Level 42? Any UK members care to comment?

[HeavyDuty]

I was up at the local used CD shop the other day, and came across a Level 42 album.

"OK" says I, "Mark King has enough of a rep as a bassist to have his own signature model from Status. How bad could they be?"

Godawful.

What's their market? They remind me of the worst of Tears For Fears and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, plus the added benefit of cheesy synth lines.

This CD is going back! In the UK, are they taken seriously?

[James Hart]

Tell us how you *really* feel

but I must agree.... I own a few discs, I like that one hit from the 80s. They all got a listen or 2 and got shelved

Great Slap player, horrid tone, awful tunes IMHO

[The_major_Rajor]

I have grown into somewhat of a big level 42 fan over the past year, and yes their later studio stuff is not the greatest. If you want to check out their studio albums then I would suggest looking at all of them up to 1985's world machine, after which they get that bad 80's pop sound. I would really reccomend their ive recordings though, next to rush and a few others they have one of the best shows I have ever heard. They always spruce up their tunes when playing live as well.... For starters I would suggest their 1985 album "physical pressence", any fan of great bass playing and more important great music should enjoy that one.

BTW... Mark King on top of having a status model, has a signature model from alembic, fender, and jaydee...

[HeavyDuty]

OK, I'll keep an open mind - this was a '90s era CD ("Running in the Family"). I'll watch for some '80s stuff.

This one's going back, though!

[Not Mark Westlake]

Yeah, I heard loads of "Mark King is God of slapping" style comments, and just assumed that it would be good.

The general warning about making assumptions held true - the music was just tripe.

I guess if you dig keyboard synth-sorta sounds, and music that has no direction, it'd probably be your bag. It just didn't do it for me...

EDIT:

Saying that though, that was just from listening/watching some bits and pieces of live shows from the Mark King website, and a few from the Level42 site, so don't take what I've said as gospel, as such.

[lewibassist]

Mark king is great bassist. But i have to agree that there music is not my " cup of tea " . I am a fan. but only listen to tracks where the bass is more dominant.

[Wrong Robot]

My brother is a big level 42 fan, he's a drummer though

seriously though, apparently all the members were/are drummers, and as such there are some great drum parts, additionally there are some excellent syncopated lines. And some fun songs. They do have a distinct odor of cheese behind a lot of their songs, but there are definitely some gems.

personally, I really like 'micro kid'

additionally, I enjoyed a live DVD I saw of theirs a lot, even some of the crummier songs were great fun to watch.

[cowsgomoo]

Originally Posted by HeavyDuty

I was up at the local used CD shop the other day, and came across a Level 42 album.

"OK" says I, "Mark King has enough of a rep as a bassist to have his own signature model from Status. How bad could they be?"

Godawful.

What's their market? They remind me of the worst of Tears For Fears and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, plus the added benefit of cheesy synth lines.

This CD is going back! In the UK, are they taken seriously?

in the UK they're basically shorthand for 'crappy 80's pop funk'.. they're a joke in the UK nowadays (in fact, they were at the time too) and only revered by wiggly thumb bass playing types

[Dr. Cheese]

I kind of liked Level 42 myself. Most pop music is tacky by someone's standards. I remember in 1979 when I was a student at the University of Georgia and a student music critic said that Funkadelic ("Knee Deep") was weak funk. At the time, most rock guys dismissed any kind of r&b dance music as "disco." Twenty years later, I go to a Lollapalooza concert and George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic is on the bill playing to the kids of the those same critics.

[The_major_Rajor]

I think the problem with getting into level 42 is alot of their more accessable songs are pretty much cheese by todays standands... like wrong robot said... you have to dig a bit to find the so called gems.

Their hits from the 80s are really not their best representation by a longshot.

[mrbaloo]

My personal favourite albums are: "Standing In The Light", "True Colours", (the double album) "Physical Presence" and "World Machine". Then some tracks from the "Running In The Family" album is worth hearing out, especially the bassline on the "Children Say" is great.

Ok, I'm not from the UK but I like the music a lot.

/MrBaloo

[Matt Till]

Level 42 = Yuck City


I swear, whenever I listen to them (I keep trying) I feel like I'm in a Michael J Fox Movie.