Level 42 Before Level42

[drTStingray]

1 hour ago, EssentialTension said:

 

Where was Musical Exchanges? One memory says Snow Hill and the other says Broad Street.

 

I'm 35 years away from Brum, some of it is a bit vague now.

It was originally Broad St (had a Dave Hill Superyob guitar in the window for some time). It wasn’t a very big shop and they moved two or three times IIRC. 
 

Snow Hill/Constitution Hill was Yardleys (certainly till the early 80s). Imprinted in my memory as they refused to put my Acoustic 371 stack on consignment as ‘too old’ - it was about 10 yrs old at the time - I think they wanted me to trade it in as they had a stack of new Acoustic equipment. I think Musical Exchanges ended up in the Yardleys shop. 
 

This was all around the time of Level 42 being of great interest to most bass players - and so they should always be!! 😀

Edited December 30, 2021 by drTStingray

[The fasting showman]

1 hour ago, EssentialTension said:

 

Where was Musical Exchanges? One memory says Snow Hill and the other says Broad Street.

 

I'm 35 years away from Brum, some of it is a bit vague now.

Great catching up on all this, Broad St until '82, Snow Hill from then on. There was a brief overlap where they had a different shop exactly opposite George Clay a few doors up from the old Broad St shop.

Martin

 

[The fasting showman]

7 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

It was originally Broad St (had a Dave Hill Superyob guitar in the window for some time). It wasn’t a very big shop and they moved two or three times IIRC. 
 

Snow Hill/Constitution Hill was Yardleys (certainly till the early 80s). Imprinted in my memory as they refused to put my Acoustic 371 stack on consignment as ‘too old’ - it was about 10 yrs old at the time - I think they wanted me to trade it in as they had a stack of new Acoustic equipment. I think Musical Exchanges ended up in the Yardleys shop. 
 

This was all around the time of Level 42 being of great interest to most bass players - and so they should always be!! 😀

By the time I was doing the Saturday pilgrimage to the music shops (81/82) Yardleys had moved to Colmore Row and Exchanges took over their Snow Hill shop. I wonder if you remember the stars and stripes Stingray that did the rounds  in the Brum music shops in the '80s?

 

[drTStingray]

No I wasn’t in Brum by then. I drove a long way with the Acoustic stuff having phoned them first about it - I think Yardleys shop may have been Musical Exchanges by then. I was furious anyway. Musical Exchanges had a “bit of a reputation” in the early 70s, and several of my mates referred to them by the name of a children’s comic story gang led by someone called Ali Baba. 
 

I recall going to Romford (Soundwave Bassplace) around that time - and it being full of Trace Elliott equipment and bass players emulating Brit Funk - dunno if @Bean9seventy experienced that place - I recall on leaving the shop my eyes coloured everything a strange green hue from all the Trace amp lights they encountered for a couple of hours 😂

Edited December 30, 2021 by drTStingray

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, drTStingray said:

But not that shop location? It was on the corner of John Bright Street/Hill St/Navigation St almost opposite the New Street Station signal box and Bristol Road bus terminus before moving to Dale End? 

 

I bought a Carlsbro Stingray guitar amp at the Dale End shop in the late 1970s.

[musicbassman]

30 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

I recall going to Romford (Soundwave Bassplace) around that time

Yep, I remember going over there around '81 and they were all raving about the first Casiopea album which they had on full blast.  Casiopea's brand of Japfunk  sounded so advanced and technically brilliant at the time, but if I hear any of that stuff now it just sounds like lift music. How times change.

[Bean9seventy]

11 hours ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

 

Or any connection with reality at all really?

no personal connection to the band to note ,, its just that the drummer lost his memory once ? 

in many ways i "forget" who i am , a flashback from listening to the santana runnin joint, the weapon nice popwell stuff, became signature level 42 ,, so

 

after disco ended 1980 on the USA street sides , there was an era we called Trouble Funk ,, to find a top joint that captures trouble funk i will have to go in the attic dig out loads of tapes & shazham it or upload from tape 

 

its like Mark Adams "on something"

[Bean9seventy]

9 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

Only trying to be helpful, you charming little man.

Lemmy is telling you you go college & learn bass with to fingers :D

 

The Hook

 

[Bean9seventy]

2 hours ago, drTStingray said:

It was originally Broad St (had a Dave Hill Superyob guitar in the window for some time). It wasn’t a very big shop and they moved two or three times IIRC. 
 

Snow Hill/Constitution Hill was Yardleys (certainly till the early 80s). Imprinted in my memory as they refused to put my Acoustic 371 stack on consignment as ‘too old’ - it was about 10 yrs old at the time - I think they wanted me to trade it in as they had a stack of new Acoustic equipment. I think Musical Exchanges ended up in the Yardleys shop. 
 

This was all around the time of Level 42 being of great interest to most bass players - and so they should always be!! 😀

The reason why lenny henry never took me to brum ,, it because i would have missed it on the train & ended up in liverpool or manchester a bit

 

a big overlander

[MacDaddy]

9 hours ago, gary mac said:

Please keep this thread on track and play nicely, that way we won't have to lock it down.

 

 

As has been pointed out earlier, it's rather difficult to see what track this thread is actually on. 

 

In this instance I'm regretting adhering to the edict of the "Don't post before reading" thread.

[Bean9seventy]

1 minute ago, Bean9seventy said:

The reason why lenny henry never took me to brum ,, it because i would have missed it on the train & ended up in liverpool or manchester a bit

 

a big overlander

right ,, guys ,, i know there are a few recent rabbit holes & peeps putting up "they brought a Fender Bass in 1976 ,,, like a barrister i will simply let that go

sometimes these exceptions prove the point ,

 

so we know M.K worked in a shop , those who remember will know he would sometimes play the basses in the shop >>> a diferent rabbit hole(s)

 

so what is it M,K has a complete advantage of ?

