From: Level42-request @ worldmachine.com (Level42 Digest) Subject: Level42 Digest V98 #131 _ ____ _ ____ _ _ ___ // //__ // / //__ // /__// __// //__ //__ \\_/ //__ //__ // /__ D I G E S T Level42 Digest Volume 98 : Issue 131 561 subscribers Today's topics: Everything, Life, The Universe - what?!* Andy Smith LOTS ! Andre Huijts Off-topic: Paying dues Pat Flanagan Top Albums Alanlgc Forever Now bashing Lolitaj Re: Level42 Digest V98 #130 DonZipf Huge Laker Fans Allwyn & Laura Kelly Terek's Sinatra post Dave Mock L42 at TOPPOP and IOW. Henri.Blakenburg Re Level 42 on telly ! Bill Leslie-Miller It's not big and it's not clever Tom Brown ------------------------------ Subject: Everything, Life, The Universe - what?!* From: Andy Smith Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 12:25:34 +0100 Hey there Levelheads, Major greetings from sunny Buckinghamshire, Old Blighty! Yep, been ages since speaking to you all - but I've been reading with mega interest all these negative/positive vibes re the boys' music. I suppose this is what a major worldleading digest is all about - but here it comes!! Although I didn't discover L42 until 1983 (still kick myself for missing the formative years) EVERY SINGLE SONG I'VE HEARD SINCE THEN I HAVE LOVED I have never experienced this with any other musical setup, and that is why Level 42 are 'Everything' musically to me. Yes, some tracks are better than others - but never 'crap'. Don't get me wrong folks, it is right to discuss the material - that musn't stop. Right, time to get off my high-horse! Lolita, I believe you've opened a very interesting subject re your bass playing! John, would like to hear more about the left/right brain theory. To put in my two-penny's worth - years back when I was learning trumpet and piano, I took on board church organ lessons as well! Both hands and feet - yep it was tricky!! The only way I progressed was by learning all parts at the same time, tempo slowed down and then increased. Jo-Anne and Wayne's recent comments I therefore agree with. Today, I use the same technique in learning difficult trumpet lines and when teaching the piano. SO GO FOR IT LO!!!!!!!!!! In case, I don't write over the next week - let me take this opportunity to thank everyone who's organised the upcoming Levelfests. Your hard work is much appreciated. I'm already looking forward to the next one!! TCOY, Andy. ------------------------------ Subject: LOTS ! From: "Andre Huijts" Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 17:19:15 +0200 Hey there friends ! Long time no post from me so here goes: 1) 88 on Radio 3 ! ! ! ! So there must be a God after all ! 2) All this talk about AOY reminded me of the video that was with this song. There are some Dutch things in this video: at the start there is a traffic sign (for the Americans this is a speed limit sign, in km/h of course).Nothing special but I am 100% sure this is a Dutch sign since the font of the numbers is only used in The Netherlands. Also the black Mercedes cabrio has a (old) Dutch license plate. The surroundings of the shooting don't look much like Holland however.....I wonder if I can trace the license plate number.....;) ! Boy do I love this song. You have to play this one AT MAXIMUM VOLUME to really appreciate it. It has to blow right through you. It has everything that makes L42 music great. Funky like hell, many "hidden things", and how about those horns, absolutly funkin' brilliant ! I like the guitar work too very subtle, very "sneaky". This is what a great dance tune is all about. Regarding dropping a song from any FN album: I wished all songs would have fit on one CD ! Dropping any L42 song is a shame if you want my opinion, but if someone would hold a knife to my throught "Heart On The Line (Skeletal)" would have to go. I have always wondered if the "Skeletal" thing ment the song wasn't finished yet, it sure sounds like it ! I find it a bit boring. I don't remember who it was, but I think someone dared to mention The Sunbed Song to drop. As by the words of Mark King himself: "Take him out and shoot him" ! ;) ! You really don't understand Level 42 if you don't dig this song....you must hate the really old stuff too then. For me the FN album was the return of the "real" L42. The funk was back, the groove was back, PHIL WAS BACK ! ! ! ! They had returned to there basics, yet accomplished to be again different and not repeated themselves. I never understood why this album wasn't very succesful. FN was a small hit here, but AOY,LIAPW and Romance should and could have been hits too. When I first listened to the album, I was again amazed by the sheer musical abilities of the guys even though I knew all the previous stuff and had seen them three times. Although I have learned to apperciate them, I still think SATS and Guaranteed were the two albums where they had drifted of too much from their roots. That is not to say I don't like anything from those albums !!! 