Search - Level 42 :: Guaranteed

Don't give up on a great thing

S. A. Felton | southern OR USA | 04/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I became a fan of Level 42 in 1987, when they put out the fantastic

album called "Running In the Family." Those were maybe the last days

when I listened to the radio, when there was actually some new music from

time to time, Top 40, commercial, whatever, that made it worthwhile

listening to see if there was something new. It seems like for years we

have been caught in some kind of "oldies" loop, countless stations playing

oldies from different decades, with practically no new rock music worth

listening to, and even the decent music doesn't seem to hold a candle to

the great music that came out from the 1960's-80's. We seem to be stuck

musically, and that's not the only area we are stuck in (global

consciousness expansion?). Thank g-d for classical music!



Like many, I assumed that Level 42 had reached their peak on that

amazing album. I bought a number of their prior albums and liked them, esp.

"The Pursuit of Accidents," which I would highly recommend to anyone

who hasn't heard it. These great musicians can rock while putting some

"white man" kind of funk (with or without a jazzy feel) into their music,

with clever, catchy melodies. The synergy between the contrasting and yet

complementary talents of the bass and keyboard players gives them a

unique, powerful sound, and most songs are more than listenable.



But "Running In The Family" was their peak to me, and that was

confirmed when their next album came out and wasn't nearly as good,

probably because they lost their guitar player.



Until about a year ago I had pretty much stopped listening to Level 42,

but some friends were making some CD's out of "Running In The Family" and

other LP's we had, and I decided to see if they had kept going. So now

I have heard what I believe were their final 2 albums, "Guaranteed" and

"Forever Now." All I can is, they got their act back together, and then

some, in these final albums. Both are amazing, and I would rank "Guaranteed"

as their best album, by far, and that is definitely saying something.



"Guaranteed" is definitely on some other level, 42 or otherwise,

maybe higher. The songs are great, they are varied, they show superior

talent and musicianship, drive, creativity, and more. My two favorite

songs on the album are the intense rocker, track 5, "Set Me Up." It

amazes me that a group that generally follows the rock/funk/jazz

formula can turn it on in such an intense way. The other song I want

to mention is track 10, "If You Were Mine," which is my favorite Level 42

track of all time (again, this is saying something). It is 4 1/2 minutes

of beautiful rock, great melody, great themes, a "perfect" song - right

when you think it's over it has that final kick, the last 45 seconds

or so, as if they were saying, "we got this one right on the money, from

beginning to end."



If by some fluke you are a Level 42 fan who has never heard this

album, you will be blown away!

"

This is a 2-in-1 BMG compilation, not THEE Guaranteed album

David Below | Ann Arbor, MI, USA | 02/17/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Just an FYI, this album is incorrectly listed and displayed.



It's a mixed BMG compilation of both the RCA 'Guaranteed' album of 1991 and the 'Forever Now' album of 1994. BMG decided to name this 2-in-1 album 'Guaranteed' and it throws people off. You don't get the track listings as they appear on the individual albums. And this amazon page looks to be defaulting to what it knows as the 'Guaranteed' album's tracklist.



[...]



Hope this helps.

- a Level 42 fan"

True musicianship, rare professionals....

Ahmad Tarmidzi | Singapore | 03/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is indeed NOT the RCA release Guaranteed album. That one is really hard to get these days. Having been a faithful Level 42 fan for a very long time.... Mark King being my main influence on the bass, this album, like most of the early ones, is a masterpiece. Allan Holdsworth also contributed in this album (in case you don't know, he's the guitar wizard worshipped by other guitar maestros). So if you're looking for the RCA release, don't look here. But this album is a true gem."