CHANNELLING THEIR LIVE PROWESS INTO HITS WAS NO EASY TASK, BUT THE BRITFUNK KINGPINS MANAGED BOTH CRITICAL ACCLAIM AND CHART GLORY
MATT PHILLIPS
ALBUM BY ALBUM
LEVEL 42’S DEBUT WAS A STRIKINGLY ASSURED LUSH RECORD WITH JUST ENOUGH NODS TO THEIR LIVE SOUND
A strong live following on the Isle Of Wight and in the Home Counties’ nascent Britfunk scene, plus an album recorded for an indie label (of which more later), had led Polydor Records in hot pursuit of gifted young four-piece Level 42: Mark King on bass/vocals, Mike Lindup on keyboards/vocals, Rowland ‘Boon’ Gould on guitar and Phil Gould on drums.
A five-album deal was brokered and the lads quickly embarked on recording their major-label debut with legendary Bluesbreakers/ Fleetwood Mac producer Mike Vernon, based at Chipping Norton Studios in the Cotswolds.
After further sessions at London’s Red Bus, Marcus Studios and the apparently very haunted Vineyard studios, the result was an irresistible mix of funk, jazz, pop, rock, soul and Latin – a strikingly assured, lush and tasteful record, with just enough nods to the band’s kinetic live sound on instrumentals Heathrow, Dune Tune and “43”. The former was written and arranged by guest keyboard player and ‘fifth member’ Wally Badarou, late of Grace Jones’ epochal Nightclubbing album, who would become a hugely important figure in the Level 42 story.
Lead single Love Games gave Level 42 a Top 40 hit and also a Top Of The Pops debut in April 1981, a first chance for the general public to witness Mark’s prodigious slapping technique on prime-time TV. Turn It On and Starchild were also subsequently released as singles, though both just missed out on the Top 40.
Elsewhere, Almost There was a propulsive, meticulously arranged slice of pop-fusion, destined to be a live favourite, and proto neo-soul Why Are You Leaving? was the band’s first outstanding ballad with Mark emerging as an expressive vocalist. Level 42 was also graced with an iconic cover; artist Joy Barling Loyla enlisting her sister Kim to pose as the ‘princess’ that would quickly become an unofficial band logo.
Although Polydor and the group were pleased enough with the album’s UK chart placing of No.20, and despite the success of the attendant live dates (including a spell opening for The Police), there were still rumblings that Level 42 wouldn’t last beyond 1981. First, King and Gould undertook session work with CBS’s hotly-tipped Leisure Process, then the bassist was almost headhunted by Jeff Beck to form a new power trio at the end of the year. Thankfully, the guitarist was quickly headed off by Alan Sizer, Polydor’s A&R
