From: Level42-request @ worldmachine.com (Level42 Digest) Subject: Level42 Digest V99 #109 _ ____ _ ____ _ _ ___ // //__ // / //__ // /__// __// //__ //__ \\_/ //__ //__ // /__ D I G E S T Level42 Digest Volume 99 : Issue 109 1067 subscribers Today's topics: RE: Dan's comments Kay Anthony New boy in the mailing list!! Lawrence Addison Slap Bass EMIKATIE HOT NEWS !! - MK GIGS !! Kay Anthony Right! Quote/reply crap it is then. Steve Robson CDFS replacement and Alexei Sayle lol Top 200 John Osborne-Archives Slap bass KNAPPT Correct me please!! Allwyn & Laura Kelly more bass Bill Burnett Live stuff Lisa Devlin Place to get CD's Level00042 League of Slappers Nigel Collier Slapping dreamer FW: New to you. Lou Hallwas Digest coup in Bass Player! DonZipf TSGD 98???? The Saint Slap me silly I say Vivient Gill More on slapping & finger picking Alessandro Maccari More on slapping & finger picking Alessandro Maccari Competition Laurence F. GREEN ------------------------------ Subject: RE: Dan's comments From: Kay Anthony Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 12:00:00 +0100 With reference to Dan's comments: >Amazing as it seems, there are folks here who actually LIKE SATS and > G....this is intolerable....the majority of us obviously have taste > and can understand that the early years were the artistically pure > ones. Seeing as we are the majority, I suggest that we crush this > element of rebellion before it gets out of hand. Kick them off the > digest and let us purify the Level 42 fanbase so that the band's > memory is not tainted by a rumor that they appealed to idiots. > >It is more than a pop/rock and jazz/funk division...it is a question > of racial purity and the fact that the pop/rock folks have been > giving us a bad name for years. Exterminate and purify. > >On a lighter note, I would like to bring up the issue of L42 > lyics....while not BAD lyrics, they are certainly not the driving > appeal of the band. They are musicians and good lyrics cannot compete > with astounding music. If I want lyrics, I listen to Talking Heads, > Devo, Paul Simon or even Thomas Dolby. > These comments greatly concern me. Whilst I made my own recent comments about my personal distaste for FN, I never went as far as to say we should "purify" the digest !! ......I am sure many digesters will agree with me that this is going MUCH TOO FAR. What is "artistically pure" ? As everyone has different tastes, what is great to one person is awful to another. So when you think about it, NO music is really "pure" as such, only perhaps better played or more appealing in their own opinion. As people have mentioned before, the whole point of this digest is to honestly express your opinions, BUT within reasonable limits. When words such as ''exterminate, purify and racial purity'' are used it's not the thing one wants to hear, especially in light of recent news of Kosovo tragedies. Maybe these remarks were made as a light-hearted joke, but it's not really that funny, is it ?? With regards to the lyrics, I am afraid I have to disagree again. IMHO I reckon they have written some of the finest lyrics for tunes such as Leaving me now and It's over. I await the response......... Anthony ------------------------------ Subject: New boy in the mailing list!! From: Lawrence Addison Organization: GEN MEDIA Ltd Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 13:03:41 +0100 >Subject: Slap Bass Technique >From: EMIKATIE @ aol.com >Any bass players care to comment on the slap bass technique (RJ, DonZipf, >Nightfly83, et. al.)? Hello, I have just subscribed to the Digest and thought I would introduce myself. I am a self confessed Level42-holic and have enjoyed reading all the issues thus far. Also I play lots of bass and I am about to go LA for a couple of months to do an album, so let me know if there are any digesters in the locality and we'll do level 42 stuff! Shameless plug: Check the band out at: http://homepages.infoseek.com/~beyondloose/candystripe.html (I am the ugly one) I couldn't agree more with what Bill says about slap and the state of pop music. For those of you who are interested check out The Red Hot Chilli Peppers especially the albums 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik' and 'One Hot Minute' as they have had the most recent success with good slap bass in the Pop/Rock scene. Exceptional bass playing by a mad fella called Flea. For extra weirdness try listening to Primus - it makes my brain hurt... Hasta much later... Lawrence Addison ------------------------------ Subject: Slap Bass From: EMIKATIE @ aol.com Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 08:26:14 EDT Thanks for all the excellent comments on my slap bass question. (digest and private) The explanation of technique was top notch, and the opinions as to why there is not more of it in todays music made great sense. It just seems to me that lead guitar stylings, drum loops, horn sounds, etc. are ubiquitous in todays sounds. Most songs today are "formula" driven and copycats abound. My point was, why wasn't Marks style copied and made a mainstay of music just as other instrumental qualities appear ad nauseum on the radio today. While I'm not saying Marks playing nauseates me, most of the crap on radio today does. Regarding the