From: Level42-request @ worldmachine.com (Level42 Digest) Subject: Level42 Digest V2000 #79 _ ____ _ ____ _ _ ___ // //__ // / //__ // /__// __// //__ //__ \\_/ //__ //__ // /__ D I G E S T Level42 Digest Volume 2000 : Issue 79 1304 subscribers Today's topics: Thanks & Bass Centre Details Request Fiona Klimczak A challenge... Hughes Paul J re-issues Walter Franken truly a riddle Hans Grund Top 10 fave basslines Mark Summers On 'True Colors' Eric J. Hansen Remastering DonZipf re-issues Norman van den Wildenberg Re: True Colours Savagerush True Colours, Reissues Jay Krause Wanted Richard Maybury Mike j.toth Edward A Kerbs Fovevernow Tour john stewart Re: Level42 Digest V2000 #78 TenthSun Re: Level42 Digest V2000 #78 Dar4Bass Re masters/ JD basses level43 Absence Corrected Brian L Reissues Mikep3099 ------------------------------ Subject: Thanks & Bass Centre Details Request From: Fiona Klimczak Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 11:25:17 +0100 Big public thank you to Ian & colleague (I'm sure someone else was involved, but their name hasn't come to mind - but Ian please pass on my thanks) for all his hard work in getting the Re-releases scheduled. I am curious to know whether the permission of all the L42 members had to be obtained in order to confirm the additional tracks, or was it purely Mark's? Also can anyone out there in level-land pass to me the address details for the Bass Centre in London? Please e-mail me privately rather than `clog up' the Digest. For everyone who has L42 web sites - keep up the good work - the amount of knowledge that you have out there still amazes me... Fiona `K' ------------------------------ Subject: A challenge... From: Hughes Paul J Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 11:35:47 +0100 Bilal - surely the choice of single to be released to promote the re-issues can only be either 'Something About You' or 'The Sun Goes Down' (original, not Omar version)? With regard to 'True Colours' - give the lad a chance! He was only a year old when this masterpiece was released. I'm sure that if he listened to the album regularly he'd grow to love it like the rest of us! Keep on Funkin' HUGHSIE ------------------------------ Subject: re-issues From: Walter Franken Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 13:24:51 +0200 > I was listening to Ruud de Wild at 3FM radio this Monday (8th of may) and at > 16:10 they announced their new Alarmschijf (record of the week), and guest > what? They played Hot Water!!!! (yes, by Level 42). I was flabbergasted and > almost drove my car of the highway!. Did any of the Dutch digesters hear > this, and know what's it all about? Is HW re-issued or so??? Uh,can you tel us more??? < Well, I was wrong. It wasn't 3FM but Radio538, and the alarmschijf is Bov Jovi, not Level42. I'm still talking to them how it happened that Level 42 was played right after the alarmschijf announcement. Maybe an error on their site? Cheers Walter ------------------------------ Subject: truly a riddle From: Hans Grund Date: 10 May 2000 13:30:07 +0200 > From: Daniel James > Date: Tue, 9 May 2000 11:20:33 -0700 > > .....Then, once you decide it really is "killer" > (which it most certainly is), pick up a copy of "The Riddle" ..... sounds "easy" enuff!! just go ahead and try mate! I've been "picking one up" for over a year now! Jenny and Marcus: thanks for the info! Love, Hans ------------------------------ Subject: Top 10 fave basslines From: "Mark Summers" Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 14:00:32 -1000 How about a new (and no doubt unpopular) debate.Top 5 fave basslines. No make it Top 10. :o) 1) To be with you again 2) Hot Water 3) Kansas city milkman 4) Dance on heavy weather 5) Mr Pink 6) Running in the family 7) 88 8) Good man in a storm 9) Sun goes down 10) Model Friend (11 Keep climbin) Damn it should be Top20, no top 50!!!!!!! Mark Summers www.msummers.force9.co.uk/level42.htm ------------------------------ Subject: On 'True Colors' From: "Eric J. Hansen" Organization: Worldmachine Technologies Corporation Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 10:47:52 -0400 Just a quick note to say that I'm really [also] a fan of True Colors. Its recording style and raw-er sound stands out, making this a turning-point album IMHO. It's less pop, and more progressive... and the whole album seems to be very well integrated, stylistically. Everything pre-TC seems very Britfunk to me, and everything after is very 80's pop (not knocking them, just drawing a disctinction!) And yes, the intro to True Believers is excellent! cheers Eric -- Eric J. Hansen Worldmachine Technologies Corporation http://www.worldmachine.com tel: (617) 357-4040 x210, fax: (617) 357-4949 ------------------------------ Subject: Remastering