Level 42 - superb.

[Diamond Joe]

The track is leaving me now.

... and that track's off World Machine - thoroughly recommend a listen

 

[Frank Harvey]

Reading this thread has made me want to listen to A Physical Presence now....

In my opinion its their best album. If you haven't got a copy and you are a fan you must get it!. The version of Kansas City Milkman has got one the best grooves i have ever heard. :rockout:

Cheers, Ed

Agreed

I saw them at the London Apollo in 1990 and they did Love Meeting Love, and the bass bit later in the song was pretty awesome - even better than KCM. I've been trying to find a live performance that sounds the same, but to no avail

 

[Frank Harvey]

The track is leaving me now.

... and that track's off World Machine - thoroughly recommend a listen

Best track on World Machine is Physical Presence in my opinion.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Hi all I must have missed a big chunk of level 42 I have got Standing in the light Running in the family and Staring at the sun all of which are on cd if anybody could recomend what I should add to these I would be greatfull many thanks TM

Things had got a bit poppy by Running In The Family, so my last favourite album of theirs was World Machine. You really should get them all, but get True Colors, The Pursuit Of Accidents, and Level 42. True Colours is one of my favourites.

 

[plastic penguin]

Hi all I must have missed a big chunk of level 42 I have got Standing in the light Running in the family and Staring at the sun all of which are on cd if anybody could recomend what I should add to these I would be greatfull many thanks TM

Level 42. .

Have you given a once over?

 

[GSB]

The track is leaving me now.

... and that track's off World Machine - thoroughly recommend a listen

Just had a look on amazon...what release date would you recomend,and there is a delux addition...any good?

 

[edplaysdrums42]

If you can get any of their albums which haven't been remastered you can't go wrong. Everything they did up to World Machine is excellent. There are a couple of decent tracks on Running in the Family. Influences by Mark King which has already been mentioned is definitely worth getting too. Marks drumming is amazing and one one my favourite drum sounds too, IMO of if the best snare drum sounds on record!

Cheers, Ed

 

[GSB]

I'll order the '95 album then,and the Mark King solo album... :cheers:

 

[stevebrock]

in my local record shop they have copies of all Level 42 on vinyl for £2-4 each, im off in on Monday to pick em up, I wish I had ot them now when I had the chance!

 

[Covenanter]

I never denigrate other people's music because tastes differ and times change. Personally I think nothing musical of any significance happened in the 1980s (or indeed 1990s or since) but I'm an old fogey.

The only true test is time. Will anybody be listening to this music in 100 years time? I don't (and can't) know.

Chris

 

[Diamond Joe]

I'll order the '95 album then,and the Mark King solo album... :cheers:

Hope you enjoy them :cheers:

 

[GSB]

They should be delivered early next week

 

[toyota man]

I have made some notes and will be going into hmv tomorrow many thanks for your help guys:cheers: :cheers:

 

[Frank Harvey]

I never denigrate other people's music because tastes differ and times change. Personally I think nothing musical of any significance happened in the 1980s (or indeed 1990s or since) but I'm an old fogey.

The only true test is time. Will anybody be listening to this music in 100 years time? I don't (and can't) know.

Chris

I suppose it depends on your definition of "significance"...

 

[Frank Harvey]

Marks drumming is amazing and one one my favourite drum sounds too, IMO of if the best snare drum sounds on record!

Cheers, Ed

Must be some stuff competition from Chili Pepper's Blood Sugar Sex Magic - some great ones on there!

(or are you talking 'unprocessed'?)

 

[Alantiggger]

Well... you can't over the piece go wrong with 80's music as a whole.... It's WAY better than ANY other era, full stop.

Add to that ... many a song sung ... epecially by females was not as today... it was not all about taking off your clothes and inuendo about body-parts.... today's artists (we'll call em) should act in a like manner instead of so many coming across as tarts.... or like mannered descriptive.

 

[bigblue235]

I'm a big INXS fan, and almost all of the CDs sound awful to me. Which ones do you think are good? I maybe need to have another listen. Might save me a few bob, I was just thinking of buying the remasters box set.

Kick & Welcome to wherever you are

Ta, Steve.

I guess there must be different batches about. My 'Welcome...' sounds OKish, but 'Kick' is pretty awful.

Remasters it is, then!

 

[edplaysdrums42]

Marks drumming is amazing and one one my favourite drum sounds too, IMO of if the best snare drum sounds on record!

Cheers, Ed

Must be some stuff competition from Chili Pepper's Blood Sugar Sex Magic - some great ones on there!

