From: Level42-request @ worldmachine.com (Level42 Digest) Subject: Level42 Digest V99 #110 _ ____ _ ____ _ _ ___ // //__ // / //__ // /__// __// //__ //__ \\_/ //__ //__ // /__ D I G E S T Level42 Digest Volume 99 : Issue 110 1070 subscribers Today's topics: Dr. Fox on Capital FM John.O'Connell My Klindup Laurence F. GREEN Purifying the Digest Lolita Jackson PICK OR SLAP! RIZVAN MALIK It's that number again ... and other musings Debbie Davies Sneaking a peak from Montreal Roberto Vargas Sneaking a peak from Montreal Roberto Vargas RE: more FN talk Annie Lysebjerg pints for country slap purifiers alex.friesen Bittermoon Video on Quicktime Daniel James Britfest 99 smiffy42 Back to bassists... DonZipf Alexi Sayle Lisa Hack ripping, cds, newsgroups Daniel James Buys sells trades Lou Hallwas Forever Now, Unreached Levels, Brian Oh come on...I WAS joking. Sort of Dan Nesselroth Digest purification, slapping, Denver Charl Mocke Laure and bass players Jeff Mahoney Lyrics - GOOD ONES murgatroyd ------------------------------ Subject: Dr. Fox on Capital FM From: John.O'Connell @ ns.equant.com Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 11:16:11 +0100 Driving home on the M25 last night, I phoned Fox's jukebox on Capital Radio. To my surprise I got straight through and asked for The Sun Goes Down. The producer apologised and said they only had Lessons in Love! Anyway they played it and the M25 was a brighter (if not very much louder place) around my car. I got some strange looks - just cos I'm older, receding hairline, bald on top doesn't mean its only the boy racers who can give it some!!! (That was evident at cambridge, Sheperds Bush, and Ryde wasn't it gang?) When Foxy started at university in the early eighties, whereabouts unknown, there was a freshers ball and L42 were on. He liked them and still plays stuff like Chinese Way, World machine, etc on his retro slot now. I think I'm going to email him on the Capital website and ask him to update the jukebox with some more L42 tracks, perhaps if the rest of you digesters do the same, I will be able to have a few more mad moments on the way home!! Seeya John Lisa - like the photo's!! Chris - t shirt money etc coming soon. Lets keep the digest the way its supposed to be - fun!!!!!!! ------------------------------ Subject: My Klindup From: L.F.Green @ shu.ac.uk (Laurence F. GREEN) Organization: Sheffield Hallam University Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 12:47:14 -0000 A book called, 'play keyboards in the syle of...' http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/HaraldWingerter/Keyboard.htm Features Mike Lindup. i think it's in German. LOZ ------------------------------ Subject: Purifying the Digest From: Lolita Jackson Organization: Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 08:30:49 -0400 > >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. > > > > 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. I think he was kidding - read between the lines. Lolita ------------------------------ Subject: PICK OR SLAP! From: "RIZVAN MALIK" Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 06:06:04 PDT Hi, I hope you are all well. On the note of "slap bass"....I have to agree with everyone that it DOES sound good. People mentioned bands like RHCP etc. The impression that i am getting from all this "slap" talk, is that for the bass to sound good it has to be slapped?? The day i heard Mark King play, i thought, that only whimps play the bass with picks. Now that I appreciate other bands such as "YES", i have to say that I no longer think in the same way. Some of their music sounds excellent with a pick and I still think that it takes great talent to play without slapping as it does with slapping. I think you know what I am saying eh????? heheheheheheh. However, if I had a choice as to which style of bass i wanna chose to play......then my answer is obviously gonna be slappppping! My guitar has been slapped once too many times now.....I think it is time to invest in a bass. Take care !!! Rizvan M. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Subject: It's that number again ... and other musings From: "Debbie Davies" Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 14:24:54 +0400 It’s my husband’s birthday today; he’s.....wait for it.....42! Last night I woke up suddenly for no apparent reason, and my alarm clock was showing 04:20 - spooky... I’ve just changed my car, and a few weeks ago we looked at a car with a registration number beginning with M42. Unfortunately, that car was a bit too expensive, but the one we ended up buying has done 42,000 miles (approx). Heaven: Standing in the Light Hell: Hot Water Before I get 100s of emails, that was meant to be a joke (albeit not a very good one). HW