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Saturday, March 03, 2007 |
Welcome to the Level 42 Digest! Founded in 1993, this is a community of 479 fans of the band Level 42 and its music. The community interacts here via email, through many related web sites, and at periodic "Levelfest" gatherings held around the world. All subscribers are encouraged to participate and contribute new dialogue about their common interests. |
| Topics for Saturday, March 03, 2007 1. Eretroglide in Blue - alex.friesen @ sickkids.ca 2. Electric Sheep - alex.friesen @ sickkids.ca 3. Break from form - Julian Arnold 4. Phase IV - Chris Lawless 5. B3 - Chris Lawless 6. Never Mind Phil or Gary - Pete |
| 1. Eretroglide in Blue |
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| From: | alex.friesen @ sickkids.ca <alex.friesen @ sickkids.ca> |
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| Date: | Fri, 2 Mar 2007 09:53:33 -0500 |
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Gary recorded all the drum tracks to Retroglide in two days. He went in pretty much cold, played his ass off, and went home. A week later he could barely remember what he'd done. But can you tell that by listening? I shirley can't! But I was nosy and asked him about it. Tracking drums to an entire album in two days from a standing start is very impressive. Um, I think I had a point, but maybe it's just my fever doing the typing. I really should go back to bed. ...Alex... | ||
| 2. Electric Sheep |
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| From: | alex.friesen @ sickkids.ca <alex.friesen @ sickkids.ca> |
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| Date: | Fri, 2 Mar 2007 10:32:41 -0500 |
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>> From: Eric J. Hansen <ehansen @ worldmachine.com> So, is the drummer staying true to the song, or is the song being played in the drummer's preferred style? A little of each? << In general, in a band situation, drummers play pretty much how and what they want to play given the genre etc. Now, by "band" in this context, I'm referring to a group of musicians who are on more or less equal footing. Like the original Level 42 line up or U2 or The Beatles. In the case of a (so-called) artist hiring backup musicians, it's quite different. In that situation, the drummer will usually play how and what the boss wants, maybe with elaboration here and there. For instance, think of Britney's live band. (Yes, some people are actually making tonal and rhythmic sounds in real time while she lip syncs.) Considering Gary in Mark's fold, I'd say he's somewhere in between. I suspect that Mark respects and enjoys Gary's playing enough to give him pretty much free rein, which is why grooves on, for instance, The Chinese Way are quite unlike Phil's. In a good live band all musicians affect all other musicians constantly. They feed off each other while simultaneously providing musical nourishment for the rest. So, yes, Mark's "direction" influenced Phil. And it also influenced Gary. But clearly the results were different with the two drummers, and the difference represents their individual approaches to the instrument. >> From: Winston Walker <winman42 @ gmail.com> Now, the Forever Now album...said it before, i'll say it again...i must be the only person on this digest who didnt think this album was a return to form. Some good songs, but as far as Phil's 'drumming' goes..it has nice grooves at maybe 8 bars at a time, as the whole thing sounds like drum loops to me, which we what it is. << I wouldn't say that Forever Now was a "return to form," but then, I wasn't expecting it to be. And I totally agree that Phil's talent was wasted by reducing his playing to loops. But, production techniques notwithstanding, I still say Forever Now (Resurgence) is the band's all-time best album. >> From: Pete <pd018w9422 @ blueyonder.co.uk> Oh poor me, bigger house, less stress, lower mortgage, near the sea, Dartmoor etc. << Party at Pete's place!! July 1st; everybody be there! >> From: Andrew Goodwin <thenightfly83 @ yahoo.co.uk> Furthermore it made me aware of how much I had been guilty of denigrating the significance of the drummer to the overall sound of a recording. Although then I encountered Friesen and the guilt magically evaporated. << Y'mean 'cause of the way I'm so rude to people? I do it all for you, baby! XOXOXO ...Alex... | ||
| 3. Break from form |
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| From: | Julian Arnold <jando.linralu @ gmail.com> |
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| Date: | Fri, 2 Mar 2007 15:41:47 +0000 |
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| Hi, Phil vs. Gary isn't an easy one. For me, I've always leaned towards Phil I mean since Phil left in '87 we've seen four studio albums, just FOUR in 20 years? Running in the Family was the seventh studio album in eight years. I put it down to creative mis-management, no discredit to Mark, he's still the poodle's privates as far as I'm concerned but I think Mssr King took too much on instead of focusing on the music and the groove, he took on the whole band. Song writing, production, creative development etc. Now, Gary was a great asset to Level 42 even though Mike didn't get along with him. I've always thought one the best ways to keep Level 42 not just going but growing would be collaborations. I've wondered what a L42 album would sound like if you had say, Stuart Copeland on percussion, Mark Knopfler on guitar and Mike/Wally on keys. Next album could have Nile Rodgers or Manu Katche on percussion. Production by some old alumni like Jerry Boys, Mike Vernon. My current buzz is.... Light of the World / Incognito. Did you know drummer Mel Gaynor of Simple Minds started with Jazz/Funk outfit Light of the World? Could you imagine Mark, Mike, Wally, Mel and Bluey Maunick on an album? They're all in the UK as far as I know. Only take a phone call. Since reading 'The Definitive Biography' I've come to look at Level 42 in two distinct halves. Classic L42 (the John Gould years) and Modern L42 (Paul Crockford onwards) John of course was Phil and Boon's older brother that used to manage them in the early years but they all had a big argy bargy in '85 putting the band and World Machine on a knife-edge and Mark took over as band leader. Some here might argue that is where it all began to change. Phil stayed on and gave us RITF and Forever Now. With Gary gone, here's hoping Mark's little black book still has Phil's number in it.... Regards, Julian Check these out... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Addicted-Funk-Anthology-Light-World/dp/B000EPR7L6/ref=pd_ka_1/026-9937798-2304416?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1172850008&sr=8-1 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jazz-Funk-Incognito/dp/B000003JBJ/ref=sr_1_1/026-9937798-2304416?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1172850035&sr=1-1 | ||