From: DonZipf @ aol.com Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 12:13:14 EDT > What does it mean, remastered ? Once mixes are finished and ready to be assembled into an album, they all must me "mastered". Since the songs on an album may have come from different studios or have different spectral content from each other, they all must be matched up to sound like they really do belong on the same album together. This is accomplished by a mastering engineer, using expensive compressors and equalizers. Also, different masters would be produced for manufacturing CD's, cassettes, LP's, etc., as each of those formats has its own sonic requirements. RE-mastering means that this whole process has been done over, starting with the original mix tapes, using newer, more modern equipment. The CD masters for probably all original Level 42 records were 16-bit. Today, they would be remastered at 20- or 24-bit and dithered back to 16-bit for CD with the latest noise-shaping technology. Cheers - Z. ------------------------------ Subject: re-issues From: "Norman van den Wildenberg" Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 18:20:56 +0200 Answer to Bilal's great Idea Sorry 4 u but 2 me: Mr. Pink and Love Games R the most hotpotentials...... Especialy Mr. Pink can come with some modern House remixes (I don't like them, but it's commercial, right) Cheers Norman ------------------------------ Subject: Re: True Colours From: Savagerush @ aol.com Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 12:56:08 EDT There is no big deep rooted reason fro why so many Digesters believe "True Colours" to be 42's greatest achievement. Anyone who listens carefully can tell you it's definitely up there at the top (So hard to pick ONE favorite) The later Level albums are great, technically and from a popularity standpoint. No argument here... But True Colours has some phenomenal musicianship on it. The Drum work, The Keyboards, the Guitar, and the bass taken together or separately, are awesome. I understand that the quality of the sound may throw some people off, but not everything can be digital... Anyway, all 42 records Rock!!!! I just like True Colours a whole bunch... Savage ------------------------------ Subject: True Colours, Reissues From: "Jay Krause" Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 18:04:13 +0100 I have to say, I also love True Colours, although I only have it on tape which is deteriorating by the day. It does seem like the 'transition' album, and it has some excellent tunes on it like Kansas City Milkman. I may have been born only 3 years earlier than it was released, but hey it still sounds great! ;-) I'd love an early instrumental to be released as the single, like Mr Pink, 88 or POA, but I guess we'll be seeing Lessons in Love released. I will vote for them though! I agree with winston - can't complain about the reissues. It will be cool to go into a record shop and buy a NEW piece of Level 42 merchandise, which I have never had the opportunity to do at 18. Call me sad.... Bye! Dale ------------------------------ Subject: Wanted From: "Richard Maybury" Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 20:38:03 +0100 Howdy Folks, Does anyone have a copy of the "Staring At The Sun" concert tour for sale ? Answers on a postcard please... Kansas City Milkman email : maybury @ nildram.co.uk web: www.maybury.nildram.co.uk ------------------------------ Subject: Mike From: j.toth @ talk21.com Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 21:25:43 +0100 Let's talk about Mike for a change.I am a keyboard player and it's my greatest ambition to play a duet with him.Anyone else want to join in? Janice x ---Open Email - Email on your TV--- ------------------------------ Subject: From: Edward A Kerbs Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 18:22:42 -0400 (EDT) I love True Colors (in response to he who expressed how great it would sound if it were just released) That was the 1st l42 album i ever bought, about 11 yrs ago (the 1st i ever heard was RITF) while L42 releases were still in print in the US I especially like how the heavy eurofunk of Chant Has Begun rolls into the gentle piano of Kansas City Milkman. The bass sounds REALLY good on the whole album. Mark King's a superior bassist. A Floating Life is another one of my favorite tunes. I like the bass on my Hero as well. Does anyone else agree with me on this, write to the digest? Ive been a fan of l42 since the age of 12 (since 1988) BOB ------------------------------ Subject: Fovevernow Tour From: john stewart Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 16:34:41 -0700 (PDT) Does anybody know if there are any video or audio recordings of the Forevernow tour `94. Sadly, I could not attend any of these gigs