Rock Around The World: Sea Level-Article/TITLE><script type="text/javascript"> var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-9302529-2']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })(); </script> </head> <BODY><CENTER> <TABLE width="80%"> <TR> <TD align="left" ></TD> <TD align="right" ></TD></TR></TABLE></CENTER> <HR NOSHADE size=3 align=center> <DIV class=Sectionhead style="" > <ILAYER class=Sectionhead style="" > <ILAYER class=Boxlist style="" > <DIV class=Boxlist > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" > </P> <DIV class=Boxlistheight style=" width: 1059.533333px; height: 38.400000px; top: 0px;" > </DIV> </DIV> </ILAYER> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 58.700000pt; height: 401.450000pt; top: 260.250000pt; left: 211.050000pt;" > <LAYER top=347px left=281.400000px width=78.266667px height=535.266667px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,78,535" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 250.950000pt; height: 78.250000pt; top: 182pt; left: 18.800000pt;" > <LAYER top=242.666667px left=25.066667px width=334.600000px height=104.333333px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,334,104" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > </LAYER> </DIV><A name="589825"></A> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 753.900000pt; height: 16.500000pt; top: 22.700000pt; left: 23.100000pt;" > <LAYER top=30.266667px left=30.800000px width=1005.200000px height=22px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,1005,22" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 4.800000px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 729.600000px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Rock Around The World I April 1978 <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >9 </SPAN></SPAN></P> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 746.700000pt; height: 142.800000pt; top: 39.200000pt; left: 18.800000pt;" > <LAYER top=52.266667px left=25.066667px width=995.600000px height=190.400000px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,995,190" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; line-height: 1.140000; margin-top: 54.800000px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 62.400000px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Tahoma,sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: 116.064000pt; letter-spacing: -5.630000pt;" ><SPAN style=" text-decoration: underline;" >SEA LEVEL. </SPAN></SPAN></P> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 180pt; height: 25.200000pt; top: 260.250000pt; left: 23.050000pt;" > <LAYER top=347px left=30.733333px width=240px height=33.600000px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,240,33" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: 1.340000; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; font-size: 16pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >The Tide Is Running </SPAN></P> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 180pt; height: 19.200000pt; top: 285.450000pt; left: 23.050000pt;" > <LAYER top=380.600000px left=30.733333px width=240px height=25.600000px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,240,25" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: 1.500000; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 48px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Times New Roman,serif; font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >by Joan Tarsbis </SPAN></P> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 180pt; height: 678.700000pt; top: 304.650000pt; left: 23.050000pt;" > <LAYER top=406.200000px left=30.733333px width=240px height=904.933333px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,240,904" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: 1.260000; margin-top: 2.400000px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 9.600000px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Among those still somewhat </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 9.600000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >surprised by Sea Level's unavoidable success is Sea Level's own keyboard genie, Chuck Leavell, probably the best electric pianist in rock. </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 4.800000px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >"We didn't set out to cut a 'hit record.' <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >We play for the sake of playing, because we love to play. We'd be making the kind of music we like anyway. Success is just icing on the cake," he smiled warmly. Leavell's touchstone jazz/soul organ effect ripples through their first single off the album, the crackling "That's Your Secret." Even </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >without a single, </SPAN><SPAN style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Cats on the Coast </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >skied </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >up the list of top twenty rock LPs. </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 7.200000px; margin-right: 9.600000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >No longer another rising sun on the Southern horizon, Sea Level now shines over the U.S., over yanks and necks, rockers and jazzers, brawlers and players. Sea Level surges to the crest of a New Southern Tide, and the far-ranging, enriched musical scope and variety of <SPAN style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;" >Cats on the Coast </SPAN>bring to the fore of rock the stimulating flavors of adventure and agressiveness, once thought near </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 9.600000px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >extinction. These elements, plus the <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >learning experience of </SPAN><SPAN style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >Sea Level, </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >their </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >first album, absorbed and focused, are driving the band towards the peak of their profession. While recently touring the East Coast with the Outlaws (fellow Capricorn labelmates), they eased out on their own to </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >headline several concerts. The results can </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >no longer be considered surprising. They coasted to congratulations on the same </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >brash but unassuming jazz-soul-rock </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >currents they hitched a ride for art's sake. Then they blew the house down. </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 9.600000px; margin-right: 9.600000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >"There is an art to everything, an art <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >to life, and we formed Sea Level to reach that point with our music, which is our life." Leavell laughed, anticipating the challenge of an Allman Brothers reunion, really no challenge at all now that </SPAN><SPAN style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Cats on the Coast </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >has come in. "I know Randall will want to make another solo album sometime. I think 1 would he open to that also--as long as there was Sea Level." </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 9.600000px; margin-right: 28.800000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Because Sea Level has reached that <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >point where art is paying off—big. </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >"We're really together in Sea Level. Everything is totally out front—we're totally into Sea Level. Whatever we do, we'll stay together." </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 4.800000px; margin-right: 9.600000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >To underscore that commitment, they earlier jumped from a four-piece to seven, recruiting "That's Your Secret" and "Every Little Thing" lead vocals/ saxophonist/keyboardist Randall <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Bramblett/guitarist Davis Causey, and </SPAN>drummer George Weaver into the original Sea Level: Leavell, bassist Lamar Wilson, guitarist Jimmy Nails, and percussionist Jai Johanny Johanson. </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 9.600000px; margin-right: 9.600000px; margin-bottom: 4.800000px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >The Significant Seven's 'debut' LP is a hot rivet in the hands of reachers reaching for the building genius in rock. It's </SPAN></P> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 174.850000pt; height: 321.650000pt; top: 661.700000pt; left: 211.050000pt;" > <LAYER top=882.266667px left=281.400000px width=233.133333px height=428.866667px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,233,428" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >entertaining and a work of propelling force.a brawling, subtle message of deliverance rock-style, and fulfillment. No small wonder Leavell chuckles with joy. <SPAN style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;" >Cats </SPAN>will lift Sea Level to far higher <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >ground, criss-crossing pop/rock/jazz/ </SPAN>progressive country boundries without passport. And although they have not drifted from Dixie, Sea Level is no Southern-fired rock band, but a sax-freed raunch band steeped in jazz and wind-aided by the gut-muscular Muscle Shoals <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Horns and all the rhythm emphasis and </SPAN>funk the South can impart. Now <SPAN style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;" >Cats on </SPAN><SPAN style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;" >the Coast </SPAN>is not only bacon in Macon, but blue chips in the rock capitols where a <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >fusion such as Sea Level's is sought out as </SPAN><SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >sophisticated. </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 14.400000px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Once caught in the throes of funk, the creative side of Sea Level's music rises effortlessly, yet passionately from a whirlpool in the stream. Jazz, Latin, blues, rock and r&b are swept together in the New Tide, the instrumental side, the <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >brilliant tension .</SPAN> It all places the band<SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" > </SPAN>in class company. Few are their instrumental equals; fewer, if any, in rock alone, are more musically advanced. Sea Level is unpredictably causing the predictable excitement generated at their formation two years ago. </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: 1.290000; margin-top: 12px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 14.400000px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Bramblett, especially, had a lot to add </SPAN></P> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 180pt; height: 125.900000pt; top: 857.450000pt; left: 399.050000pt;" > <LAYER top=1143.266667px left=532.066667px width=240px height=167.866667px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,240,167" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 2.400000px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >and a lot to consider before accepting the <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >bid from Leavell and the group. He fronted </SPAN>his own band, worked on the <SPAN style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;" >Cowboy </SPAN>album, and recorded two solo LPs. Davis <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 1.120000pt;" >Causey, who had played with Bramblett </SPAN>for ten years, also joined. George Weaver was recommended by former drummer Jaimoe, who quit the tour from the aches and pains of the grind. Leavell, Bramblett, <SPAN style=" letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Causey and Williams all contributed to </SPAN>the songs for <SPAN style=" font-style: italic; font-weight: normal;" >Cats. </SPAN></SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: center; text-indent: 0px; line-height: 1.200000; margin-top: 9.600000px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 2.400000px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Which coast are these 'cats' grooving </SPAN></P> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 180pt; height: 114.900000pt; top: 857.450000pt; left: 587.050000pt;" > <LAYER top=1143.266667px left=782.733333px width=240px height=153.200000px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,240,153" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: 1.250000; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >on in the photo, east or west? </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: 1.110000; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 14.400000px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >"Every coast," said Leavell. "Any </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 4.800000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >coast that will listen to us play. And that's the way we like it. Actually, the 'cat' that inspired the title song is Causey's three-legged cat, Luigi Fellini." </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.400000px; line-height: normal ; margin-top: 4.800000px; margin-right: 9.600000px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >Only a broken cat named Fellini could send a rock group from one shore of the country to the other and arrive at a name like Sea Level. </SPAN></P> <P style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; line-height: 1.220000; margin-top: 2.400000px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 14.400000px;" ><SPAN style="font-family: Bookman Old Style,serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.370000pt;" >We take off our hat to the cat. </SPAN></P> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 497.300000pt; height: 479.700000pt; top: 182pt; left: 269.750000pt;" > <LAYER top=242.666667px left=359.666667px width=663.066667px height=639.600000px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,663,639" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <DIV style=" margin-top: 2.466667px; margin-right: 101.133333px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;" ><LEFT> <IMG src="0429O009_Picture1.jpg" alt="Picture" align="top" height="637" width="561"></LEFT> </DIV> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 0pt none #FFFFFF ; width: 381.150000pt; height: 195.750000pt; top: 661.700000pt; left: 385.900000pt;" > <LAYER top=882.266667px left=514.533333px width=508.200000px height=261px bgcolor=#FFFFFF CLIP=" 0,0,508,261" class=Box style=" background-color: #FFFFFF;" > <DIV style=" margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 101.133333px; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px;" ><LEFT> <IMG src="0429O009_Picture2.jpg" alt="Picture" align="top" height="255" width="407"></LEFT> </DIV> </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" border-top: 1px solid #000000 ; width: 169.250000pt; height: 0pt; top: 285.850000pt; left: 24.250000pt;" > <LAYER top=381.133333px left=32.333333px width=225.666667px height=0px CLIP=" 0,0,225,0" class=Box style="" > </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" border-top: 1px solid #000000 ; width: 170.450000pt; height: 0pt; top: 305.050000pt; left: 23.300000pt;" > <LAYER top=406.733333px left=31.066667px width=227.266667px height=0px CLIP=" 0,0,227,0" class=Box style="" > </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Box style=" background-color: transparent; border: 1.450000pt solid #000000 ; width: 756pt; height: 946.100000pt; top: 38.900000pt; left: 16.100000pt;" > <LAYER top=51.866667px left=21.466667px width=1008px height=1261.466667px bgcolor=transparent CLIP=" 0,0,1008,1261" class=Box style=" background-color: transparent;" > </LAYER> </DIV> <DIV class=Boxlistheight style=" width: 1059.533333px; height: 1441.600000px; top: 30.266667px;" > </DIV> </ILAYER> </DIV> <HR NOSHADE size=3 align=center><CENTER> <TABLE width="80%"> <TR> <TD align="left" ></TD> <TD align="right" ></TD></TR></TABLE></CENTER> </BODY></HTML>