3) Has anyone ever heard anything from Roberto Vargas lately ???? I owe him some CD5's (they got lost in the mail) and have found some replacement copies, but he seems to have vanished. If I don't get a reply in the next weeks I will have those CD5's up for trade. 4) For trade right now: 2 brand new copies of "Forever Now" CD5 Tracks: FN, All Over You, Romance, Play me. 5) O yeah, almost forgot: Someone asked for the different versions of the FN album. Well here goes: First there was the "UK" version released by RCA/BMG (March 14, 1994) [74321-18996-2] which has 11 tracks. For some reason RCA/BMG thought the Japanese had better taste or deserved more than we here in Europe (Take those guys who decided this out and shoot THEM ! and I mean it this time !) so they released BVCP-711 on April 21 which added to the "UK" 11 tracks had Past Lives and LTSN. Then there was the famous "Resurgence" edition in 1995 [LV 102 CD]. According to Lazlo Nibble's Level 42 dicography (look at my site for a link to it: http://home.worldonline.nl/~huijts/index.html) there should be an American issue. Details: 1995 US (Griffin/Gopaco; 4876 543 2) [unconfirmed] Forever Now [mix unknown] Model Friend Love in a Peaceful World Romance Billy's Gone One in a Million The Sunbed Song Talking in Your Sleep Don't Bother Me Time Will Heal Learn to Say No Can someone over there confirm this version ???? The latest FN release was again by RCA/BMG Japan, and according to different sources this was a 20-bit remaster of the original studio tapes. There has been some discussion on this digest wether or not it really _is_ a remastered edition. I have it, and do think it sounds better compared to the UK version. Anyway it has the same tracklisting as the orignal Japanese version (13 tracks), but has a different cat. number: BVCP-7463. Like the original Japanese version, this one includes a lyrics booklet in English and Japanese ! Very handy if you will ever end up in a Karakoke bar in Tokyo ! So that's it: 5 versions if that US version really exists ! 6) Don't bother me seems to get a lot of banging.....mmmm, shoot me, but I like it. It really comes to my mind everytime I have that "screw you" feeling. The song really frees my mind every time when people are moaning or complaining. The whistling part is very well placed in this song. It amplifies the thought behind the song. "No matter what, I walk away whisteling". 7) Chuck Roehm wrote part of "Talking in you sleep" : > The way that it looks in a seaside town When the shutters go up and the > lights go down And the beaches are bare.... Well Chuck actualy it's not "the lights go down" but "the flags come down". Don't worry: I've misheared lots of lyrics too ! You're right about the fantastic lyrics on this song. I like the song and the lyrics are great, as on most L42 songs.... ENOUGH ! Groetjes, Andre ------------------------------ Subject: Off-topic: Paying dues From: Pat Flanagan Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 12:14:25 -0500 > All that aside, how many dues did he really have to pay as an > artist, especially if he was tied in with the mafia. > HHHHHHMMMMMMMMM!!??????? Yet another one of my least favorite musician "terms," "paying dues" (connected to, and second only to, "selling out"). I've never understood why some people think that, in order to be a TRUE musician, one has to scrape through hard years of no-money gigs, subsisting on macaroni & cheese, in order to "earn" their true rewards. If a musician's talented, a musician's talented, and musicians deserves to be rewarded in accordance to the size of the group they appeal to. If you're playing niche music, you will probably receive smaller rewards. If you're playing popular music that appeals to the mass, you will probably receive larger rewards. That doesn't make the niche musician any more serious than