Our Level 42 vinyl re-issues continue with the announcement of two more albums being re-issued on coloured vinyl, World Machine and Running In The Family, both due for release in April.
This re-issue of World Machine, Level 42's 1985 breakthrough album, is presented with scrupulous attention to the detail of the original UK first pressings and available in audiophile 180g pink vinyl in celebration of the album's 40th anniversary.
By 1985, Level 42 – bassist and vocalist Mark King, keyboard player/vocalist Mike Lindup, guitarist Boon Gould, drummer/lyricist Phil Gould and studio-only keyboard player Wally Badarou – were on the verge of breaking big - After a string of well-received albums, such as their pioneering jazz-funk 1981 debut or the Ken-Scott produced True Colours, the group decided, rather than work up material through jamming, to sit and write some songs for their forthcoming album.
Producing themselves, with assistance from engineer Julian Mendelsohn, this new approach meant that World Machine was the quantum commercial leap they craved. And most of that was due to the album's towering lead single, the pop-funk of "Something About You". With its expensive video seeing the group styled for the 80s, it set radio alight, becoming a Top 10 hit and charting around the world, importantly in the US. Following up with the tender ballad "Leaving Me Now" and then the bouncy funk of the album's title track as singles, the album's success was guaranteed; it reached No 3 in the UK charts and spent an amazing 72 weeks on the listings.
Level 42's 1987 "Running In The Family" album is being re-issued by Proper / UMC and is presented with scrupulous attention to the detail of the original UK first pressings and available in audiophile 180g red vinyl.
If 1985's World Machine captured Level 42 on the brink of stardom, then Running In The Family turned them into arena-filling superstars, amazing for a group who, at their core, were far more Mahavishnu Orchestra than Dire Straits. Its success is amazing for an album that started by accident: At the beginning of 1986, "Something About You" had gone Top 10 in the States and Level 42 were spending a great deal of time there. Polydor requested that the group come up with some new singles to promote in the UK, so Mark King went to his home studio and came up with "Lessons In Love"; a song that began the process of the album.
It was quickly apparent that "Lessons In Love" was a hit. And it was proved to be, becoming the group's biggest international success. As recording then began formally, with new song "Running In The Family", it was clear they had a follow up and title track for their next album. Released in March 1987, Running In The Family entered the UK chart at No 2 and spent over a year on the listings as subsequent singles "To Be With You Again", touching ballad "It's Over" and "Children Say" kept the album's profile high. The group's populist jazz-funk-pop was at its peak; the electric dance track "Fashion Fever" and the swaying "Two Solitudes" added to this commercial sound.
