Lessons In Level 42
Before I knew anything about Level 42, I remember catching the video of their number 6 single Running In The Family. “I bet he can’t even play that pink bass”, I remarked to my brother as a naive 15 year old. Mark King’s white Levis, alongside the infectious sax and synth riff, irritated me. I cast them aside as a popular but unimportant pop band and continued to listen to Deep Purple, Whitesnake and Bruce Springsteen.
Mark King on the Running In The Family Video
A simultaneous TV and radio broadcast of their 1986 Wembley Arena show changed everything. Their perfectly crafted songs sounded far more exciting onstage with the thunderous slap bass of vocalist Mark King and the intricate keyboard lines of Mike Lindup, who looked like a call centre worker with his microphone headset. On guitar, the vastly underrated Boon, resembled a thin city banker in his grey trenchcoat, and on drums, his brother Phil Gould, in Hawaiian shirt and round black shades. During the Stevie Wonder influenced Hot Water, he turned to the camera before a fill and said “I’m going to fuck up now”. He doesn’t. Instead, he locks in with King’s virtuoso technique to create the funkiest of grooves. The whole performance shows a band at the peak of their powers as the crowd of 8,000 sang and danced along to songs about family, friends, work and love. I was hooked by this now legendary gig and rushed out the next day to buy their 1987 album Running In The Family from the local Our Price. Aside from their other massive selling album, 1985's World Machine, the shop had nothing else in stock. I enjoyed both records, but they sounded so polished, lacking the excitement of that live performance.
The Original Lineup: Left To Right: Mark King, Boon and Phil Gould and Mike Lindup.
Visits to Scarborough music library helped me catch up on their back catalogue - albums such as The Pursuit of Accidents 1982, and True Colours 1983. Their debut album, Level 42, contained instrumentals such as the quirky 43, the synth-driven Heathrow, and Love Games, which was their first single to break into the top 40 in 1981. The melodic bass line of the dreamy Dune Tune was heavily influenced by Jamaican Boy, written by legendary jazz funk bassist Stanley Clarke. Clarke was one of the early pioneers of the slap bass technique. I began to learn that Level 42 were once solely a jazz funk instrumental band. Their virtuosity and energetic live performances would make them champions of Britain's jazz funk and fusion scene.
Stanley Clarke was a big influence on Mark King
One Saturday afternoon, during my weekly browse round Scarborough’s record shops, I ended up in Record Revivals. The shop sat close to the Rendezvous Cafe, where flies would circle through thick hazes of Benson and Hedges smoke before landing on rock hard current buns. I would sometimes visit the cafe to look at my purchases before the bus home. Flicking through Revival’s vinyl, suddenly it appeared before me with such a simple cover - a blue pharaoh on a white background, Level 42 The Early Tapes July/Aug 1980. How had this escaped me? I thought I’d collected everything, but I was wrong. My hands trembled, as I grabbed the record as if it were long lost treasure! This is where it all began for Level 42. It was produced at night in the summer of 1980 when the band had day jobs as carpet fitters. Recorded originally for the Elite Label, the sessions spawned the bands debut single, Love Meeting Love, which reached Number 61, and (Flying On) The Wings of Love, which peaked at Number 76. Spurred on by hip record shops and specialist radio and club DJs, Love Meeting Love signalled the start of the Brit Funk movement, and the band signed with Polydor. They released the album in March 1982 and it reached Number 70. Rather confusingly, a year before this, the band released their debut album Level 42 in August, making the Early Tapes their first recorded album but second to be released.
The Early Tapes and the bands self titled debut
Although some of the album sounds dated with Prophet 5 and Inspiration synthesizer sounds all over it, the energy, rawness, enthusiasm and musicianship, still sounds as exciting as the first day I played it. Many of the synthesizers were played by fifth member Wally Badarou. He never formally joined the band, but co-wrote and produced the songs and played additional keyboards and synths on many of their records. He wrote one of the melody lines for Something About You, one of their biggest hits in 1985.
Wally Badarou also played keyboards on Grace Jones's Slave To The Rhythm Album (1985)
From Phil Gould’s snare rolls on Sandstorm, to the infectious riff of Mr Pink, The Early Tapes is the original, true sound of Level 42. It is still a highly influential jazz funk record, the benchmark of that genre. Gradually though, with record company pressure and a desire and talent to write more songs, the band moved away from these largely experimental instrumentals towards more pop-orientated songs, commercial success and stadiums. Unhappy with the band’s new direction and many further line up changes, the Gould brothers jumped ship after Running In The Family. From 1982’s Love Meeting Love to1986's Lessons In Love, the transition in their sound over just six years is pretty incredible. With original members King and Lindup still onboard after the hiatus in 1994, the band are still actively touring and will play Scarborough Spa on Sunday 6th December.
Further links:
Level 42 - Mr. Pink (The Tube, 12.10.1984)
Level 42 - Hot Water - Live Wembley 1986
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