Level 42

thanks for the re-edit heads-up! One of their best tracks that one.

…but listening to the re-edit they've destroyed the groove.

I never made any claims for its quality ;) Does seem to be pointlessly disjointed

Starchild, Something About You & The Sun Goes Down are all CLASSIX!!

was just abt to post starchild video

Livin' It Up, livin' it up, I can feel it, I got forward motion...

I also got into them around Running in the Family, had a t-shirt and even (whisper it) joined the fan club. I must've been 12 or so... It was probably less cool then than it would've been now. Hey-ho. What's the equivalent now?

Maroon 5?

Jamiroquai?

Level 42 actually had a lot of great tunes whereas Jamiroqui and Maroon 5 are both virtually tuneless.

Geir otm. As others have unburdened already, I feel safe in doing the same ie. was a big Level 42 fan from the age of about 12 to 14, to the extent of even owning a Level 42 *sweatshirt*. I don't think it's even possible to buy band sweatshirts now is it? Even at my school they were blazingly uncool, but I didn't give a fuck.

Recent relistenings have proved that the earlier stuff, and esp the live A Physical Presence album, still stand up remarkably well. And from an <ahem> funkist perspective they were musically tight as hell.

I *made* a band sweatshirt in highschool; a Howard Jones one and a Nik Kershaw one. They were iron-on sparkly transfers, and I put em onto fleecy sweatshirts.

OH GOD. There's probably photographic evidence somewhere :/

woah, you mean the shirt bore the blessed visages of BOTH Jones and Kershaw? Were you able to source a keytar transfer to include in this montage? It makes the "World Machine" album cover art of my L42 sweatshirt sound rubbish...

For the first time in my life I'm disappointed not to own anything by them. Am really in the mood for lessons in love right now.

Spotify has the early albums I'd never heard before, and there's some dreadful DREADFUL stuff on them. There's also some wonderful stuff. I don't think I became aware of them until around 85/86-ish when they'd hammered out all the flaws.

Anyway, listening to this good and bad and sometimes good and bad at the same time stuff is a fun afternoon.

was thinking about them the other day when i was listening to man jumping, who were kind of like level 42 meets steve reich

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBOh8K9XlJ0

not thinking particularly deep thoughts btw, more just now there's a style of music you don't hear much anymore

Interesting track.

A load of people on my Facebook feed were posting Level 42 tracks, made me re-appreciate Weave Your Spell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmPpkPrDkps

http://eil.com/images/main/Level+42+-+The+Very+Best+Of+-+CD+ALBUM-439320.jpg

I had never seen this amazing album cover until today.

It appears to have been reissued with this more boring cover at some point, this was the one I was familiar with

http://level42.150m.com/records/albums/verybest.jpg

Does anyone know which mountain this is?

http://yuq.me/users/20/007/Qlupe25ZS9.png

haha, that original cover!

pretty sure that's mount fuji on the last one

looks like it's taken from a similar position to this picture:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bHRi2s5JChs/ThGxzIYp-tI/AAAAAAAABeM/wApRmYclTWs/s1600/mount+fuji+%252C+japan.jpg

i like what Reynard said about "Running In The Family"; it seems to be specifically about the conflict between conservative middle-class family structures and the much less conformist behaviour hidden beneath, now coming out into the open. it could be a rare realisation for a song written at the height of the Thatcher era, when the middle class generally had an absurd over-confidence that their cultural model would be the universal one for Britain in the foreseeable future, of the great coming conflict of the last 15 years.
― robin carmody (robin carmody), Monday, February 23, 2004 2:41 AM (9 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Was thinking after reading this a couple of days back that Alembic had something to do with the Grateful Dead & yes, it was a company that Owsley Stanley started from the Dead's original rehearsal space. Not sure if that indicates that Stanley Clarke picked up on the bass after hearing Phil Lesh playing one or what.
& actually what triggered me to thinking about Alembic was reading the book the Philosopher's Stone which is talking about alchemy. An alembic was like the refining dish you used for alchemical reaction if I'm thinking right. So reading a reference in the book to one after reading this post had me reminded about where the bass came from

one of my best friends swears by "Lessons in Love."

