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Level 42 appreciation and Gear Spotting fun


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I've been on a Level 42 kick lately.  One of those bands I've never NOT liked.  There's plenty of recent vids out there, as they are still crushing it, but I love a good 80s live rig.  Mike Lindup's rig here might rival Tony Bank's Invisible Touch touring rig (arguably).  

I'm seeing his trusty Prophet 5 atop a KX-88, and on the side, PPG Wave, DX7, Emulator II and a QX1 or QX3.  Other than mixers, I can't really tell what's happening in the racks.  Looks like maybe some Yamaha FM or sampler modules.  Great sounding show.  The drummer is killing it too.

 

 

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6 minutes ago, ABECK said:

I'm seeing his trusty Prophet V atop a KX-88, and on the side, PPG Wave, DX7, Emulator II and a QX1 or QX3.  Other than mixers, I can't really tell what's happening in the racks.  Looks like maybe some Yamaha FM or sampler modules.

My guess is that the rack has a variety of Yamaha TX and Roland MKS modules in the rack, along with some Akai and/or Roland samplers.  That's what everybody was using back in the day.

Instruments: Walters Grand Console Upright Piano circa 1950 something, Kurzweil PC4-88, Ibanez TMB-100
Studio Gear: Audient EVO16, JBL 305P MKII monitors, assorted microphones, Reaper

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Great band but it always reminds me of this:

I had a friend who used to live around these parts who was one of the best cover band keyboard players I've ever heard. Dude was freaking incredible. He was also a major Level 42 freak. Got himself a gig with a country band who had bookings out the wazoo. Well, my buddy, on top of being an amazing talent, was also kind of an alpha dog personality wise. So the first time I go to see this band they are killing it, big crowd and the band sounds great, and on break he casually mentions that he's trying to get them to dig on some level 42.....next time I catch them half the set list is level 42 and their crowd (who really wanted what the band was playing before) had moved on.....so did all the gigs.....

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3 hours ago, ABECK said:

Mike Lindup's rig...Prophet 5, KX-88, PPG Wave, DX7, Emulator II, QX1 or QX3, mixers, racks, maybe some Yamaha FM or sampler modules...

Tying back to the KB rig thread, I'd be curious to know which of today's modern KBs and how many he would choose to cover that gig. 

 

Based on the sounds I'm hearing in the song, he would only need 2 KBs and that's being generous.  Then, I found this😁:

 

 

1 hour ago, Bobbo Fett said:

I had a friend...on break he casually mentions that he's trying to get them to dig on some level 42.....next time I catch them half the set list is level 42 and their crowd (who really wanted what the band was playing before) had moved on.....so did all the gigs.....

Classic example of a musician who is a band cancer. 😁😎

 

 

 

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PD

 

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return."--E. Ahbez "Nature Boy"

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I loved this topic and the videos - thank you for sharing! I like Level 42 and have one of their albums, though I never dug very deep and don't recall seeing any of these live videos before. This prompted me to go on YouTube over the weekend and watch more. Really good stuff and I love the huge '80s keyboard rig!

 

I have a vague recollection that Mike Lindup was interviewed in KB Mag back in the day, though my memory is foggy. I'll have to look into my archives.

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@ericI'd have to assume he was interviewed at one point.  Between his chops and his use of technology, he would have been ripe for a few pages at least.  It's great to see youtube videos from the last several decades of them playing live.  They are still out there doin' their thing.

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Love those guys.  I was kind of an oddball in college (late 80s) listening to that first album a million times.  Eventually I got into several of their others as well.

His keyboard playing was such (IMO) that you hear the melodies before you think about difficulty, even though the technical playing was great, if that makes sense.  Richard Tandy (ELO) and Tony Banks were also like that for me, obviously in different styles. 

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