From: Level42-request @ worldmachine.com (Level42 Digest) Subject: Level42 Digest V98 #59 _ ____ _ ____ _ _ ___ // //__ // / //__ // /__// __// //__ //__ \\_/ //__ //__ // /__ D I G E S T Level42 Digest Volume 98 : Issue 59 553 subscribers Today's topics: re: Rick Astley Chris Staunton Quoting entire digests Eric J. Hansen Rick Astley Arjan Meijer ------------------------------ Subject: re: Rick Astley From: Chris Staunton Date: Fri, 06 Mar 1998 09:50:13 -0500 From: "Charl Mocke" <9413693 @ narga.sun.ac.za> > > can anyone maybe give me some background info on > Rick Astley? Albums? Web pages? Here's a good place to look for just about anything: http://205.186.189.2/cg/amg.exe?sql=2P_IDP|||||3581 > There was this other fine tune, it sounded something like: > "Together forever...." > Anyone know the name of this tune? You got it in one! It's from the 1987 album "Whenever You Need Somebody" (as is "Never Gonna Give You Up") which, BTW, is in stock at CDUniverse.com > I see Mark co-wrote songs with Rick some time in 1990. Not only that, but check out this "additional musicians" credit from the above-mentioned album... Gary Barnacle (saxophone). Rick is obviously a discerning fellow! ------------------------------- Chris Staunton chriss @ pcsupplies.com ...gotta get back to BASSics... ------------------------------- ------------------------------ Subject: Quoting entire digests From: "Eric J. Hansen" Organization: Worldmachine Technologies Corporation Date: Fri, 06 Mar 1998 13:26:33 -0500 Thanks, Charl, for expressing great annoyance at the inadvertant practice of attaching an *entire* previous digest to new posts. I know that most other people share the sentiment. PLEASE, if you're going to go to the effort to post something to the mailing list, DO NOT attach any part of the previous digest unless it's absolutely necessary. In most cases, this translates to: DON'T ATTACH THE PREVIOUS DIGEST AT ALL. Sorry if it seems like the frequency of these mistakes is on the rise... I used to have the time to reformat the entire digest every day prior to it being sent out, but I just can't do it all the time any more. So, if you happen to screw up and send an entire digest (or god-forbid, any sort of an email attachment), chances are I won't be able to catch it in time. PLEASE "post with care!" Thanks, Eric Manager, Level 42 Digest -- Eric J. Hansen Worldmachine Technologies Corporation http://www.worldmachine.com tel: (617) 357-4040, fax: (617) 357-4949 ------------------------------ Subject: Rick Astley From: "Arjan Meijer" Organization: Iquip B.V. Date: Sat, 07 Mar 1998 11:07:48 +0100 Well, I saw my chance clear, so I thought "Let's write something on Rick Astley". Rick Astley is one of the artists coming from the (in?)famous Stock Aitken & Waterman producers trio. Those three men from England produced a lot of _big_ hits in the 80's. The records they produced were very slick and all had the distinct SA&W-sound: loads of synthesizers and beats, and loads of delay on the vocals. Perhaps their trademark was the percussive synth sounds coming from the left and right speaker, and their drum sounds and patterns. On the sleeves of their records, they always wrote that the drums were played by A. Linn. (referring to the Linn drum drum computer...) I thought that was really funny. Anyway, like always with music, and especially with cheesy, commercial music, opinions varied widely. While on the one hand they scored major hits, the more serious press slaughtered them without exception (sounds a bit like with our guys, doesn't it?). I think the general opinion was a bit unfair to them, they were really song craftsman: 3 minute tracks that really ticked to your mind all day. The negative press accused them of murdering the music, saying all their songs sounded the same, and the artists performing them really were like barbie-dolls without any input in the music themselves. On the other hand, you could say they were the British Motown of the 80's, although I'm sure a lot of you will disagree with me... Well, they had a group of singers for which they produced records. The best known are Rick Astley, Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. Those last two were soap stars from Australia... Other artists they got involved in incidentally: Bananarama, Donna Summer and Ferry Aid (with Mark on bass+vocals!!). They scored one or two hits under their own name, being mostly instrumental dance tracks (remember the track Roadblock?) Without a doubt, Rick Astley was their most talented singer. The story on Rick Astley is kind of funny to me. He was the cleaner of their studios, sweeping the floors and so on. Sometimes, late at night when no official recordings were going on, he was allowed to use their studio. This was the way he was discovered. Sounds a little like the paper-boy becoming millionaire, doesn't it? His first single (and best known hit I think) was "Never Gonna Give You Up". Thinking about Rick Astley, two things come to mind: first of all, he really had an amazing voice, sounding extremely black (although he was a very shy, white boy...). Secondly, the guy can't dance. In fact, he can't move at all. Even Mike Lindups stage hopping is better :-) Well, he had a string of hits, Together Forever (mentioned by Charl yesterday) was the 3rd, the 2nd was Whenever You Need somebody. Again I want to state that if you like happy, upbeat, cheesy music you will like this, but looking at it very critical, you could say that between his hits only the lyrics were changed... Melody and beats stayed alike... For DJs in disco's this was great, they could make mega-mixes easily. Rick Astley also appeared during the Prince's Trust concert in 1987, where L42 performed Running in the family. I think Mark played bass during Rick's song. Later on, Rick wanted to move to the more mature audience, and his producers didn't like the idea much. Here's were the big argument came in, and Rick and SA&W split. It is fair to say that both their careers would never again be as good as when they were together. SA&W produced some less talented people, and eventually disappeared from the scene. Rick tried his luck, and his first non SA&W album isn't bad at all. It's much more musical than the stuff he did with SA&W. The album is called "Cry For Help" (I think...) and as already mentioned on the Digest, Mark wrote two of the songs (Really got a problem and To Be with you - really! not kidding!). Mark and Rick were close at that time. Mark didn't play on the album, but especially in the two songs he wrote, you can almost hear him. Michael Mc Donald (also one of my favorites) wrote another song. While this album was better musically, the big audience didn't like it much. From there on, Rick Astleys career went down-hill fast. Coincidentally, just yesterday I heard that Rick is planning a come-back. I'm afraid however that his time has gone by. He was just one of those 80's artists, like Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran and Eurythmics. Hope I didn't bore you all... Some of you might think I looked up this story. However, that's not the case. I checked the POP encyclopedia, but as this is a serious book, Rick and SA&W are not mentioned. I am a big fan of 80's music, and I remember all the facts I mentioned. So don't shoot me if I got something wrong... Arjan (a serious musician who likes a wide range of music...;-) ) PS. indeed: the LLLF II was great. I hadn't played the drums in _years_, so that part was a lot of fun for me too. Erik, I promise you that we will get together pretty soon!!