David, we must have similar tastes because strangely enough that's Is probably one of my favourite albums of all time including the drum sounds, I love that big room sound Chad Smith gets on that album, no effects needed! it was recorded in mansion in L.A. The intro on the title track is to die for, if you ever want to show of a system, put a vinyl copy oif that track on and crank it up!!

 

[wireman]

I was a big fan of Level 42 in the 80's, and still am, but for me they were a live band. There's many bands out there that just come into their own when playing live.

If you like Level 42's earlier stuff, prefer 'live' performance, and have some AV gear(!), I'd suggest their Live in Holland 2009 DVD is well worth a look - 148 minutes/19 tracks, v. good 16-bit/48khz sound, it seems to be mastered to BR standards and upscales to 1080p brilliantly. Seeing Mark King slapping the heck out of his bass on Pursuit of Accidents is a special treat! Like me, Mark King may have gotten a little podgy in 2009 and a lot older, but he's lost absolutely nothing in performance terms! Since this DVD arrived, I just don't bother playing those Level 42 CD's any more, good though they are...

 

[Frank Harvey]

Marks drumming is amazing and one one my favourite drum sounds too, IMO of if the best snare drum sounds on record!

Cheers, Ed

Must be some competition from Chili Pepper's Blood Sugar Sex Magic - some great ones on there!

David, we must have similar tastes because strangely enough that's Is probably one of my favourite albums of all time including the drum sounds, I love that big room sound Chad Smith gets on that album, no effects needed! it was recorded in mansion in L.A. The intro on the title track is to die for, if you ever want to show of a system, put a vinyl copy oif that track on and crank it up!!

There's a documentary on the making of the album, and they hired a big empty mansion in somewhere like Beverley Hills and recorded it there over a period of a few months. The rooms were big with tall ceilings, and empty with no carpets, which explains the sound they got on that album. I use the album for demoing and auditioning stuff for a number of reasons. I love the snare on My Lovely Man. The whole album sounds amazing on the KEF Blades with the Chord Electronics system comprising the Red Reference CD player, CPA5000 pre and SPM1400 monoblocks - I was quite surprised how smooth and listenable it sounded! Maybe that was the Chord. Fantastic detail and insight though.

Maybe snare drums should be the subject of another thread rather than taking this one off topic, but I won't start it as I'm a retailer, and that's seen as shameless self promotion...

 

[plastic penguin]

Marks drumming is amazing and one one my favourite drum sounds too, IMO of if the best snare drum sounds on record!

Cheers, Ed

Must be some stuff competition from Chili Pepper's Blood Sugar Sex Magic - some great ones on there!

David, we must have similar tastes because strangely enough that's Is probably one of my favourite albums of all time including the drum sounds, I love that big room sound Chad Smith gets on that album, no effects needed! it was recorded in mansion in L.A. The intro on the title track is to die for, if you ever want to show of a system, put a vinyl copy oif that track on and crank it up!!

Flipped this album today, and the drums are amazingly driving and times very well. However, never been one of favs, as such, tends to get pushed to the bottom of the rack.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Well... you can't over the piece go wrong with 80's music as a whole.... It's WAY better than ANY other era, full stop.

Add to that ... many a song sung ... epecially by females was not as today... it was not all about taking off your clothes and inuendo about body-parts.... today's artists (we'll call em) should act in a like manner instead of so many coming across as tarts.... or like mannered descriptive.

I've kept out of this for as long as I can, now I have to say, there was very little good music in the eighties. Fashion and music wise, it was a dreadful decade.

As for songs not being about sex, or female artists not being tarts, two words, "Relax" and "Madonna".

The eighties was shite.

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

Level 42 - superb?

An oxymoron if ever there was one. Dreadful

 

[Covenanter]

Tastes differ and as the Romans said "I matters of taste there can be no dispute" (De gustibus non est disputandum).

I think there is a natural preference for the music of our youth, mine was the 1960s, and at some point in life most people lose touch with developments in popular culture. I lost touch towards the end of the 1970s. I always try to listen to what is going on but most of it has no resonance with me.

I wonder how much our taste in hifi reflects our taste in music. It seems to me that the majority of people on this forum don't like the same types of music as I do and so for example talk of sub-woofers leaves me cold as I don't need one to listen to a solo lute or a choir singing a 15th century mass.

Chris

 

[plastic penguin]

Nice to see BBB giving his usual balanced appraisal.

There was a lot of rubbish in the 80s, the flipside is there was a lot of good stuff too. No different from other decades.