Level 42

It is to Level 42's credit that in a decade where there were an awful lot of artists that sounded the same, they were truly unique. Combining Mark King's funk bass style with keyboard induced pop melodies finally reaped huge rewards with 1985's World Machine, including the mega-hits Lessons In Love and Leaving Me Now. These are the three albums released around that album and the follow-up Running In the Family, the two releases that helped make Level 42 one of the most successful British bands of the decade.

These three releases have not previously been given the full remastering and reissue treatment - but now have b-sides and remixes, some included on CD for the first time.

1983's Standing In The Light was the band's fourth studio album and begins to see them match chart success with critical acclaim. While lead single Out of Sight Out of Mind failed to reach the top 40 (not helped by a lack of tune and a plodding production), the follow-up The Sun Goes Down hit the top 10. Follow-up Micro-Kid is included here in 5 different versions - slightly over the top for a song that has dated badly.

Underlining the band's high output at the time, True Colours was released just a year later, with the highlight the ultra-funk of Hot Water, which would get various lengthy remixes over the course of its chart spell - and two are included here. Another minor hit The Chant Has Begun is also included with three different versions, while Seven Days is a tender ballad that points in the direction that Level 42 would go on World Machine to great success. The sinister Hours by the Window has shades of Godley & Creme as the band begin to get more adventurous.

By the time 1988's Staring At The Sun arrived - the band had reached global stardom and were selling out arenas. However line-up changes hit hard as the workload built, with the brothers Boon and Phil Gould leaving. It's no surprise then that of the the three albums re-issued, this is the weakest. The album though, is given a fuller treatment - with 11 extended versions or remixes included, of which Heaven In My Hands is still the strongest.

Mark King and the band's moment had passed by this stage, but not without leaving a pretty big mark on the decade. Still touring now, King has stopped flying around the stage (on a wire) playing his bass in his trademark finger licking style. But his energy remains. All three albums have notes from King - which underline his enjoyment of their career and his infectious love for jazz and funk. A band for the 1980s for sure, but a band that stood apart.