as I was abroad. John __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages & get email alerts with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Level42 Digest V2000 #78 From: TenthSun @ aol.com Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 19:35:29 EDT In a message dated 5/10/00 6:23:20 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Level42-request @ worldmachine.com writes: << Also, many folks like it because it contains some of the last jazzfunk and R&B flavored songs by the boys. >> Hi Lolita, let me throw in my 2 cents. While I've always thought World Machine was their best album musically, I've always felt that lyrically, True Colours was exactly that, the truest lyrical expression of themselves. I mean Hours By the Window? Exquisite!! And Kouyate...way cool. By the way I finally broke down and got Sting's Brand New Day album (I was really disappointed by Mercury Falling) --- this man rules:-) --- and while I love everything on it, the first time I heard After Rain...I thought Mark was on bass. This song sounds so much like a Level 42 hit. Anybody else agree? Let me know. Terri H. ------------------------------ Subject: Re: Level42 Digest V2000 #78 From: Dar4Bass @ aol.com Date: Wed, 10 May 2000 19:43:37 EDT In a message dated 5/10/00 6:24:09 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Level42-request @ worldmachine.com writes: << http://www.neurotoxin.net/~djames/level42/mp3.html >> Thanks for putting me on to your site. Tried to DL 'Easy', but all I got was a one second sample of the intro. I did some other DL's, which were flawless. The Info on Wally Badarou was a big help. Now I know which material to purchase. Cool place-thanks again!! Sincerely, Daryl ------------------------------ Subject: Re masters/ JD basses From: level43 @ juno.com Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 00:05:34 EDT Greetings, Don't expect the re masters (regular tracks) to sound better than the original releases. It is quite possible, however I think the originals were mixed well and will be hard to beat. Even more significant, most of the tapes are 15 to 20 years old. Print through never sleeps. Better now than later. . . . . Has anyone in the US ever bought a JD bass by overseas shipment or from a US dealer? Help! Loz, regarding your unwrapped backup L42 cds, you might want to unwrap them. It is an unlikely event but I once bought a German True Colours and everything was visually correct, but the sound on the disc was actually a German folk group. Is there any market for L42 defect cds? There's probably one or two of you. I returned it. -- Mark O ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. ------------------------------ Subject: Absence Corrected From: Brian L Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 00:18:54 -0500 > > There was more, but unfortunately, I deleted it. Basically it went on to > say that fifteen years ago, they shared a common similarity when it comes > to music. After spending time together after a long absence, they > realized they still felt the same. As of right now, there is nothing > "official", no plans to produce an album together. However, I wouldn't be > surprised to see some sort of collaboration in the near future. I mentioned this last week. Here's more info: This was on VH1's The Wire Monday at www.vh1.com: Both online articles were accompanied by pictures of just Roland. IMHO that's not getting things off to a good start. When the two of them were TFF it was Curt who did all the publicity and talking and Roland who sat in the background for the most part. Curt just happens to be really good at PR, whereas Roland seemed to enjoy cultivating some sort of secretive image. Then when they split, Roland et al used that as an attack on Curt of course, to say it was Roland who slaved away in the studio while Curt sat for the cameras. They aren't even back together yet and if you notice, once again Curt's doing all the talking. I would hope that if they do get back together Roland works on his reclusiveness and makes this duo a DUO...otherwise, this thing is screwed before it even starts. ALL THE NEWS THAT WANTS TO RULE THE WORLD By C. Bottomley They said it would happen. Then they said it wouldn't. One fan even sent us Curt Smith's email address so we could ask him personally. But now Smith has told Billboard that Tears for Fears are indeed back at it. He says Roland Orzabal and himself "had dinner when I went back to England in January. We hadn't spoken in nearly a decade. We started talking about music, and it was clear that we had some of the same ideas again and that we had a lot in common musically." Smith has been living in the U.S., so although the duo have been writing together, they've traded ideas across the