the popular musician, or vice versa. And when a niche musician's style of music gains mainstream favor, and the musician's rewards increase accordingly, how is that "selling out?" And if the musician decides to change styles to a more popular style, that's THEIR choice, why should they be considered a "sell out" just because they didn't cater to your personal whims? Anyway, I'm done with my rant. Oh, so far as I know, Sinatra's mafia ties, however large or small they may have been, didn't come into play until he was already an established musician. I believe it was during the Vegas era, since Vegas was a primarily mob-controlled project from the late forties through the seventies. Sinatra was already a popular artist by that time. ____________________ PFPD -- newmedia marketing consulting a limited liability company PO Box 281, Granger, IN 46530-0281 v:616.663.2250 -- competitive business advantages through creative technology ------------------------------ Subject: Top Albums From: Alanlgc Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 13:10:02 EDT And so to it ! The art of the totally impossible - to rank those treasured time pieces ! 1. Level 42 2. Standing in the Light 3. Physical Presence (dble live) 4. World Machine 5. The Pursuit of Accidents 6. Early Tapes 7. Running in The Family 8. True Colours 9. Guaranteed 10. Live at Wembley 11. Forever Now 12. Staring at the Sun Of course, every L42 album has its highlights e.g. 'Man' on SATS is probably one of the best L42 toons ever ! This selection is entirely subjective and is as much about the times as about the toons ! But you can't ignore the 'live' albums. They demonstrate the band's incredible energy, vitality and brilliance and will always sound as good as the day they were recorded! Postscript : In the UK there's a 1996 CD compilation release called 'Turn it On' on Spectrum Music. This contains a magic live version of 'Physical Presence' which includes the middle 8 section, not on the original studio version, but a feature of its live performance during '85. Can anyone tell me where it was recorded ? ------------------------------ Subject: Forever Now bashing From: Lolitaj Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 13:31:31 EDT I am surprised that a number of people consider Forever Now one of their worst albums. There are two of them for me: Guaranteed is the worst for me by far, followed right behind by Staring at the Sun. Guaranteed has a number of good songs, but it is not cohesive as a CD in my book. I know this is many folks favorite, so I'm courting controversy, but I'm a jazzfunk head and always liked that period of the group more. Guaranteed is all over the map, and it contains two of my least favorites - Set Me Up and The Ape. I love Overtime and the song Guaranteed has grown on me. Lasso the Moon is cool too, but I could do without a lot of the rest. I like My Father's Shoes only because Mark is so damn fine in the video (short hair, a suit, a trenchcoat.... don't get me started!). Staring at the Sun just doesn't have a lot of songs that turn me on. Man is one of my favorites from any CD, Heaven in My Hands and I Don't Know Why are cool, but the rest I could take or leave. Alan Murphy's playing is a bright spot, I admit, but I definitely think that Forever Now is a much better CD than either of these. Many will disagree, of course, which is what rational discussion is all about, but I must always offer my unsolicited opinion :-). Lolita 4 days and counting... ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Level42 Digest V98 #130 From: DonZipf Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 16:22:14 EDT > DonZ - save me a set of pins, I'll settle with you @ the ILF I'll have enough pins so that everyone at the UK ILF can get 2. Everyone else can e-mail me at DonZipf @ aol.com for details on how to get theirs. Everyone who's seen them so far has been very impressed, even if they don't know who Level 42 is. I'm getting lots of wow's and oohs & ahs. Ther really do look good - very high quality. