as one of his favorite Drummers. We've had this thread before, so if you're interested go to the search engine and search on Neil Peart. I believe someone posted the actual excerpt from the interview a while back. > Pat Mastelotto (Mr. Mister, King Crimson, a zillion others) - Not that > I know a great deal about him, but I love what I've heard, and that's > enough for me! What ever happened to Mr. Mister :^( I guess that's > what happens when a bunch of studio musicians try to form a "Band". > Which leads into my next topic... Yeah, Mastelotto would also have been great, for the same reasons Tony Thompson would have. Very heavy handed. Hits his cymbals _real_ hard. I was a Mr. Mister fan too. Here's what I know about the musicians now: Richard Page: continues to do studio work, mostly as a singer. I haven't heard any recordings with him on bass in a long time. He has lots of backup vox on the Richard Marx CDs. Also, and more notably, when Toy Matinee broke up, Richard Page joined one of its members and created a group called "Third Matinee". They released a CD called "Meanwhile", which is absolutely excellent and sounds very, very much like a new Mr. Mister album. I _highly_ recommend picking it up if you're a fan. Steve George: He also continues to do studio work, and has been recording and touring with Kenny Loggins as much as anyone else for several years now. Steve Farris: He played on the 1989 Howard Jones album "In The Running" (which was not Jones' best outing in my opinion). Other than that I believe he may also have played with Loggins, but I'm not as sure about that. Pat Mastelotto: As you mention, he now has a gig with King Crimson, of all things. Weird. =================================== Will Greer Empower Solutions, LLC Denver, Colorado (303) 888-7154 mailto:Will_Greer @ EmpowerSolutions.com http://www.EmpowerSolutions.com =================================== ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Level42 Digest V98 #118 From: "LOZ Green" Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 15:57:38 +0100 Hi eveyrone, Well, I dont know whether or not Im going to the LevelFest? I dont know when it is. Start work on June the 1st. I finish me exams on 20 May. I have a long standing engagemnet on 22-25 may. If I can fit anything around this I definitely would. Also, I did get 'Stars In Their Eyes' on video, but not the build up of the guy being interviewed and everything, because I hjad no idea he was going to be Mark until he said he was. Yours .... LOZ ------------------------------ Subject: Re: IOW Festival '70 From: Adam Hankinson Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 16:15:00 +0100 Hello friends, Eric- I enjoyed that video review about the IOW festival '70. You asked if MK or anyone else went there.... I think that in either a TV interview or the Biography, Mark told how he sat in his bedroom window and listened to Mr Hendrix during that festival. Unfortunatly I didn't make it there....I wasn't due on this planet untill August '71 :-) Adam ------------------------------ Subject: Hello all From: N Collier Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 19:21:57 +0100 Hello all, I've been completely out of circulation for a while - laid low by homework. I'm fine and the baby is due next month - I'm still pushing for the name Mark if it's a boy but my wife isn't so keen. Any suggestions for other 42-related names? Regine? Louis? Emily? Billy? Tracie? Joe? Fantastic to see that Rob got his stolen bass back, a story with a happy ending. Anyone know if Level 42 have ever cited George Benson as an influence? I was listening to Love Games the other day and it suddenly dawned on me that Mike was really doing a 'Benson' and singing along with his keyboard solo halfway through. Good to be back, I hope to make it to IOW. Regards, Nigel "...friends all over the world, none in this country but all over the world" - Tony Hancock, The Radio Ham http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nnac/ [on a vaguely related note, does anyone else agree with me that George Benson wins the prize for the "most easily identified guitar style"? -Eric ] ------------------------------ Subject: Stars in their eyes on video From: "Adrian Bond" Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 21:01:00 +0100 Adam Hankinson asked > *stars in their eyes* > Did anyone get this on video? I would love to see this. I've taped the MK impersonator on "Stars in their eyes". It's on a tape with a few other bits and pieces that I'll bring along to the ILF so you should get a chance to see it there. I thought the gut himself looked more like MK BEFORE makeup and hair got at him. During the singing his voice was chorused as per MK on the album so at points it does sound like MK, but it's