Level 42 - World Machine

World Machine for most casual fans and Luddites is as deep into the Level 42 catalogue you need to go. The band's sixth album (yeah they were around a while honing their craft) was released in 1985 and most of us would have had a hard time trying to get rid of the ear worm "Something About You" when it started to gain traction on the radio and television - back when videos were a thing.

There's was never any denying the musicianship of the band, and Mark King's bass playing was often sited as being extraordinary. The band would balance their pop, jazz and funk elements and create something pretty cool. Even a rock guy had to tip his hate and admit it was good stuff.

Now, of course this was 1985 and while I did begrudgingly like the song, sort of in the same way I liked "The Captain of Her Heart" by Double, I wasn't about to go out and buy the album. I was after all a ROCK GUY. Of course over the years my appreciation for "Something About You" only grew. When I found the album in a clearance bin for a couple of bucks I really didn't hesitate.

The cover was always funny to me. I'm not sure it was a subtle "you're about to get screwed" message, but if it was then it was misleading because the album is really solid - all the way through. I'm not sure if the cover to Counterparts by Rush was a nod to World Machine but it's pretty uncanny how similar they are. Then again, maybe not. One of them has a gear, one doesn't - they're very different.

The album didn't bury the lead as it comes first cut first side. Right out of the gate they've put their best foot forward. I had my fingers crossed that it wasn't going to be a hit and shit record. I've gone through the first side three times now, but it's really just four songs and the other three are quite nice, and as a listening experience is quite enjoyable. I suppose I'll have to get up and turn it over. Yeah, more of the same. I still find it really great that this period of the 80s was so vibrant in terms of the blending of genres that could find a home in popular music.

Sadly Boon Gould the band's guitar player and brother to drummer Phil would take his own life in 2019 after struggling with mental illness.

Comments

Billy Rankin - Growin' Up Too Fast

Growin' Up Too Fast was never widely released on CD (if at all), and was one of the albums I really wanted to get back after a basement flood wiped out my vinyl collection in the 90s (when no one really gave a shit about records, and my insurance gave me a couple hundred bucks for an appraised $10,000 collection). Way back in 1984 my (dearly departed, and greatly missed) buddy Dave let me borrow his cassette copy that had a bonus track of " Get It On (Bang A Gong)" that when I bought the album didn't know it was a bonus track, or even what a bonus track was. If that sentence was hard to read just go back and skim it, I'm sure you'll get the gist. I'd find out later Billy was an off and on again member of Nazareth and wrote some absolutely killer songs for them. However, at the time all I knew was this guy laid it out cold with the first cut "Baby Come Back" and proceeded to lay down one killer tune after another and closed out the album (sans any...

Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle

"Cars" was really the only song I knew by Gary Numan. I knew the name of the album the song came from. Over the years bits and pieces of trivia are accumulated, but in terms of his music it was still distilled down to one song ... It would be too easy to write Mr. Numan off as a one hit wonder, and I suppose in terms of actual chart hits this was his defining moment as a solo artist. Of course this really means nothing, as Gary Numan would drop an album a year pretty much through to the end of the '80s. He'd then slow down a little but continues to make music. While The Pleasure Principle was Gary Numan's debut solo release in '79, he actually cut his teeth on a couple of albums in a band called Tubeway Army, first with the band's self titled release in 1978, and then on Replicas that came out in April of '79. By the end of Tubeway Army's run most of the band would follow Gary into his solo career. Paul Gardiner who had been with Gary from the beg...

Gary Wright - The Light of Smiles

Gary Wright followed up his double platinum release The Dreamweaver in 1977 with The Light of Smiles . It must have been a surprise and a bit of a disappointment when the album didn't perform as well as hoped. It did chart as high as 23 on the Billboard top LP and Tape chart according to what I read on the wiki, but it must have been more of a spike than anything. As the album didn't seem to attain any certifications that I could see. Not that it matters, I've said it before, and I'll likely say it again (more than once) most of my favourite albums never really attained any significant commercial success. I'd seen this album over the years, but that was about it. Gary Wright was Mr. Dreamweaver and I'm sure somehow it was worked into his epitaph when he passed away a couple of years ago. For me I was really curious about this one, lately I've been a sucker for finding albums that follow a big release. For Gary Wright he was flying high after The Dreamweave...

Old Enough to Forget

Search This Blog