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > So, now tell me where the name "Level 42" came from. I've heard 3 > versions: 1) from "Hitchhikers to the Galaxy".... The biography has two versions: Boon & Mark were fans of the Douglas Adams books, and wanted to call the band "42". Because John Gould (Boon & Phil's brother, the band's first manager) didn't like it much, their lawyer suggested adding the "Level". According to Andy Sojka, the band's first producer, HIS lawyer (a fan of the books) suggested the name "42" and Andy added the "Level", claiming that Mark said, "I don't care what we're called, as long as we make records." * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > Re Seinfeld's bass line.... "Keyboard bass? We don't need no stinking keyboard bass!" - Will Lee 3 days to departure! - Z. ------------------------------ Subject: Huge Laker Fans From: "Allwyn & Laura Kelly" Date: Fri, 15 May 1998 23:06:33 -0700 Lakers, Lakers, Lakers, Lakers!! ------------------------------ Subject: Terek's Sinatra post From: Dave Mock Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 17:01:27 -0700 (PDT) Hey, Micro-Kids: Interested to read Terek's post on Frank Sinatra in the last Digest. As a Sinatra fan -- his Sands live album from 1965 ranks as first-class -- I still don't have the blinkers on when it comes to Frank's past. However, as a musician (singer, even), I feel Sinatra's innovation as a vocalist comes in the way that he was able to interpret a song ("Night and Day") and make it his own. That's the litmus test of all great musicians, but he was the first major vocalist in recorded music to embody a song, not just sing it. What got me is that his voice held out into his mid-60s, a rarity. Most importantly, he used his voice WELL into his 60s. Some vocalists start losing their oomph when they get into their late 30s (Duran Duran's Simon LeBon), others go from strength to strength (Daryl Hall, whose two Arista albums with John Oates were drek but who has used his voice brilliantly in his last two solo sets) and other voices remain ageless even in their higher registers (Stevie Wonder, Michael McDonald). Frankie wasn't Caruso, but he was as good as he needed to be to have a long career. TCOY, Dave ------------------------------ Subject: L42 at TOPPOP and IOW. From: Henri.Blakenburg @ DUT.RWS.minvenw.nl Date: Mon, 18 May 98 8:22:16 +0200 Hi all, Daniel wrote: > In The Netherlands there's a new quiz on TV about a popmusic show from the 80's > called TOPPOP. For all of you Dutch digesters a question about this. Has Level > 42 ever been on this show? I suppose they did several performances at that show. I have "It's over" on VHS video tape. If memory serves me right, Andre did ever wrote that he liked the TOPPOP "Hot water" version more than the original video. Maby the homepage of AVRO's TOPPOP can tell us more ?? For all of you guys and dolls who are going to IOW, have a lot of fun and enjoy your being there. Sh@#&t, i have to work that date, but my mind is with you lucky ones at that holy ground! Take a lot of pics and beers etc. Keep an eye on the milkman and farmers overthere, you never know what Mark is doing when he isn't in his studio! BTW i have now also e-mail at home. I tought to have a nice adress: morelevel @ hotmail.com. Adios 559 amigos. Henri. ------------------------------ Subject: Re Level 42 on telly ! From: Bill Leslie-Miller Date: Tue, 19 May 1998 08:05:12 +0000 Levelheads Anybody see Level 42 on telly over the weekend...?? VH1 were playing the Prince's Trust Concert at the NEC in Birmingham, not sure what year it was 88/89 ??? but i'm sure you will all remember that Level 42 were the host band playing for the likes of Swing Out Sister, Van Morrison, Mike And The Mechanics, Mica Paris, Erasure etc etc etc To all the people who have tried to email me...We have just changed mail servers over so keep trying !! See y'all this weekend.. Bill Miller ------------------------------ Subject: It's not big and it's not clever From: Tom Brown Date: Mon, 18 May 1998 09:49:06 +0000 Hi Folks, Hey Janet, you really know how to start a debate don't you. For the record, I haven't got the faintest idea about MK's scars BUT, I have heard a story about their name that isn't as common as some of the others : I heard that there is a multi-storey car park (somewhere in the States I believe) that is the highest in the world. Guess what it's got 42 levels - hence the name ! Quick shout to Don Z. Nat King Cole, what an absolute star. Couldn't agree with you more. One of the most unique and distinctive voices ever and most certainly better (IMHO) than "Ol' Blue Eyes". Flame proof clothing on stand by. Counting the hours 'til Friday..................... That's All -Tom