is actually one of my favourite songs, but I couldn’t think of a song with ‘flames’ or ‘fire’ in the title. Finally, I’d like to add my vote to Guaranteed and Forever Now. I love the older stuff as well, but as someone already said, who wants to be stuck in the 80s? Also, I don’t really get this pop/rock v jazz/funk divide. Surely it’s a bit narrow minded to only like one type of music (not to mention missing out on a lot of great sounds). I just love music, whether pop, rock, jazz, funk, blues - okay I didn’t think much of punk when it was around, and I don’t really understand the attraction of rap. I also really like classical music, especially choral and orchestral. To me, the important thing is the quality of the musicianship, and the ability of the music to speak to me in some way - to strike a chord, if you’ll forgive the pun. It very much depends on my mood at the time which type of music will do this, so for me it’s great to have so many different styles of music in my collection. One of the things I like about Level 42 is the richness and variety of their music, which still manages to retain that unmistakable style (we're getting on to bass slapping now, which is something I know absolutely nothing about, so I'll quit while I'm ahead!) TCOYs Debbie "Music was my first love, and it will be my last" - John Miles ------------------------------ Subject: Sneaking a peak from Montreal From: "Roberto Vargas" Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 17:04:36 -0400 Well it's been a while. It seems that every year I fall off the the face of the planet. This time it was because last years blasted ice storm from hell. My old 486 basically had a heart-attack, so I was left without Internet access for over a year again : ) But I still kept peaking at the Digest from any computer I could get my hands on. But now I guess I'm back (I don't want to jinx this one, I've been struck down twice already : ) On another note, I'm glad to see that there is another Montrealer on the Digest, Gaetan Dupperon, WOOHOO! I'm not alone in the city after all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And a big hello to all my old friends on the digest, and the cool bunch I hung out with in Toronto 2 years ago. And as far as the discussion of the value of Guaranteed, I love the album, funny enough my least favorite song is Guaranteed (I've never really liked the chorus). But the rest of the album shows what true musicians can do in the pop genre, I mean don't get my wrong I prefer their jazzy days, but when you listen to songs like If You Were Mine you can hear that they weren't afraid of adding some jazz elements or playing around with some of the song structure. Ultimately, I can hear the ''Level 42 element'' in all their music, and as long as it's there even in Mark's new stuff, I'll be a happy lad. Full of dreams and visions Roberto Vargas ------------------------------ Subject: Sneaking a peak from Montreal From: "Roberto Vargas" Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 09:40:25 -0400 Well it's been a while. It seems that every year I fall off the the face of the planet. This time it was because last years blasted ice storm from hell. My old 486 basically had a heart-attack, so I was left without Internet access for over a year again : ) But I still kept peaking at the Digest from any computer I could get my hands on. But now I guess I'm back (I don't want to jinx this one, I've been struck down twice already : ) On another note, I'm glad to see that there is another Montrealer on the Digest, Gaetan Dupperon, WOOHOO! I'm not alone in the city after all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And a big hello to all my old friends on the digest, and the cool bunch I hung out with in Toronto 2 years ago. And as far as the discussion of the value of Guaranteed, I love the album, funny enough my least favorite song is Guaranteed (I've never really liked the chorus). But the rest of the album shows what true musicians can do in the pop genre, I mean don't get my wrong I prefer their jazzy days, but when you listen to songs like If You Were Mine you can hear that they weren't afraid of adding some jazz elements or playing around with some of the song structure. Ultimately, I can hear the ''Level 42 element'' in all their music, and as long as it's there even in Mark's new stuff, I'll be a happy lad. BTW I still have some L42 stuff that I promised some people on the digest, I apologize. I lost all address and info with the 486. Just email me and it'll be on its way. Full of dreams and visions Roberto Vargas ------------------------------ Subject: RE: more FN talk From: Annie Lysebjerg Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 16:30:34 +0200 I'd like to get back to that little remark about L42 not being a sound for youngsters!! I don't know if it's me or not, but when I started listening to L42 I was 12 years old! Now that does seem to be young! I'm not 18 and I still considder myself young! Also at the last MK concert in Esbjerg, Denmark, he played several L42 songs and the audience loved it! And looking around I found myself NOT in a bunch of 30 years olds, but people round my own age! We do not all like to hear the Spice Girls! That can't even be called music!!! TCOY Annie "I wear my ray-bans driving in the car, even on a cloudy day! She always says "Man, who'd you think you are? 