Joe Jackson thread. It's funny that Jumpin Jive (one of my faves) came out many many years ago, and now there seems to be a resurgence of this sound. Check it out!!!! The machine stops, John ------------------------------ Subject: HOT NEWS !! - MK GIGS !! From: Kay Anthony Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 14:59:49 +0100 Hi Digesters I have just heard that MARK KING is playing from 22nd-26th November 1999 - LIVE AT THE JAZZ CAFE, Parkway, Camden, North London, UK. I have just booked my tickets and I suggest you book yours ASAP before they sell out !! Telephone: 0171 344 0044 (UK) to book tickets. or 0171 916 6060 for further info. I can't wait -See you there !! Anthony ------------------------------ Subject: Right! Quote/reply crap it is then. From: Steve Robson Organization: Cadence Design Systems Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 15:07:47 +0100 Now that I know it might annoy that cowardly anonymous poster, who took it upon themselves to bully a digest subscriber recently, I shall stick to my ususal "Quote/reply" format. I look upon it as a means to retain the context of the rambling, as indeed I recognise that I do. Ramble, I mean. And I've always emailed that way. So there. > Subject: L42 CODE > From: "Dan Nesselroth" This is the bit where you have to type in three characters to the left of every other letter and in groups of four, isn't it? TZNC GGSI GQAC ISJZ > Subject: Right & Wrong - Do you know the difference? > From: "Gaetan Duperron" > Am I boring some of you? See that scroll-bar on the right? Oh no! Mine's on the left! Call tech support! I can't cope, the room is spinning, the lights are going dim... > Can anybody name a Level 42-Joe Jackson connection? He was mentioned > in the last digest. See! Last week somebody would have offered points for the answer to a question like this but now... > Subject: Issue 3 > From: L.F.Green @ shu.ac.uk (Laurence F. GREEN) > > To whoms it may concern there follows a coded message. > > three WORDs the MACHINE stops THREE words (again) > > IS COMPLETE AND READY Ooh, ooh, I know this one, no don't tell me. "Sent three and fourpence, we're going to a dance"? It's that "Whirred Machine" hurrah! Three cheers! Order your copy TODAY! > Subject: Let us Purify the digest... > From: "Dan Nesselroth" This is a joke, right? > From: "cristina gallego" > I remember there was a british tv serial in the 80's called the Red > Dwarf And just finished series VIII in the UK as we speak. And you thought 'smeg' was a brand of cooker. > Subject: a good slapping > From: Bill Burnett > > This is likely to take a while, so if you're not interested in bass > playing, you all know what to do. Yep. We mail you personally and intimidate you into submission. As you can probably tell, this subject has got my goat. > ...but even some metal acts are getting the hang of it now. > So don't mourn the passing of the great age of slappers. Reports of > it's death have been greatly exaggerated Brilliant discussion, Bill. I seriously enjoy a good read on the digest, something we don't get too much these days. The mention of metal reminded me of another technique often used; 'tapping'? I think this is where (assuming you're playing 'righty') you use the right hand across on the fretboard. Perhaps someone can enlighten us on the subject. Oh no, they all scrolled by and missed my question. Never mind. (Level) Best Regards, Steve ------------------------------ Subject: CDFS replacement and Alexei Sayle From: lol @ slr.se Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 17:59:23 +0200 *** WARNING *** BORING TECHNICAL STUFF *** I've just come across a neat freeware utility for Microsuck Windoze 95/98. I've previously been using WinDAC for ripping wav-files from a cd. Now there's an even easier solution. A replacement to the cdfs.vxd file. You simply rename your old file to something like cdfs.old and insert this instead. After rebooting your pc you can open an audio-cd in explorer and instead of just seeing the old Track01.cda etc. headerfiles you get two additional virtual folders. One is called Stereo and one is called Mono. If you look in these there are two more called 16bit and 8bit. And inside of these there are three more called 11025Hz, 22050Hz and 44100Hz. Finally inside these you see the tracks as Track01.wav etc. From there you can drag and drop the files anywhere you want them. If anybody is interest ed just drop me an e-mail privately and I'll send the file (it's only 77kb). I have no idea who originally made this file, so installing it is entirely at your own risk. I am under the impression though that it's public domain. Note: It doesn't work under NT since NT doesn't use vxd's. *** WARNING AGAIN NON-LEVEL CONTENT *** I saw Tribal Tech in concert on saturday, and the drummer Kirk Covington reminded me very much of Alexei Sayle. He was constantly making faces while he was playing, sticking his tongue out and wiggling it about etc. I was a bit disappointed by the rest of the show however, mainly because Scott Kinsey on keyboards seemed to be having a bad day. Gary Willis had occasional high points on his fretless Ibanez signature 5-string, and the dreadlocked Scott Henderson was as can be expected, nothing more nothing less. Gary Willis also did