Steve Levine, A Fairlight CMI, Emulator, DX7, 909 and MSQ700

I discovered this little treasure on YouTube this afternoon! Steve Levine, Grammy and Brit Award winning producer, probably best known for his work with Culture Club, amongst many other musical greats, released this track in 1984 under his own name. I have to be totally honest and say I was blissfully unaware of this track, and it must’ve passed me by back in the day. Given that it is my deeply held opinion that 1984 was one of the greatest years in pop, I am perplexed as to why I wasn’t hip to this little number, especially with its “Who’s Who” of synthesiser giants and its distinctly Scritti Politti vibe.

Steve is in front of his (presumably) Series II CMI, the guy behind him is knocking out those reggae chords on a DX 7 and the guy at his feet is tinkering (in time, no less!) with an original E-MU Emulator, a Roland TR-909 and one of their MSQ-700 sequencers. This is the kind of rig most of us would have killed for back in the day.

The track is called “Believing It All” and here it is, for your viewing and listening pleasure…