As Years Go By It Just Gets Better
Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 08/26/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Over the course of the 80's Level 42's music gradually became poppier than it had been in it's jazzier funk beginnings but,it didn't mean the band had lost all concept of a great groove. When this album came out in 1991 the music scene in general had become far more generic and the genre of dance-funk pop was not exactly burning up the charts. At the same time Level 42 were still running with all thrusters on open fire at the time and weren't about to let new passing trends stand in their way. With musicians such as John Thirkell,Gary Barnacle,Drew Barfield,Allen Holdsworth and Gary Husband involved the band were ready to continue ther musical streak after the mixed results of their previous album Staring at the Sun. The result is a title track that is firmly rooted in the bands pop/funk sound and,of course with it's strong catchiness was an obvious choice from a first single. What is most impressive however are the slower grinding grooves,in keeping with funk's basic tradition on "Overtime","Set Me Up","Her Big Day" and the afro-latin influenced "The Ape",all strong reminders of the music versitility and energy that broke the band out of the box in the beginning. True there is still a very prominant 80's style and production but everything works. The presense of session guitarist Dominic Miller from Sting's band of the period makes another huge difference on songs like "A Kinder Eye","She Can't Help Herself",If You Were Mine","Seven Years" and "Lasso The Moon",all of which demonstrate a mildly Sting-like approch to the bands own kind of jazz-rock fusion. With the sax led "With A Little Love" the same kind of thing happens and one is assured without any doubts that Level 42 are definately not about to give up on their strong ethic of musical creativity over chart action. Guitar solos,heavy polyrhyhms and of course Mark King's expansive bass lines broaden the scope of these jazz-funk-pop songs to give them an extra added depth that keeps everything from becomming dated,which sadly was a big problem with a lot of pop music during this period. The second disk as with the reissue ofForever Now tends towards very housy remixes of some of the albums hits but includes a few extra songs from the same period such as the jazzier instrumental "At This Great Distance" as well as "All She Wants" and "As Years Go By",both continuing on this same creative tract. Some live versions of the tunes from concerts of the period are also included. Level 42 never recorded more than two studio albums in the 90's,focusing heavier on live work which seemed to be artistically satisfying for them at the time. But what did emmerge from this and the rest of their studio output of the decade showed a band with all intents of carrying a particular kind of music onward as the new millenium approched."