Atlantic. Smith says next up is the demo stage and if they hit it off, it will be welcome back, Tears for Fears. Keep your fingers crossed. --- Similar info on billboard.com: Billboard Bits: Tears For Fears, Bill Withers, D'Angelo Tears For Fears co-founders Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith are not only talking again for the first time in years, they're writing together again with an eye toward a possible new Tears For Fears album. "We had dinner when I went back to England in January," Smith tells Billboard's Melinda Newman. "We hadn't spoken in nearly a decade. We started talking about music, and it was clear that we had some of the same ideas again and that we had a lot in common musically." The pair has been writing trans-Atlantically, but Smith says it's still too early to predict where the process may lead. They plan to demo some of the material in England, and Smith says "if we decided to go further with this, we would record as Tears For Fears." --- Also E! Entertainment Report had something on it. Brian ------------------------------ Subject: Reissues From: Mikep3099 @ aol.com Date: Thu, 11 May 2000 04:35:53 EDT Hi again everyone, Right off the bat, let me again say a HUGE thank you to Ian, Simon, Mark and the rest of the guys and Polydor for finally putting these reissues on the schedule. I really appreciate ALL the HARD work that you all have put in on getting this project started and brought to us the anxious fans. We all really owe you. Evidently my disappointment in the fact that some of the tracks that were mentioned early on as canidates for inclusion as bonus tracks not being included after all was seen as a complaint. Nothing could be further from the truth! I am absolutely THRILLED by the fact that we are getting anything at all. The reissues in their current form with bonus tracks, new art and expanded liners are a dream come true. The fact that they will be offered as 2 for 1's is an even bigger nod to the fans that have supported the band for so long. Thanks again. I'll be buying each and every one as soon as they are available. I am very sorry that my question/ suggestions came across as decent. That was never my intent and I certainly never meant to get anything started. A few folks have questioned how I know about some of these tracks and even questions their existence. I was just going by info that has been listed in previous digests. There is even a link on one of the web sites to the particular digest way back in 98 that lists most of what I mentioned as "missing" tracks. The rest are simply remixes that have been oficially released in some form at some point. The 2 live tracks that I mentioned from the APP era are just songs that I know were in the set list on most of that tour. There was even a Rockpalast the contained a show from this same tour. That's where that suggestion came from. I realise and respect the fact that the bonus tracks are what Mark and the guys approved and wanted. It is certainly their call. I just am sorry that the tracks that were discovered anew during the vault search aren't included, especially those from the later albums, WM, RITF and SATS. My coment about "I'll believe it when I am holding them in my own hands" is simply a result of the amount of time that is has been since this project was started. . I understand that this was out of Ian's hands and that he has been fighting the entire time to get Poly to go on and release them. Again thanks for all your effort. Let me say that my list was just me voicing what I was hoping for, or better stated, would be an even bigger dream come true. Even if there is no bonus rareties disc I will still be overjoyed! Thanks again for all you have done and will continue to do on our behalf Ian. Without you we probably wouldn't be getting these at all and certainly not in the form that they are now taking. Sorry again, Mike In a message dated 5/10/00 5:20:48 AM Central Daylight Time, Level42-request @ worldmachine.com writes: << Following on from the comments Mike Petty made yesterday about extra tracks - yes it's true that there are a lot of "other" tracks that are not being used on the re-issues, but the fact remains that the re-issues are being released the way that MARK himself wants them released. As I said yesterday, there is a chance some of the demo's and unreleased stuff may appear on a limited edition rarities c.d., but there's no guarantee of this. For anyone interested to know more about the other unreleased material, remember that Loz's "Word Machine" (issue 3) carries full details. For now, let's just be happy that the re-issues are finally happenning - and yes, all have been remastered from the master tapes themselves, so they'll not sound better than these anywhere !!! Ian >>