Friday, April 02, 2010

Sea Level - After The Dance (1982)



Well, praise the Lord and Craig (he got this to me) too! I am very proud to present to you the lost Sea Level album "After The Dance" (I just made that up), which never got released. A single did get released, however, and is being sold at steep prices on the internet. That's the song "Make You Feel Love Again", which is also on the flip side. Vocals on that track were by Blue Miller. And here we have all that was recorded after the "Ballroom" album. Vocal duties shared by Blue Miller and Randall Bramblett, I don't know how it was all meant to turn out, but what we have is wonderful! Luc sent me an answer Chuck gave him when asked about these recordings:
"We did release the single you mentioned, but it died a quick death. We recorded several other tracks for Arista that none of us liked....and the band broke up soon after that. Clive Davis had his own ideas about what he thought Sea Level should be...which was a very commercial concept, and we just did not want to go down that road. Most of what we recorded in those last days was me with some Miami session players, although there was a few tracks we did in Nashville that was the proper band.. It’s a period that I do not look upon with any fondness....and it’s probably best that those tracks have never been finished or released...best, Chuck"
Craig mentioned that: "It featured a new bass player, Paul Brodeur, who sadly died during the sessions. Quality is good - music is a bit "pop" but has some nice moments.".
Well, they may not have been finished and released, but I thoroughly enjoy listening to these tracks. It's a lot slicker than any previous Sea Level album but it's great stuff all the same. It's funky, soulful stuff. I love it. Oh, and there's a bonus track at the end, a song by Jimmy Nalls. I believe it's called "Tribute", and that's what it sound like. But a tribute to who? Shooby doo!

17 comments:

Luc said...

About "Visionary School", it wasn't released. Only demos with different sessions throughout the 90's I think (Randell answer was "A cassette of unreleased demos from the '90s")

mawos said...

Thanks a lot ! Dear Mac !

mawos

Skydogg said...

The cassette was actually available for sale at one time through the Hittin' The Note website...

Moose KnuckleHead said...

Thank you so much for this!!

Anxious Mo-Fo said...

Chuck is right; this album is dreadful, even worse than Ballroom.

Hard to believe that this is what Sea Level turned into after their classic first three albums.

Luc said...

"Ball Room" contains some really fine songs like "Comfort Range", "Struttin'", "We Will Wait", "You Mean So Much To Me" or "Bandstand" even if the music is not the same as the 1rsts LPs.

Mike said...

I hate to even ask, but....

Any chance you might consider posting "Visionary School?" I didn't even know about it until this post.

THANKS for the Sea Level. Never thought I'd hear this one...

Skydogg said...

Mike, as soon as I have the info needed, I will. Help me out if you can. ;-)

Mike said...

I wish I could. Luc's comments are all I know about the recording. Sorry...

Anonymous said...

Thank you! I love your site.

propylaen2001 said...

Would you please consider a re-up? Thanks in advance!

Skydogg said...

Re-upped!

propylaen2001 said...

Thanks so much for tghe re-up!

Mike said...

My copy died on the last hard drive. Any chance you might consider a re-up of this album? Thank you very much!

Skydogg said...

I noticed Ziddu was down yesterday. It works for me now.

Mike said...

It is down again. I'll keep trying. THANKS for a fantastic blog!

Mike said...

Got it tonight! Thanks for your help with this!