It's beautiful to see *the thumb* held aloft on that lovely cover.

There's a Level 42 double handprint plaque, including *the thumb*, outside one of the guitar shops on London's Denmark Street. Obviously Mark is one of them, I think Mike Lindup might be the other but can't be sure - could one of you maybe check it out in the next few days, if you're passing?

Bill A's Level 42 sweatshirt story is one of those posts that have haunted my thoughts for years

It was very weird listening to a live set by Damo Suzuki backed by 23 Skidoo a couple of days back thanks to the prominence of slap bass. Had been thinking it might be a bit of a weird pairing before listening to it. Did just about work, got into some nearly trancey repetition but slap bass just does stand out as an odd element. But I guess it got everywhere at the time.

Was anybody playing that way much prior to Larry Graham? Or is it something that came over from acoustic bass at all? Think it was Graham that was first really popularising the style wasn't it/

I was going to suggest Level 42 a contender for 'Best Artists and Bands Without a No. 1 Album' (two UK #2 albums and and two UK #3 albums), but apparently the 'Running in the Family' album went to #1 in the Netherlands.

When they do Lessons In Love live and Mike steps out from behind the keyboards to do his bit (at 7:54 here), that's one of the most thrilling moments in rock imo.

Bit of a Robert Palmer thing going on there with the suits but also the way that first song is so stuffed full of pumped-up sounds

Woah Ismael, Lindup really connects with his spirit animal in that vid, wtf is that kind of nano jazz-hands thing? Ol' Thunder Thumbs going at the gum like Alex Ferguson too, superb.

Prescient thread revival as I backed up my work PC last week and dumped the music folder onto mp3 player; there, tucked away since 2009 ref upthread was A Physical Presence and I've been listening to it again whilst commuting. It's strange how the mind wanders when in transit, but the call-and-response coda of "Turn it On" conjured a vivid fantasy of Shane Meadows or similar using it to accompany some grisly shopping precinct violence in a film about the 80s jazz-funk scene. Kicks in about 4:00 into this,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTG3EYGhLsI

If you were a bassist back in the 80s everyone automatically assumed you owned the Mark King solo album and listened to it daily, it was really annoying. Is he actually capable of playing bass normally or what? Maybe he can only slap.

'Something About You' captures a similar mood to 'All The World Loves Lovers' by Prefab Sprout, 'God Only Knows' by the Beach Boys, 'Something' by the Beatles, 'Sorry Grateful' from Stephen Sondheim's Company- I think? I like the video for 'Something About You', with the miming intentionally out of sync with the singing.

Something About You is just sublime, simple as that

Those high harmonies on "Something About You" kill. For most of my adolescence I thought Level 42 was an American R&B band.

I served Mike Lindup when I was a teenager working at a WHSmith's. He walked up to the till in a baseball jacket with an embroidered badge reading "Level 42 Racing Team". I'd been a big fan when I was younger, but by then I was into grunge and noise punk so I just sold him his newspaper and said nothing.

regrets.

what did he buy?

daily express and a scotch egg amirite?

guys i love Level 42 great thread good work

we didn't serve food at our branch xp

Greatest british singles band of the 80s

its kind of weird how quickly the band broke into pieces when they finally hit it big. the boon brothers seemed to hate the whole pop thing, wanted level 42 to remain some pure jazz funk thing. but after they left, it was pretty much all over. even as a kid i knew the staring at the sun lp was some sorry shit.

you weren't able to give him any lessons in lunch then xps

when i started getting into electric miles and herbie hancock and suchlike, i felt like listening to loads of level 42's early instrumental stuff when i was 10 was good grounding for understanding what this music was all about.

well played nickb, well played.