a clinic earlier that day which I missed. Ok, the digest continues.... Lars p.s. I seem to remember Mark saying that he did some work for Alexei Sayle. Does anyone know if this was released in any form? I've got a 12inch single by AS called Didn't you kill my brother? which is backed by a track called Dedicated. The bassline on this latter track sounds like it could have been Mark playing. It's not very typical Mark, but then again it could still be him, just playing it down a bit. ------------------------------ Subject: Top 200 From: John Osborne-Archives Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 17:06:03 +0100 Hello everyone I was listening to my local radio station over the weekend and they were counting down the top 200 songs of the 80's. Something About You was number 191. Outrageous. It should have been number one. Then Leaving Me Now at number 2, then Freedom today at number 3 etc. By the way... Heaven - Something About You Hell - The Ape And also, I LOVE THE FOREVER NOW ALBUM. I'm not sure which version I prefer (because I miss All Over You on the Resurgence release) and I really enjoy Talking in your Sleep. I'd place FN third in my top 3 L42 albums, behind World Machine at 1 and RITF at 2. That's it for now. John O ------------------------------ Subject: Slap bass From: KNAPPT @ ldcorp.com (KNAPPT) Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 13:15:51 -0400 With all the discussion on slap bass I would like to input my 10Cents worth. The only bass player in the world (that I have heard) that is close to Mark King in musicianship and Bass playing is Victor Wooten. He is as good of a Bass player, but still loses on overall musicianship as his writing skills are less than Mark and his singing is non existant. I have heard many recommend Marcus Miller, but despite his excellent work as a session bassist, one listen to his albumn Tales was enough for me to forever put to rest the possibility of his approximating a "Mark King" quality (I through that disc out on my way home from the music shop, apologies to those offended by my littering, but Marcus started it with that album). Jaco Pastrius is as good of a bassist, but not much slap and, again, no singing ability. Those of you looking to hear more slap must check out Victors albums "A Show of Hands" and "What did he Say". Any bass player could learn alot from him as he also writes a column for Bass Player magazine. As for the current OLD L42 fans vs. NEW, I began listening to L42 with the american version of world machine. Each time I have found a new piece of work, I am constantly impressed, and I have not bought them in order as I found them pre-internet and not in BY Year sequence. There is really no need for all the competition and I don't think Mark or Mike care if you started listening in 1980 or yesterday, they wrote music and continue to write to express themselves, and if that brings success and fan appreciation, well that's the goal, but if not, sorry, but thats what we were feeling at that time! To bad that letter to nightfly didn't go to the Level 42 purity cleanser a$$! theron ------------------------------ Subject: Correct me please!! From: "Allwyn & Laura Kelly" Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 10:36:35 -0600 Hey AG! pleese com e bak and chat. weer feeling blu whith out you. laura hurry i'm runnin out of tissues ------------------------------ Subject: more bass From: Bill Burnett Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 19:32:32 +0100 Hello again. >[doesn't Tony Levin slap on the >Peter >Gabriel stuff?]. While I do believe that tony is a very capable slapper, his unique percussive sound heard on "sledgehammer" is actually a technique, whereby tony has 2 or 3 sawn off drumstick ends, taped to his right hand, so that he is literally drumming the strings. The story (vaguely remembered, so any corrections are welcome) is that while arranging sledgehammer, drummer Jerry Marotta was trying to demonstrate his idea for a bass groove by hitting tonys' bass with his sticks, and peter gabriel, liked the sound so much, that he insisted tony find a way of playing like that. Nowadays, Funk Fingers as they are known are purpose built, with rubberised ends & Velcro straps (and can be obtained through tony levins' own label Papa Bear Records) I have a pair, but find them extremely unwieldy (mainly 'cause A: I play a six string bass, and B: I just don't practise much) but the sound is fantastic, check out Peter Gabriel albums So, Us, and Secret World Live, & King Crimson albums Vrooom, Thrak, B'Boom and Thrakattak for good examples of his sound. cheers ======================================================================== Bill Burnett http://www.sphere3.demon.co.uk/ ======================================================================== ------------------------------ Subject: Live stuff From: "Lisa Devlin" Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 20:23:56 +0100 hi all, Hoping someone has the answer to my (pobably very dumb) question..... Recently I have seen clips of the following on a video: Overtime, live, i think recorded around the time of Crystal Palace, and Micro Kid live. Not sure when this is from but i think between 88-91 judging by the haircuts. Can anyone tell me when and