Today I decided to feature one of my favorite bands from the 1980s. I, like most Americans, first heard of the band in 1985 with their break out hit Something About You. Their style of blending pop, jazz and funk were very appealing and a fresh sound that stood out in an age cookie cutter pop and rock acts. Level 42 was anything but an overnight sensation. By the time Something About You became an international hit the band had already been around for six years and had five studio albums under their belt. Level 42's success was rather short lived here in North America but the band continues to enjoy a loyal following in Europe and still records and performs live.
Here are a few of my favorite Level 42 songs:
Something About You (1985)(Album - World Machine)
Hot Water (1984)(Album - True Colors)
Lessons In Love (1987)(Album - Running In The Family)
Tracie (1988)(Album - Starring At The Sun)
The Chinese Way (1982)(Album - The Pursuit Of Accidents)
Children Say (1987)(Album - Running In The Family)
Running In The Family (1987)(Album - Running In The Family)
World Machine (1985)(Album - World Machine)
Heaven In My Hands (1988)(Album -Starring At The Sun)
Here is the band's bio from their website:
At the beginning of their career, Level 42 was squarely a jazz-funk fusion band, contemporaries of fellow Brit funk groups like Atmosfear, Light of the World, Incognito, and Beggar & Co. By the end of the ’80s, however, the band — whose music was instantly recognizable from Mark King’s thumb-slap bass technique and associate member Wally Badarou’s synthesizer flourishes — had crossed over to the point where they were often classified as sophisti-pop and dance-rock, equally likely to be placed in the context of Sade and the Style Council as was any group that made polished, upbeat, danceable pop/rock. The band’s commercial peak came with 1985’s World Machine, but they continued to record and tour sporadically throughout the ’90s and 2000s.
The Early Tapes Featuring Mark King (bass, vocals), Phil Gould (drums), Boon Gould (guitar), and Mike Lindup (keyboards), the band formed in 1979. Before they released their first single, “Love Meeting Love,” the band was pushed to add vocals to their music in order to give it a more commercial sound; they complied, with King becoming the lead singer. Released in 1981, their self-titled debut album was a slick soul-R&B collection that charted in the U.K. Top 20, resulting in the release of The Early Tapes. Level 42 had several minor hit singles before 1984’s “The Sun Goes Down (Living It Up)” hit the British Top Ten. Released in late 1985, World Machine broke the band worldwide; “Lessons in Love” hit number one in Britain and “Something About You” hit number seven in America. Their next two records, Running in the Family (1987) and Staring at the Sun (1988), were a big success in the U.K., yet made little headway in the U.S. Both of the Gould brothers left the band in late 1987; they were replaced by guitarist Alan Murphy and drummer Gary Husband. Murphy died of an AIDS-related illness in 1989; he was replaced by the renowned fusion guitarist Alan Holdsworth for 1991’s Guaranteed. The band followed Guaranteed in 1995 with Forever Now.
Retroglide Throughout the remainder of the ‘90s and the 2000s, the band’s lineup fluctuated, with King the lone constant and his brother, guitarist Nathan King, onboard since 2001. Level 42 released a studio album, Retroglide, in 2006. Four years later, the band celebrated its 30th anniversary with a special tour, as well as a box set, Living It Up, which included a disc of fresh acoustic versions recorded by Mark King and Lindup. 2010 also saw Husband leave the band once again, replaced by Pete Ray Biggin. The group continued to tour over the next few years before releasing new material in 2013, in the form of the EP Sirens. Supporting the release with an extensive tour of the U.K. and Europe, the group also recorded the live release The Sirens Tour, at their stop in London in 2015. The band continued to tour into 2016 with performances at festivals across Europe and South America.- Source
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