Level 42 - Staring At The Sun [24-bit Remastered 2000] (1988)

552 MB of lossless
53,5 MB of Booklet
137 MB of m4as (AAC)
142 MB of oggs

“

Wikipedia: Level 42 are an English pop rock and jazz-funk band. The group had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s. The origin of the band's name has been variously described as being inspired by a sign in a lift in a very tall building in the US; the top level of the biggest car-park in the world, in Japan; the floor on which Jonathan Pryce's character resides in the film Brazil (which was released long after the band gained international recognition); or after Tower 42 (also known as the NatWest Tower) the tallest building in the City of London. King and Boon Gould decided the band should be called simply by a number, and they both favoured '88' - the number of the bus they used to catch to the recording studio. However, Lindup and Phil Gould saw a poster for a band called Rocket 88 so their idea was abandoned (although '88' was later used as a song title). King and Gould both claim to have been reading Douglas Adams' comical science fiction novel, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy wherein the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything, is '42'. Therefore '42' was suggested as a name for the band. The band gained fame for its high calibre musicianship, especially that of Mark King, whose percussive slap bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the band's hits. They are also known for the combination of King's lead vocals and keyboard player Mike Lindup's falsetto backing vocals. After originally disbanding in 1994, the band reformed in 2001. Most of the next Level 42 album - Staring at the Sun - was recorded without a permanent guitarist. Rhythm guitar in the studio was handled by the band's old friend Dominic Miller (plus an uncredited King). Keeping up the momentum, the band had played at the Prince's Trust concert in July 1987, with Eric Clapton standing in on lead guitar for a performance of "Running in the Family". King and Lindup - as "house band" - also performed with artists including Ben E. King on "Stand By Me" and The Righteous Brothers on "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". Towards the end of the Staring at the Sun sessions in April 1988, Alan Murphy (a rated session guitar player who'd worked extensively with Kate Bush and was a member of Go West ) joined as permanent Level 42 guitarist and added lead lines and solos to the album recordings (recording all of his parts in a single day). Staring at the Sun was released in 1988, reaching number 2 in the UK and the top ten in several European charts. It included the hit-single "Heaven in My Hands" (number 12 in the UK and also top twenty in the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, etc.). Boon Gould co-wrote many of the tracks with King, Lindup and Badarou. Gary Husband was credited with his first co-write with King on "Tracie". The band then went out on a four-month European tour culminating in six sell-out nights at Wembley Arena (recordings from these concerts were released seven years later as the Live At Wembley album.).

”

Additional information is available @ allmusic, @ Wiki, @ home and @ here.

Tracklisting:
1. Heaven in My Hands
2. I Don't Know Why
3. Take a Look
4. Over There
5. Silence
6. Tracie
7. Staring at the Sun
8. Two Hearts Collide
9. Man
10. Gresham Blues
11. Three Words
12. Take A Look (Remix)
13. Tracie (Extended Version)
14. Take Care Of Yourself (Extended Version)

Additional infos for this album are located @ Wiki, @ Level 42/Mark King Web Site, @ allmusic and @ discogs.com.