(ps pls do not misinterpret statement above as some "level 42 - the band miles davis wished he could be" ish)

i feel like in some way Level 42 shd be the "Real England" house band

definitely an improvement on shakatak who i really tried hard to like as a pre-teen who wanted to find something to like every kind of music but always felt it was music for people clinking glasses in sophisticated clubs and therefore i just could not relate

though i will freely admit now that down on the street is kind of a jam

I passed up a chance to see them at Ronnie Scott's a couple of years back. I can't remember whether they were billed as Level 42, or had some legal issues name like The Mark King Funk Ensemble. Either way lounging against the bar while they laid down smooth grooves would've been so choice.

It was very weird listening to a live set by Damo Suzuki backed by 23 Skidoo a couple of days back thanks to the prominence of slap bass.

Linx's bassist Peter "Sketch" Martin joined 23 Skidoo after Linx split up

Stevie Chick on Level 42's World Machine, in 33 Tweets

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1381964367655174148.html

My partner later explained that, no, they aren't called "Tweetstorms"

The only record of theirs that I know, which I bought as a kid when it was released and I still revisit.

Lindup is their secret weapon, that lovely spooky, high register singing voice.

'It's Not The Same For Us', the pre-chorus, so great!

"level 42 - the band miles davis wished he could be"

^^absolutely here for this stance, if you switch HAVE for BE (he'd probably get to play trumpet and that's OK)

There has been some reappraisal of Brit-funk in the last few years, but it seems to be limited to the London scene. The only Level 42 supporter with any profile I can think of (present company excepted) is Gilles Peterson, who plays them about twice a year on his 6Music show.

Marcello Carlin was quite positive about them (and World Machine in particular) here: https://nobilliards.blogspot.com/2014/08/various-artists-now-thats-what-i-call.html

(some present company may be involved)

Lindup is their secret weapon, that lovely spooky, high register singing voice

I was quite surprised to discover, 35 years after it was a hit, that the verses in "The Sun Goes Down" were sung by Lindup. So, he can carry a tune in a low tenor range too!

their first album’s pretty good

"Something About You" will never stop revealing surprises 35+ years later.

another childhood favorite. the "ooooohs" in the beginning are a solid way to begin things.

and I had no fucking clue what Lindup sang until the internet invented lyrics.

i think their secret weapon is actually wally badarou (has he even been mentioned on this thread yet?)

He certainly helped them a lot in the best pop moments, although the albums I go back to these days are mostly the first fusion-y ones. “It‘s good music to work to”

i love this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWM3-Nix_xs

The best!

I quite like this cut-up edit Mark-E did of it too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O68Y6BAhS0E

Was thinking some more, and I have seen a video of some DJs in the 80s playing Physical Presence at 45rpm, which sounds quite good to me. I can’t find the video of the DJ right now, and someone has uploaded the track at that speed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEQjdFSSmtY

haha oh man

Damn it, looks like the video is offline now. Was DJ Mozart, Beppe Loda and more: https://community.soulstrut.com/discussion/68497/proto-boiler-room-italy-1986

lol italian djs dgaf about your english vocals

I wonder if that was prompted by the voice at the very end of the original that was obviously sampled and played back at a lower pitch than normal.

There’s a few other tracks in the mix played at wrong speeds, either too fast, or too slow, it’s all about keeping the tempo.

'starchild' also gets a proper mangling in this baldelli set from 1981 except this it's sloowww as fuck:

https://www.mixcloud.com/Yebo/cosmic-c531981-mix-daniele-baldelli-tbc-lato-a/

"except this time"

something that's been annoying me since this thread got bumped is that i think there's this one doomy level 42 song that's all about nuclear annihilation or the cold war at least. kind of their answer to ub40's 'the earth dies screaming'? am i imagining this (or getting it confused with something else?) or does someone else know what i'm talking about?

it's not 'sun goes down' btw. wanna make a playlist of 80s pop songs about the apocalypse just to cheer me up

'Coup D'Etat' maybe?

hmm could be! not as doomy as i was remembering though