missing that slightly rough throateeness (is there such a word?) that MK has on that song. He didn't have any of the MK mannerisms at all either. On the bass playing, he obviously doesn't know one end of a bass from the other as he barely moved his left hand at all just tapped his right on the strings. However, in the instrumental section he looked at the neck to check his fret position (!?) and then a little later slides up while the bass on the song is sliding down! Still it does take some guts to do that, and he was singing live and in tune. By the way Adam, I checked out the pic, what a great smile! Were you listening to Level 42 for the first time or was it just wind ? Ade p.s. Thanks Spaldo for the explanation of FAB, I like that. My dad was a Marine. "And we all have our daddy's eyes" ------------------------------ Subject: Physical key changing Wally From: Alex Friesen Date: 05 May 98 15:52:28 -0400 From: "Tony Sharpe" > live album called "Physical Prescence" and then a track by the same > name on a different album a year later. I thought there was a connection > somewhere (obviously not). Er, I always thought to myself "wow, what a cool connection they've made between those albums by using that title in a retroactive way like that." > I still love the way they turned the key change section from the live > version of that track into the opening >melody of "Lessons in Love" You lost me there. Key change of which track from which version became *melody* of LiL? (Not a flame or anything, I'm just lambasting myself for missing this cool concept for all these years.) > views on is the effectiveness and contribution of Wally Badarou. My humble opinion: the band would have been very different without him. Judging by Echos and Words of a Mountain, I gather that most of the unique synth sounds and nifty little keyboard lines we're all familiar with were the brainchild (?brain-children?) of Wally. ...Alex... ------------------------------ Subject: Anything for trading?? From: Nick Brazier Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 17:21:47 -0400 Hello again funkers! Hows everyone I am desperatly looking for some live stuff, half of my stuff got lost when I moved and I want more !! I have some decent copies of some video stuff: Live at the grey whistle test 1982 (doing Heathrow, Almost There and Dune Tune Out Of Sight...... promo video Are You Hearing...... promo video Weave Your Spell...... promo video Play at Home ('84 documentary) Quite alot of live stuff from 82-84 I would love some live tapes, vidoes cds (not White Funky!!) And that b-side cd you lot keep on talking about!! Also I would like some live Sam Brown, Maxwell, Jamiroquai, Incoginto....... Hope someone can help me!! Thanks Jonathan :O Þ ------------------------------ Subject: IOW '70, Radio "snobbery" (long post) From: "Barua, Cliff [Ontario]" Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 19:06:00 -0400 A couple of comments on yesterday's digest: Eric: you wrote wondering about the Isle of Wight Festival. This was held in late August 1970, and being a "classic rock" fan, as well as other forms of music, I'll put in my two bits. (I didn't attend, as I was only 5, but not living too far away in east London). It was billed as an English version of Woodstock, and featured among others, the Moody Blues, the Who and Jimi Hendrix's final performance. The Who performance was released on a double CD in 1996. It's hard to say if any of the boys attended - they may have still been a bit young. In response to Greg's comments yesterday, I should have originally described the "snobbery of American radio" as the "over-formatting of North American radio" (here in Canada, we pretty much copy all things American, with the notable exception of complimentary handguns for all) (OK, sorry, sorry). Maybe I'm a bit bitter because being 33, I was lucky enough to grow up with unformatted radio (i.e. adult contemporary, alternative, classic rock, etc). Here in Toronto, I listened to early Level 42 (jazz-funk-pop) on the same station where I would listen to the Jam, Clash, Peter Tosh, and Rolling Stones. Radio educated me. Since about the late 80's, radio has sucked very large. Without a huge single to play over and over, Guaranteed and Forever Now was not played at all. And at 26 or 27, I felt a little "old" at the time for Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden in 1991-92. So, yes, while Level 42 failed to produce another "Something About You" or "Lessons In Love", there was no "mature" radio station to hear any of the other tracks. I mean a station somewhere in between Celine Dion and Green Day. In 1991 and 1994, Level 42 was not really meant for a "youth" market - it was meant for more mature folk (regardless of age) who wanted integrity