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Knapdale Records
Lindup, Mike (Level 42) - Beyond Words
Lindup, Mike (Level 42) - Beyond Words
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Beyond Words is the first instrumental album in 23 years from Mike Lindup, pianist, composer, vocalist and founding member of Level 42
Recorded on a 1928 Steinway grand piano that Lindup played decades earlier, the album brings together original comp ositions and a remarkable story of survival, restoration and rediscovery. The instrument, known as The Soldier's Steinway, was purchased by George Morfee following his service in the Second World War. With his demobilisation payment, George bought a Steinway Model O, built in 1928 when pianos were still extensively made by hand.
For many years, the piano stood in the Morfee family home in Kincardine, Scotland. Mike was a friend of George's daughter Ann, whom he had met at Chetham's School of Music, and during visits he would often sit at the Steinway to revisit his classical repertoire. The album sleeve features a photograph of Mike playing the piano in 1999, 27 years before he returned to record Beyond Words.
At 96, George decided to spend his life savings restoring the instrument. His daughters Ann and Su entrusted the work to Steinway-trained master piano technician Peter Salisbury. In 2017, with the restoration nearly complete, a fire engulfed the Northolt warehouse where the piano was being worked on.
The Steinway survived, but smoke and water damage meant the work had to start again. Peter generously volunteered his spare time, spending a further seven years on its restoration, including work undertaken by specialist craftspeople in Kalisz, Poland.
In spring 2026, while clearing the home of his late mother, Nadia Cattouse, Mike found an old photograph of himself with Ann Lovatt, nee Morfee, taken around 35 years earlier. He sent it to her, and Ann invited him to visit the Hertfordshire studio she shares with her husband, musician Mike Lovatt, and try her father's newly restored piano.
Recorded in June 2026 at Little Wolf Studios, the album captures The Soldier's Steinway following its long restoration. Engineered and mixed by Adam Goldsmith and mastered by Peter Beckmann, the recordings bring out the piano's resonance, warmth and dynamic range. The artwork features Mike's own landscape photography alongside the 1999 photograph of him at the instrument.
Recorded on a 1928 Steinway grand piano that Lindup played decades earlier, the album brings together original comp ositions and a remarkable story of survival, restoration and rediscovery. The instrument, known as The Soldier's Steinway, was purchased by George Morfee following his service in the Second World War. With his demobilisation payment, George bought a Steinway Model O, built in 1928 when pianos were still extensively made by hand.
For many years, the piano stood in the Morfee family home in Kincardine, Scotland. Mike was a friend of George's daughter Ann, whom he had met at Chetham's School of Music, and during visits he would often sit at the Steinway to revisit his classical repertoire. The album sleeve features a photograph of Mike playing the piano in 1999, 27 years before he returned to record Beyond Words.
At 96, George decided to spend his life savings restoring the instrument. His daughters Ann and Su entrusted the work to Steinway-trained master piano technician Peter Salisbury. In 2017, with the restoration nearly complete, a fire engulfed the Northolt warehouse where the piano was being worked on.
The Steinway survived, but smoke and water damage meant the work had to start again. Peter generously volunteered his spare time, spending a further seven years on its restoration, including work undertaken by specialist craftspeople in Kalisz, Poland.
In spring 2026, while clearing the home of his late mother, Nadia Cattouse, Mike found an old photograph of himself with Ann Lovatt, nee Morfee, taken around 35 years earlier. He sent it to her, and Ann invited him to visit the Hertfordshire studio she shares with her husband, musician Mike Lovatt, and try her father's newly restored piano.
Recorded in June 2026 at Little Wolf Studios, the album captures The Soldier's Steinway following its long restoration. Engineered and mixed by Adam Goldsmith and mastered by Peter Beckmann, the recordings bring out the piano's resonance, warmth and dynamic range. The artwork features Mike's own landscape photography alongside the 1999 photograph of him at the instrument.
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