 

1st,,  he is in a total "advanced Pro" musical enviroment

2nd,, (where we come into the frame) ,, he/they will know exactly

what kind of instruments we liked / rated

3rd ,, the basslines tunes "we knew played on bass / rated

 

So ,, eg guys like myself would walk right away from the Fender Basses

in fact never played "any" fender bass/ copy until 1991 ,, not even to try

 

so what were the reasons ,, & where are some examples ,, all coming up

after the After read ,,,, replies to this 1st page

[drTStingray]

I’m interested to hear your story on this @Bean9seventy - rather a lot of people who weren’t playing punk or ska in that era also walked away from them, myself included although in my instance it was rather earlier in the 70s. 

[Hellzero]

1 hour ago, MacDaddy said:

 

As has been pointed out earlier, it's rather difficult to see what track this thread is actually on. 

 

In this instance I'm regretting adhering to the edict of the "Don't post before reading" thread.

 

It was :

 

[EssentialTension]

4 hours ago, drTStingray said:

 

Snow Hill/Constitution Hill was Yardleys (certainly till the early 80s)

 

OK, I  remember Yardley's. I bought an Aria there in probably 1980/81

[Stub Mandrel]

57 minutes ago, Hellzero said:

 

It was :

 

 

That was an idea that really flew...

[drTStingray]

1 hour ago, EssentialTension said:

OK, I  remember Yardley's. I bought an Aria there in probably 1980/81

You’re not John Taylor, are you 😎😀

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, EssentialTension said:

 

Where was Musical Exchanges? One memory says Snow Hill and the other says Broad Street.

 

I'm 35 years away from Brum, some of it is a bit vague now.

 

The Broad Street shop (which I used to look into when I was a schoolboy) got hit by a fire. There was a bit of speculation about that. It moved to Snow Hill (where it was when I bought a P from them, and later PXed it for a Thumb), and years later became Reverb Sounds. Gary, who used to work in the guitar department there, went on to PMT in Birmingham - years ago, I think when he was still at Musical Exchanges, he showed me some photos of the fire damage in the Broad Street shop.

[Bean9seventy]

On 27/12/2021 at 18:00, lowdown said:

 

Good luck getting that over to Cryptic Meg.

 

 

I believe Lonnie Liston Smith met Marcus during Jingle sessions or some club gig, mid 70's. Marcus was certainly known in New York during the mid to late 70's.

 

He played on this (1978) and I believe he wrote it in 1975:

 

 

 

i was perhaps the very 1st person (non DJ) to have this tune in the UK  (omg)

it was given to me as part of my winnings in a dance competition 1st place

 

space princess was "the record the week" & it was played in the final dance off ok, 

 

& i am "still" telling you no one was talking about marcus miller in the UK

 

roy ayres, yes 

lonnie liston smith, yes

ronnie laws, yes

others , yes

 

marcus exploded in ? 1980, the end

[drTStingray]

The first time I heard of Marcus Miller was on this track and the album Adrenaline of 1979 by David Bendeth - there are several tracks which sound like Level 42 before Level42.

 

https://youtu.be/_jzoogxoYWg

 

 

Edited December 31, 2021 by drTStingray

[Bean9seventy]

2 minutes ago, Bean9seventy said:

i was perhaps the very 1st person (non DJ) to have this tune in the UK  (omg)

it was given to me as part of my winnings in a dance competition 1st place

 

space princess was "the record the week" & it was played in the final dance off ok, 

 

& i am "still" telling you no one was talking about marcus miller in the UK

 

roy ayres, yes 

lonnie liston smith, yes

ronnie laws, yes

others , yes

 

marcus exploded in ? 1980, the end

The Janek Gwizdala syndrome

 

if you Read the books it tells you ron carter played say 1973 ?

but in the UK  no one even gets "into" that music untill 1977

 

yes, you have return to forever & the "mishogogevos orcester"

& the jazz heads, who were dinosaurs by the 1970s

 

but then Disco explodes & that is when the world starts taking note

dancing 1st

listening 2nd

trying to play it, 3rd

 

by 1980 everything is being back catalogued named ledgered understood

bass guitar explodes like never before, Slap went Gamma Viral

 

42 years later & forget me nots sounds like it was made yesterday 

most bass players who play it weren't even born when it came out ,

[Reggaebass]

2 minutes ago, Bean9seventy said:

42 years later & forget me nots sounds like it was made yesterday 

most bass players who play it weren't even born when it came out

That’s a great Bassline, What was the original Bean 🙂

[2pods]

Patrice Rushen ?

Edited December 31, 2021 by 2pods
Remembered

[Bean9seventy]

3 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

The first time I heard of Marcus Miller was on this track and the album Adrenaline of 1979 by David Bendeth - there are several tracks which sound like Level 42 before Level42.

 

https://youtu.be/_jzoogxoYWg

David Bendeth , 1st dropped UK by Chris Hill at Purley all dayer, we went back stage with  Light of the World that day , Dan Hartman was also 1st dropped @Purley

 

these top DJs own certain tunes

[Reggaebass]

3 minutes ago, 2pods said:

Denise Rushen ?

I know Patrice Rushen did it in 1982 , was that the original 🙂

[Bean9seventy]

9 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

That’s a great Bassline, What was the original Bean 🙂

hard to say , something like close to this