The other day I was posting videos to my Facebook page, a sort of romp down memory lane of the music I was listening to between the ages of 10-13, or there about. I ran across this video:
I mean, wow! At first, I thought it was Cheap Trick covering the song, but it turns out to be a much more interesting story. From what I can gather, this was the original recording of "I'm Losing You". John had hired the guitar player and drummer from Cheap Trick to play the song, and Tony Levin was the session player he was using for the album anyway. According to some sources, Yoko thought it was too "edgy", and wanted John to rerecord it with just the session players. Whether it was Yoko, John, or the producer that pushed for it, that's exactly what happened. This version of the song was unheard until Lennon's box set was released in '99. At that time, the original players got together to make the video.
Now, I've known that TL played bass on Double Fantasy for years. He's one of my favorite bass players. He's been a member of King Crimson and has played on almost every Peter Gabriel album and tour. In addition to bass, he plays the Chapman Stick and invented the "Funk Fingers", extensions worn on the fingers used to strike the bass strings harder, producing a slapping sound.
After doing some research, though, I found out that he's played on over 500 albums, and he's played for almost EVERYBODY!
I though it would be fun to explore his career as best as I can with You Tube videos, and I would like to share what I've discovered.
The 70's
It seems that Tony Levin's recording career started in the early 70's. I found lots of Jazz stuff that he worked on, including several albums with Gap Mangione. Steve Gadd is on drums.
In 1974, he even played with the Jazz Drum God, Buddy Rich!
It wasn't too long before he was playing Rock with some pretty heavy hitters. Much to my surprise, I found out that he was the bass player on several Alice Cooper albums, starting with his first solo record, Welcome to My Nightmare, and also on Lou Reed's Berlin.
It was sometime around here that Tony met producer Bob Ezrin, working with him on the Alice Cooper album and the Berlin album by Lou Reed. It was through Ezrin that Tony first hooked up with Peter Gabriel.
Tony has toured with PG ever since.
And one more of TL's work with PG:
I believe it was around this time that Tony first hooked up with Robert Fripp, the at the time former guitar player and leader of King Crimson. Fripp was working on his solo album, and working closely with PG on several tracks, and even producing Gabriel's second album. This is from Fripp's solo album, Exposure:
Ever a session player, Levin was very busy throughout the 1970's. Just a small example of this, he played on Paul Simon's Still Crazy After All These Years in '75 and One Trick Pony in '80. Levin also toured with Simon. I found this clip from '82. Steve Gadd is on drums, who, as mentioned earlier, is paired often with Levin.
The 80's
When Robert Fripp decided to put a new band together, he called upon Tony Levin once again. The band was to be called Discipline, but before the sessions were over, it was renamed as the new King Crimson. Crimson recorded three albums between '81 and 84. I think this was the first time that Tony played with the drummer Bill Bruford, with whom he would play on several projects to come.
Later in the 80's, TL would appear on Pink Floyd's Momentary Lapse of Reason, and be reunited with Bruford in the classic Yes lineup, Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe.
In 1988, Levin appeared on stage for a tribute to Les Paul along with Eddie Van Halen and Jan Hammer. The video says that the drummer is Bill Bruford, but I can't confirm that, and it sure doesn't look or sound like him to me.
The 90's
Tony Levin seems to have kept very busy in the 90's, not only as a session player, but in a reunited King Crimson and as part of many side projects.
Crimson returned to the studio and stage after an elven year absence. I was lucky enough to catch three of their concerts during this period.
By then, Levin and Bruford had worked together quite a bit, and it shows here:
In '97, Levin joined up with some members of Dream Theater to form Liquid Tension Experiment. I found a few videos, recorded in the 2000's, I think. Here, you can clearly see Levin playing the Chapman Stick, a 10 stringed instrument, I believe.
More Liquid Tension Experiment. As far as I can tell, the band does not use vocals, and it quit adventurous. I'm also guessing, LOUD!
Also in '97, Levin joined with drummer Terry Bozzio and guitarist Steve Stevens to form Bozzio Levin Stevens. They had quite a different sound:
A year later, Tony would team up with Bill Burford yet again, with yet quite a new sound:
2000's
In the new century, Levin continued to work as a session player, work on side projects, and produce solo work.
One interesting sounding project was when he joined up with Goatika. I couldn't find much on them, but I think they are some sort of Russian electronica music collective. Whatever they are, this example of their work with TL is outstanding:
The Tony Levin Band features Jerry Marotta on drums, Jesse Gress, Larry Fast and his brother, Pete Levin. Here they do their version of the King Crimson song, Elephant Talk:
I'll end with this quirky video called Speedbump:
I hope you enjoyed this exploration of one of my favorite musicians. I learned a lot about Tony Levin that I didn't know researching for this post. I've hardly scratched the surface of this amazing bassist's career! For more information, check out www.tonylevin.com, where you can see a complete discography.