'Cuz she don't see it my way"! ------------------------------ Subject: pints for country slap purifiers From: alex.friesen @ sickkids.on.ca Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 13:03:07 -0400 >From: dreamer @ ime.net >Any country bands with great slap bass players? > Well, actually, yes. When I was in Nashville a couple of years ago I had the dubious honour of attending the taping of a Christmas TV special for, er, some band. There was a house band for the guest singers as well, and these singers required several takes to nail their parts. Each time the singer stopped the band was supposed to too, but the drummer and bass player (no idea who they were) immediately went into a killer funk version of whatever the bland new-country tune was. It only lasted a few bars each time, but the bass player was a great slapper. This left me with the impression that all Nashville session bass players are closet slappers stuck in a half-note world. ********** My two cents on the slap discussion. I would love to play bass, but never got around to it. I have, however, been playing drums for twenty-five years. I discovered that if I pick up a bass and play paraddidles between right-thumb and left-string-mute on an open "E" I can out slap most bass players. Throw in a few triplets, and Bob's yer uncle. Judging by the looks of awe I get from bass players, this indicates to me that the real funky aspect is pure rhythm and groove. Sure, open "E" gets boring fast, but that's all it takes to set up a funky groove. (A paradiddle, for those who care, is a RLRR LRLL (with variations) sticking pattern--a drum rudiment.) ********** Regarding the "purify the digest" post. I'm stunned by the number of people who took this seriously. You should all be banished! There's no room for the likes of you in the new, clean, pure digest. ********** >From: Steve Robson >See! Last week somebody would have offered points for the answer to a >question like this but now... > Dammit, I thought he was offering _pints_, not points. ...Alex... " til I saw you in pieces" ------------------------------ Subject: Bittermoon Video on Quicktime From: Daniel James Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 12:09:36 -0700 (PDT) Hey everyone... I wish I knew who to credit for this little gem, but Carl has been getting several requests for it, so here is a small sampling of the Bitter Moon video (1m 03s in length). It's about 4mb in size... Fire up those browsers! If anyone cares to encode the full-length video, I've got plenty of server space and I'd be happy to host it. http://www.neurotoxin.net/~djames/Files/Level42/Video/bittermoon.qt ------------------------------ Subject: Britfest 99 From: "smiffy42" Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 20:19:50 +0100 Britfest 99!!!! Wow put me down for helping organise that one!!!! I owe it to you guys at the ILF, for me saying I would be there and having to pull out!!! A bigger venue for this one I guess, as the numbers grow every time!! Any thoughts on where in the UK?? Raytheon?? (my choice!) Richard (Smiffy ex zipmail.co.uk) NB New email address ------------------------------ Subject: Back to bassists... From: DonZipf @ aol.com Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 15:55:43 EDT > 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. I have seen Victor perform with The Flecktones, live and up close. Certainly, I consider him in Mark's league as a musician and basssist. Some folks consider him to be the "World's greatest bass player", while I still consider Mark to hold that title. But how can one really say, as their respective styles are so different. VW is one of those fiddly melodic-solo players, rather than the groovemaster that Mark is. I prefer Mark's approach to bass - though I enjoy VW, I get bored with him after a while. I would even put Marcus Miller ahead of Victor on my list of great bassists. > Jaco Pastrius is as good of a bassist, > but not much slap and, again, no singing ability. Well, now Jaco is another story - he's the reason I often refer to MK as the "world's greatest LIVING bass player". Let's face it, Jaco