where these were recorded, and if the rest of the shows made it onto video? Many thanks TCOY Lisa ------------------------------ Subject: Place to get CD's From: Level00042 @ aol.com Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 16:40:33 EDT Can someone tell me a good place to get CD's on the Internet. And also I noticed a l42 newsgroup. I think it would be alot easier to use that to communicate than a digest. I find I read alot of things that I don't care to read this way. Just wondering what people thought about it. ------------------------------ Subject: League of Slappers From: Nigel Collier Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 21:46:00 +0100 Couldn't have put it any better than Bill Burnett: >In a process akin to learning to whistle or ride a bike, one has to >learn the right feel for slap playing....there is no way to get this balance right >until you feel it happen. Playing slap bass is all about 'feel' and it's difficult to explain - like anything you've got to PRACTICE and listen to Mark's playing really carefully - it will eventually start to feel right. Unlike finger style, slapping - especially Mark-style - is all about flowing, non-stop slapping, when you're not playing a note, you're beating out time on ghosted strings - that's the most difficult aspect for non-slap bass players to get used to - you're not necessarily playing a string of notes separated by intervals: you're beating out, almost 'sculpting' a rhythm - perpetual motion - and it's funky as hell! As for not many people playing slap style any more - my CD collection contains little other than slap bass playing - but then again they are mostly from the '70s. Maybe slap is still considered too '80s - synonymous (where's NightFly when you want him?) with the ugly Steinberg headless bass. Since there are obviously so many budding flying thumbs on the Digest maybe we should think about getting together for a SlapFest - a bass clinic for Digesters to get together and swap notes on L42 basslines and the slap technique - I think there'd be a big demand for this and it would be really helpful. Anyone want to join a 'League of Slappers'? GOING TO MARK'S GIGS? *********************** Can I ask people planning to go to any of Mark's newly announced gigs in London to let me know for the benefit of the KingList page (http://www.ncl.ac.uk/~nnac/kingList.html) - Much appreciated. 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/ ------------------------------ Subject: Slapping From: dreamer @ ime.net Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 17:08:00 -0400 Hey Everyone, Just thought I'd throw out a few ideas on the subject. Being a bass player myself, I found most people are actually impressed by slap style playing, like when you show them a MK solo or play one of your own...but when it comes to playing songs with a band, they kind of look at you weird like "what are you doing?" Most of my musical influences don't slap and when you start to play cover tunes with a group of other musicians, you tend to find that is true as well. Most songs just don't lend themselves to this kind of playing. Any country bands with great slap bass players? ( Hmmm....not a bad idea..... : ) ) I have converted a few tunes though myself while playing in a band because I thought it sounded better and the guys agreed. There are songs out there just crying to be slapped. Even Mark did it himself with Children Say. I guess it comes down to One Man's musical Influences. Pun intended. : ) Rolf ------------------------------ Subject: FW: New to you. From: Lou Hallwas Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 16:38:19 -0500 Just joined the list. My name's Lou, from Chicago IL,...musician, 26, got into level back in 87,...Still does the same thing to me when I hear their tunes as it did when I was 14. > Lou ------------------------------ Subject: Digest coup in Bass Player! From: DonZipf @ aol.com Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 17:43:57 EDT Woo-hoo!!! The June issue of Bass Player just arrived in my box. The Mark King article is on...page 24...hmm. It's a short two-pager called, "Solo & slapless at a Level 40", with transcribed basslines for "Kansas City Milkman", "Good Man in a Storm", and of course "Love Games". Nothing here we haven't seen before, except the picture, that is.... It's mine, and they even spelled my name right!!! The issue will be on stands by the end of the month. But if you want a sneak peek, go to... http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Mansion/8981/BParticl.jpg And some of you guys were there when I took that photo - we're all famous! ;o) Digesters, takin' over! - Z. ------------------------------ Subject: TSGD 98???? From: The Saint Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 20:57:56 -0400 WHERE can i get this CD single? CDNow has just told me it is no longer available as have two other places. ANYONE who can point me to a good source for the single PLEASE e-mail me..... pfucito @ snet.net Cheers paul F ------------------------------ Subject: Slap me silly I say From: Vivient Gill Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 00:33:34 -0400 Hello all levelheadzzzzz Eric T wrote The songs of Level42 are often written around a good bass