in the music without the harder alternative edge. I only meant to say that the whole formatting and overly business side of radio seemed to originate in the US and has now spread everywhere. It also explains the relative failure of many excellent British artists in the US (Jam, Paul Weller, Level 42, UB40, Brand New Heavies, Incognito). If you can't be slotted in a format in the US, you're not played - and then you become an obscurity. Sorry for the long post. Cliff Barua - Toronto ------------------------------ Subject: Level 42 CD's for Sale: From: The Saint Date: Tue, 05 May 1998 20:51:44 -0400 I have two more brand new Level 42 CD's (unopened) for sale / trade: 1) The Pursuit Of Accidents (UK version with the 2 bonus tracks) 2) True Colours (UK CD) The price of each is $14.50 (US) with $1.50 shipping anywhere in the US. I was able to find these for those of you who missed out the last time I had offered CD's for sale. I will also consider ANY Level 42 or 80's item for trade on the above CD's................. paul F ------------------------------ Subject: UK TV From: Brian Date: Tue, 05 May 1998 20:00:12 -0500 > From: "LOZ Green" > > I just had to write to tell everyone that in the UK we have a programme > called 'Stars In Their Eyes' where people come along and pretend to be > famous singers, they get professionally made over and do a performance. > > Well one guy was Mark King!!!!! Anyone from the UK - when something like this related to L42 comes on, please record it for us less fortunate people from the U.S. (home of the MTV that doesn't play music)! We don't have shows like that. > From: "Arjan Meijer" > > I have always thought that "Ordinary Day" from Duran Duran was a very > Level 42-like song. It could have been one of the Guaranteed tracks, > with Alan Holdsworth on guitar. Another track that has some Level 42-ring > to it is "I Will Remeber" by Toto (from the Tambu album 1995). I don't > know why, but I think it has to do with the harmonies or something, > it has always reminded me of L42. Ordinary World... BTW - is Tambu any good? What's the best place to get the G. Husband video? Thanks, Brian L ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Level42 Digest V98 #118 From: tereknbobbie @ webtv.net (Terek Richie) Date: Tue, 5 May 1998 22:23:02 -0400 Hello everyone! Tony, the Wally Badorou question looms over my head as well. I really wish I could get more info on it. I haven't gotten a hold of any of WB's albums yet, so I can't compare. Did he help give them a more commercial sound, did he write many and/or the majority of the phat keys throughout the years.........JUST HOW MUCH DID HE DO???!!!! ...............How many licks does it take to get to the center of the WB mystery, the world may never know............ ONCE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!! CAN ANYBODY GIVE ME THE 411 ON THE GUARANTEED LIVE VIDEO FROM JAPAN?????!!!!!!!! Take care, T. ------------------------------ Subject: tape-recording issues From: BHConrad Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 00:06:08 EDT sort-of off topic. I'm still working on recording the Level 42 Connection Collection. I mastered it to DAT ok, but putting it on cassette has resulted in some parts of the music being slow or 'blurry' sounding (as best I can describe it). Anyone have any ideas what causes this? I'm using a Sony TC-WR665S cassette recorder and Maxell XL II 90's blanks. I wonder if cleaning the unit would help, or should I use different tapes, or whether it has something to do with 'digital' output to analog. taking hints if u got 'em. Bruce. ------------------------------ Subject: Listen Mister From: jcvaeth @ juno.com (john c vaeth) Date: Wed, 06 May 1998 00:01:52 EDT It's cool to hear Brad Dietz mention Mr. Mister. Richard Page (the lead singer, bassist) is a good songwriter. Their last album "Go On" was excellent. I read an interview with Richard Page and he said that he wished he could play like Mark King and Nathan East! God bless him! John P.S. Pat Mastellato rocks! Glad to see some appreciation. _____________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com Or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] ------------------------------ Subject: more drummie From: "jeff mahoney" Date: Wed, 6 May 1998 19:37:40 +1000 Hi all Well done Adam.........yes you are quite correct Drummie Zeb did play on Marks solo album. Track 2 ........clocks go forward. I honestly did'nt think of this when i thought of drummers for Level 42, i was just thinking what a good drummer Drummie is and his style of playing is not unlike phil's. and to Dave Mock .........thanks for your kind words re:physical presence. great song from a great album. an impeccable groove cheers from (the) sydney (correspondent). jeff