was a musical genius on the order of Mozart - a true messed-up-in-the-head talent. Forget about slap-verus-fingerstyle or singing-versus-not...Jaco had that rare ability to hear in his head complex musical arrangements the likes of which even our beloved MK cannot imagine. It's a shame he was so screwed up personally. > 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. Yes, but we also know that you have an almost religious conviction concerning Level 42, Loz. Others of us are more reasonable. ;o) Are you saying that the Goulds were infallible lyricists? That they NEVER wrote a stupid line or otherwise imperfect lyric? We even have MK on tape saying that they didn't start writing good songs until the World Machine album. MHO is that many of their early lyric attempts were a bit bubble-gummish (they were kids, afer all, just learning). Sure, by the mid-80's they were writing some adult songs, but then they quit. :o( Peace - Z. HARD ROCK CAFE pin collecctors - visit Don Z's HRC Pin Collection at... http://members.aol.com/donzipf/hrcpins.html ------------------------------ Subject: Alexi Sayle From: Lisa Hack Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 21:27:55 +0100 I've heard on an Alexi Sayle cassette (why I didn't copy it I don't know) Mark playing "Play that Funky Music (Jewish Boy) in the mid 80's. Can't remember the name of the album though.. L. Lisa Hack Studio Manager, Asia & the Pacific Region BBC World Service, Bush House London +44 (0)171 557 2014 Internal ext 72014 ------------------------------ Subject: ripping, cds, newsgroups From: Daniel James Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 13:37:17 -0700 (PDT) > 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. Or better yet, download Audiocatalyst from xing's web site and rip your CDs into mp3 files. That's what I use (for now). Hopefully I'll be replacing my 10-year old Macintosh this weekend, in which case I'll only use this windoze thing when my job forces me to. Anyone recommend a good CD ripper for the Mac? > Can someone tell me a good place to get CD's on the Internet. Most stuff can be found at cdnow.com, less common stuff can be found at cdeurope.com (take your chances, some folks have reported problems with them, although I've had good experiences) or you can be happily overcharged by Audiophile Imports (don't have their address handy). Their stuff is expensive, but the guys there are fans of the band and are fairly helpful and can probably get you anything you need that's still available. > And also I noticed a l42 newsgroup. > Just wondering what people thought about it. I think it's something that nobody uses. I think newsgroups are a tad frustrating these days. Every one message about music would be found amongst twelve advertising kiddi-porn, get-rich-quick scams and cable tv de-scrambler messages. I miss the old days of the internet where you can actually have conversation in the newsgroups... I don't think I've ever seen a Level 42 related message posted to that newsgroup. ------------------------------ Subject: Buys sells trades From: Lou Hallwas Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 16:38:59 -0500 I'm interested in getting Mark King's new solo record. If anyone can help , that would be,...grand. I'm also looking for Level B-sides; "Can't Walk You Home" etcc... Saw a post about Joe Jackson. I know of no relationship between Level and Joe,...although both's music tops obviously. Was listening to "Body & Soul" for the past two days straight. Everyone should have his first five albums. "Jumpin Jive" will still sound good no matter how many years go by. Slap bass? Pretty boring! The way Mark does it, it's got a recognisable, individual sound. When most people SLAP bass, it sounds pretty %^&*(*&^typical! Donald "Duck" Dunn didn't need to slap to be one of the best bassists ever! Same as Steve Cropper didn't need to be Alan Holdsworth with his fingers to say something good and emotionally effecting. I think the whole thing with people like Hendrix and King, and the STAX crew......they didn't sit there analyzing, they just flowed; they just did it. Actually, that's my main goal in life. Lou ------------------------------ Subject: Forever Now, Unreached Levels, From: Brian Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 22:16:39 -0500 Subject: Re: Forever Now's lack of commercial success From: "Matthew Lamb" > > > This is my first offering to the digest. Just thought I put the cat amongst > the pigeons! > > Retaliations welcomed. :-( > No, you said it perfectly Matt. I've thought he exact same things. Also must put in a 'well put' to Andre about the band reform. Subject: More FN talk! From: "Pashman, Rob" > > > middle of the night. It's all ratings! My sister is 23 and