The return of Level 42!!

I'm going to see the almost-totally-reformed Level 42 in the first night of their UK tour. Its at the Salford Lowry tomorrow night. For all those die-hard fans out there (and to still support them about 20 years after their hey-day, you must be die-hard really) I'll have a review of the gig here next week.

In the meantime, I bought the new Level 42 album this week, which marks their first new material for 12 years. Mike Lindup is back to join Mark King and the bands second drummer, Gary Husband, who themselves reunited in 2002.

For those of you who have never heard of Level 42, or don't think you have, let me brief you. Mark King. Bass Guitar. Very fast hands. Does that ring a bell? Their biggest selling single was "Lessons in Love" which reached number 3 in the UK singles charts in June 1986. However, probably their most famous track was "Running in the family", from the album of the same name, which still receives a lot of airplay today in numerous "Guess the year" competitions which are run on local radio.

My personal favourite is "Something about you" , the video for which saw Mark King dressed as an evil clown which used to terrify and fascinate me. And before you ask "who do they sound like?" they don't sound like anyone. Which has probably been Level 42's biggest problem. They rose to prominence during the New Romantic period of the early 80's and continued to do well during the Stock Aitken and Waterman dominated late 80's. But their jazz/funk sound was totally unique to anything else which was being produced around them.

"Retroglide" is the title of the new release, and in many ways it has more in common with the early Pursuit of Accidents than the pop-oriented Running in the Family. It's fairly obvious to me, despite my devotion to the band, that they are unlikely to score a top ten hit in the singles charts, but the album should sell well.

With this in mind, the band have gone back to their funk/jazz/fusion roots and produced an album unrestricted by the need for a commercially successful single. "Rooted" is a standout track, as is the downloadable single "The Way Back Home". The album is jump-started by the lively "Dive into the sun" and the album track "Retroglide" is a melodious foot tapper.

The only problem which this album presented was a realisation of my own age. I was 10 when I bought "Leaving me now" and 21 years on my musical tastes have mellowed slightly. Therefore, it's no surprise that the more slow and soulful tracks were my favourites, whilst the uptempo strains of "Sleep Talking" had me scanning forward.

However, it's great to have Level 42 producing new material, and I can't wait to see them live tomorrow!!