line. Could the L-42 guru's enlighten us? I don't want to put any one not he spot but is this a true statement? Are most of L-42's songs evolved from the bass line? I think that this is a very interesting question as bass is not a lead instrument. As for slap bass mann it's not easy that's for sure, it takes the right kind of balance from both left & right hand to produce a funky harmonic sound with just the right amount of punch to create a powerful beat to knock ya off your feet. Wish I had more time to elaborate on some methods I've been exposed to but the saga shall continue......... along time ago in a galax.... Viv .......over & out after a great wedding reception this fine evening ------------------------------ Subject: More on slapping & finger picking From: "Alessandro Maccari" Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 00:46:44 PDT More about the infamous topic that (I predict) will overfill the digest in the next few days. What many respondents did not emphasise enough about Mark's slapping technique is that: 1) He basically was inspired in the basics from other players (e.g. Jaco), enriching the pattern and bringing it to everyday's light music. I can assure you, it is almost impossible to do the same without either sounding trivial or coming out with ugly tunes. 2) Among the slapping players, how about Pino Palladino? Rigo Righetti that plays with Italian rocker Ligabue (www.ligabue.com) also slaps a bit (e.g. in I ragazzi sono in giro). Also Zucchero "Sugar"'s former bass player (www.zucchero.it) - the name is on the tip of my tongue - was slapping. Just to name a few... 3) The most important thing in slapping (my opinion) is the LEFT hand, or the one that holds the note. Have you felt extra rhythm in tunes like Heathrow? this is because the folk slaps and deadens the note by touching the fourth string very near the end (say, above F). This way, the string DOES sound like an E, but the sound dies smoothly but quickly. Also, in a song like Fashion Fever, during the D-E riff, he deadens the D after EVERY SLAP. That is why, in the Live at Wembley video, you can see his left hand moving as he was playing 32nds! Took me a couple of months to produce an acceptable slap sound, and three or more years to learn to master the left hand acceptably... Question of the month: what is the most difficult L42/MK song for bass players? I rank Mr. Pink, Man, True Believers, Take a Look (try playing it, and when after months you seem to master try singing on top of it!) and that hell of a song named 88 (live version in A Physical Presence). Alessandro (one man in Helsinki) ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Subject: More on slapping & finger picking From: "Alessandro Maccari" Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 00:45:38 PDT More about the infamous topic that (I predict) will overfill the digest in the next few days. What many respondents did not emphasise enough about Mark's slapping technique is that: 1) He basically was inspired in the basics from other players (e.g. Jaco), enriching the pattern and bringing it to everyday's light music. I can assure you, it is almost impossible to do the same without either sounding trivial or coming out with ugly tunes. 2) Among the slapping players, how about Pino Palladino? Rigo Righetti that plays with Italian rocker Ligabue (www.ligabue.com) also slaps a bit (e.g. in I ragazzi sono in giro). Also Zucchero "Sugar"'s former bass player (www.zucchero.it) - the name is on the tip of my tongue - was slapping. Just to name a few... 3) The most important thing in slapping (my opinion) is the LEFT hand, or the one that holds the note. Have you felt extra rhythm in tunes like Heathrow? this is because the folk slaps and deadens the note by touching the fourth string very near the end (say, above F). This way, the string DOES sound like an E, but the sound dies smoothly but quickly. Also, in a song like Fashion Fever, during the D-E riff, he deadens the D after EVERY SLAP. That is why, in the Live at Wembley video, you can see his left hand moving as he was playing 32nds! Took me a couple of months to produce an acceptable slap sound, and three or more years to learn to master the left hand acceptably... Question of the month: what is the most difficult L42/MK song for bass players? I rank Mr. Pink, Man, True Believers, Take a Look (try playing it, and when after months you seem to master try singing on top of it!) and that hell of a song named 88 (live version in A Physical Presence). Alessandro (one man in Helsinki) ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Subject: Competition From: L.F.Green @ shu.ac.uk (Laurence F. GREEN) Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 10:40:58 +0100 Ooops. To whom it may concern I forgot a reminder about the competition. Remember the question was - which tracks were specially re-edited for Level Best due to lost master tapes??? Don't forget your answer. On to more pressing matters. Pah, boo and humbug to all those who dare to decry the literary masters messers Gould and Gould. Their lyrical ability, in my humble opinion is second only to each others and it is a firm belief of mine that they are the two gratest living lyricists and all of you who know me know I believe that. LOZ