| 4. Phase IV |
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| From: | Chris Lawless <chrisjlawless @ yahoo.com> |
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| Date: | Fri, 2 Mar 2007 16:37:27 -0800 (PST) |
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| Andrew Goodwin <thenightfly83 @ yahoo.co.uk> wrote: >>In the meantime, let me point you towards a sense of humour. Come on Chris, lighten up. They were throwaway one-liners making fun of the age-old Phil v Gary, Boon as lyricist and merit of Guaranteed topics which have been flogged to death countless times. If you're going to take the sort of drivel that Friesen and I spew out here seriously, we might as well all give up and go home. << Oh, it's there. My responses were basically (attempted, anyways) to be written in that same flip, tongue-in-cheek tone that both you and Friesen use. It's my first shot at that approach though, so maybe they came across a little harsher than intended. It's all good, and I'm sure I'll improve in time. :-) >>If I'm to be damned as a plagiarist now, can it be someone I've ever heard please? << Meant as an oblique compliment actually. He was a very insightful person (albeit with some bad habits): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenny_Bruce >>Excellent, any music theoreticians out there willing to clarify in what way Guaranteed can be deemed to be "exceptionally strong" in terms of composition? Or given that you made the original assertion, perhaps you could oblige? I'm always willing to learn, and given that I know almost nothing about music theory or composition would be delighted to hear a technical explanation for the brilliance of The Ape. << I know pretty much nothing in that field either, but I do know a few musicians who are well versed and I trust their opinions on such matters. As for 'The Ape', I always thought it was one of those songs that works better in the context of the entire album as opposed to standing on it's own. Chris L. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need a quick answer? Get one in minutes from people who know. Ask your question on www.Answers.yahoo.com | ||
| 5. B3 |
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| From: | Chris Lawless <chrisjlawless @ yahoo.com> |
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| Date: | Sat, 3 Mar 2007 00:00:56 -0800 (PST) |
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| Paul Hammond <phammond @ microsoft.com> wrote: >>OK, I think I rambled, and probably started my own threads and missed half the points in others. No need to refer to my post and tell me how I missed the point of yours, I don’t think I was really responding to anything, just airing thoughts. I actually thought about posting something like this when Retroglide first came out and there was the first flurry of “it is not Level 42”, “where’s Mike”, “bring back Phil / Wally / Boon / Paul Hammond”. All I really wanted to say was “IT IS WHAT IT IS”. Take it at face value and enjoy it. Or don’t, and sell it.<< Actually Paul, you summed up the main point I was trying to make rather nicely: they're different drummers, and they're both exceptionally good at what they do. Granted yes, I did poke a little at Phil for quitting a second time, but ragging on musician's temperaments is an old music journalism habit of mine and I will ALWAYS do that when I see fit. Call it a quirk. :-) Honestly though, they (musicians) do tend to overthink things to the Nth degree and are far too critical of certain things they do and not critical enough with other things they do. A (not so quick) example: back in 1992, two ex-Tangerine Dream members from two different eras of the band (Peter Baumann from the early to mid 70's, and Paul Haslinger from the mid 80's to 1990) collaborated on a musical project called Blue Room, which was initially supposed to be instrumental in nature. At one point, a guy named John Baxter who sang in an 80's band called Re-flex ('The Politics of Dancing' was their big claim to fame) came in and vocals were added to the project. The end result was absolutely incredible, and I was one of the few to receive an advance copy of the album almost six months before it's planned release date. At any rate, Haslinger ended up dwelling too long with afterthoughts about the finished project, started tinkering with things, got disillusioned when he saw how much the project had changed from it's original inception, and then even more disillusioned for other reasons not even worth mentioning. So he decided to scrap the entire thing and start releasing solo albums with this weird hybrid of world, lounge, and trip hop. The third one (called SCORE) was such self indulgent, annoying tripe, yet he thought it was the most brilliant thing he had ever done. Everyone else was telling him the album wouldn't sell and no one would like it, and he ignored them. End result: the album tanked. Conversely, everyone told him how great the Blue Room project was and that it would be a huge success, and he didn't listen to them. So one great album will (probably) never see the light of day (legally, anyway), and overstock copies of another one go for a buck or two on eBay. I bring all this up because in Phil's case, he's gone on record in interviews (as I recall, anyway) about not liking the commercial direction the band took with WM and RITF. However, both album contain (in my opinion) some pretty interesting drumming parts. I think he tends to forget his contributions because of his overall dislike of that era. The very same era which- I suspect- is what got the majority of fans into the band in the first place. I know that's what broke them over here in the U.S. So what exactly does this have to do with the original topic of conversation? Not much past the aforementioned topic of temperament, but hey, I'm in a sharing mood tonight. Plus, Paul told me to carry on, and who am I to say no? Chris L. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Sucker-punch spam with award-winning protection. Try the free Yahoo! Mail Beta. http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta/features_spam.html | ||
| 6. Never Mind Phil or Gary |
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| From: | Pete <pd018w9422 @ blueyonder.co.uk> |
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| Date: | Sat, 3 Mar 2007 08:38:04 -0000 |
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Hey, extremely insecure former and now current
Digest member wants someone to say hello PLEASE and to recognise his fatnansic
writing (lack of) abilites. Bollards to Gary or Phil or Trevor or Mark's
drumming, What 'bout talking 'bout me?
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