“

allmusic: In the early 1980s, most newly successful British bands like Duran Duran and Depeche Mode were knee-deep in the synth pop/new romantic/new wave/post-punk/whatever movement. But Level 42 distinguished itself by combining R&B and jazz influences (Earth, Wind & Fire, Stanley Clarke, the Average White Band) with a strong pop sensibility, churning out a series of successful albums and Top Ten singles. The band began to achieve major U.S. success by 1986 with the albums World Machine and Running in the Family. Unfortunately, U.S. success was short-lived; Staring at the Sun, released in 1988, tanked, for an obvious reason -- the album just isn't good. Level 42's most visible members had always been bassist/vocalist Mark King and keyboardist/vocalist Mike Lindup. Founding members Phil and Boon Gould, the band's primary songwriters, left the group prior to the making of Staring at the Sun. Level 42 would never fully recover from the loss of the two key players; their departure severely affected the band's sound. Veteran session musicians Alan Murphy (guitar) and Gary Husband (drums) joined Level 42 the year Staring at the Sun was released; and while their talent and capabilities are obvious, the lifeless performances on the album suggest a severe lack of chemistry and direction. The usual awe-inspiring musicianship displayed on the band's previous releases is non-existent here. (Murphy died in 1989.) Considering the poor quality of the songs on Staring at the Sun, the sluggish performances are perfectly understandable. The rock-ish "Heaven in My Hands" is catchy enough, and the Mike Lindup-penned ballad "Silence" is the album's best song, but the rest of this stuff: Beware! "Man" sounds like bad '70s art rock (complete with pretentious spoken word narration), "Two Hearts Collide" is flat and completely void of purpose, and "I Don't Know Why" boasts some of the most inane lyrics ever written for an album by a major band ("I don't know why/ I love you like I do/ but baby I love you/ and always I'll be true" -- Ugh.) Worst of all, Mark King, who over the course of the band's existence was becoming a more expressive and effective vocalist, sounds bored and uninspired, particularly on "Two Hearts Collide." And Mike Lindup's complementary falsetto background vocals are barely used this time around. It might be easy to excuse the band for losing enthusiasm -- after all, it had just lost two key bandmembers along the way, and perhaps Level 42 was pressured into repeating its newfound American success. But this album is unforgivable. It became a big hit in the U.K., charting at number two, but went nowhere in the States. It would take Level 42 several more years to release an album that would even come close to restoring the quality of its previous releases (this finally happened with Forever Now, which became the band's swan song). Now out of print, Staring at the Sun is, by far, the least essential album in Level 42's catalog. by William Cooper 1,5 stars

”

Download - Rapidshare links, 5% of recovery, Full booklet, MD5 sums, password protected, use your favourite burning program.

Control file:

• Download from mirror 1 (RS.com)
  
• Download from mirror 2 (iFile.it)

Direct links:

• MD5 (RAR (Lossless 1, password)) = '2cfb77834bb5243b9df4e9a46ea5cbc1'
  
• MD5 (RAR (Lossless 2, password)) = '8066d7b7834590b81dfd3dda5acf2baa'
  
• MD5 (RAR (Lossless 3, password)) = '31d11f3559dca1cfe179fc70b1564ce5'
  
• MD5 (RAR (Lossless 4, password)) = 'e6213b2757b317fb938302869c5c402f'
  
• MD5 (RAR (Lossless 5, password)) = '4218ee6b1680dd82a2545303bf1d4446'
  
• MD5 (RAR (Lossless 6, password)) = '849e1b28c35250bf33fde521966035b9'
  
  
• MD5 (RAR (Oggs 1, password)) = '1a41d8e5f6fb4d78b75209755217261c'
  
• MD5 (RAR (Oggs 2, password)) = 'bfb0bea6e20cd55304c7882ba6877582'
  
  
• MD5 (RAR (M4as 1, password)) = 'f16e71bbc4b6c92499f1b8ba47567a17'
  
• MD5 (RAR (M4as 2, password)) = '2e91a9b43f11ac01f534b3ae434b2a01'
  
  
• MD5 (RAR (Booklet, password)) = '1c8d099e9037bf90aff21a634629cd79'

Password: King HellikXs

Mirroring service for your convenience!

• Mirrors for Lossless 1 are here (iFile.it)
  
• Mirrors for Lossless 2 are here (iFile.it)
  
• Mirrors for Lossless 3 are here (iFile.it)
  
• Mirrors for Lossless 4 are here (iFile.it)
  
• Mirrors for Lossless 5 are here (iFile.it)
  
• Mirrors for Lossless 6 are here (iFile.it)
  
  
• Mirrors for Covers are here (iFile.it)
  
  
• Mirrors for Oggs 1 are here (iFile.it)
  
• Mirrors for Oggs 2 are here (iFile.it)
  
  
• Mirrors for M4as 1 are here (iFile.it)
  
• Mirrors for M4as 2 are here (iFile.it)

Other Level 42 releases:
Level 42 - True Colours (1984)
Level 42 - World Machine (1985)
Level 42 - Running In The Family {24-bit Remastered 2000} (1987)