I could tell > her about some new band I'm into until I'm blue in the face and then somehow > she hears it on the radio and only then does she want to borrow my CD. > This seems to be true for a lot of people that are 'musically challenged', regardless of age. I've dated women my age that could care less about what it is I've got in the CD player, until they hear it on the radio. Note, I'm not saying only women have this problem. I have male friends that are the same way. Anyone heard back after requesting the Unreached Levels? Brian PS, How about making an MP3 of that mega-mix, Win? ------------------------------ Subject: Oh come on...I WAS joking. Sort of From: "Dan Nesselroth" Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1999 22:37:53 PDT Okay kay. I was kidding, and for someone who thinks "purity" is a vauge and normative term, you have no problem thinking "funny" is not and can declare that my statements were not "funny". You may not appriciate my sense of humor......but I personally belive that most people find the Kosovars drowing in their own filth to be absolutely hilarious. It also reminds me of when Level 42 played the Colleseum in Toronto and we had to stand in line with a bunch of strangers for food and drinks. HEY! maybe someone here was at that show!!! My friend caught the beach ball that MK threw into the audience. I am not saying we should anhilate fans of the later albums....even though it seems prudent. I am only stating that if we do not expel them first they will anhilate us. Like nato, we should be "pro- active". Never turn your back on a Garunteed fan or give money to a Staring At The Sun fan. Alan Murphy is NOT dead, he is hiding in Boons garage in exchange for light housework. Okay okay enough obnoxiousness. I am making light of recent debates about old vs newer L42 albums. People can be purists. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com ------------------------------ Subject: Digest purification, slapping, Denver From: "Charl Mocke" Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 10:29:45 +0200 Hi gang, About 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. > Exterminate and purify. !!!!!!!!! I happen to like SATS and G. So I have to leave, right? No way!!!! :-) Anthony: > ......I am sure many digesters will agree with me that this is going > MUCH TOO FAR. You got that right!!! Heaven - Heaven In My Hands Hell - It's not the same for us Re: Slapping I think the nicest L42 riff to learn to slap on, to start with, is Hot Water. Very easy and satisfying. You can play the basic slapping notes & pops first and later advance to the in-between ghosts and double stops. Also, I found that OOSOOM and SAY were also relatively easy to start with. Weave Your Spell was also a lot of fun, the same pattern over and over, very good for practicing purposes. If I was a beginner (not that I am an expert!!) I wouln't start with Mr Pink, 88, Almost There, etc. Comments, anyone? The very first L42 bass line I played (or tried to play!) fingerstyle was TBWYA. The first slapping one was HW. Memorable moments. :-) Just heard on the news about Denver. Very tragic. Any digesters from around there? Bye for now, Charl oooo oo Mr. Charl Mocke ISIS Information Systems (Pty) Ltd Cape Town South Africa E-mail: MockeC @ Telkom.co.za O/H Tel.: +27 (0)21 414-4720 A/H Tel.: +27 (0)21 854-8005 Pager: 088 002-8848 Cell.: ------------------------------ Subject: Laure and bass players From: "Jeff Mahoney" Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 19:03:09 +1000 Hi All Firstly i would love to welcome French Digester Laure to Australia...... Nice to talk to you today.and Oz digesters please contact me about getting together.......... AND ....EMIKATIE....... what a great question.................about slap bass. so during this BASS thread I also have a question................ My daughter plays bass and she tells me it is so hard to play bass and sing at the same time......... unlike someone playing guitar and singing........... She thinks what mark is doing is amazing. I cannot think of too many bass player singers............. Paul McCartney ..... Phil Linnot and Rebecca Johnson come to mind Interested to know others....... An Impeccable Groove Cheers From Sydney Jeff ------------------------------ Subject: Lyrics - GOOD ONES From: "murgatroyd" Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 11:01:04 +0100 Hi Digesters, Got my tickets for the Jazz Cafe today - I can't wait either, thanks for the tip-off! On the subject of whether L42's lyrics are good or bad, IMHO any band who produced the lyrics for 'Talking In Your Sleep' deserves to go down in poetic history - having said that, I would be embarrassed singing the second verse to 'Pamela' in the car! Chris M