Wednesday 12 November 2014

Level 42 'Tracie'

Chart Peak: 25
YouTube
Their 15th Top 40 single in Britain... Made No. 25 in January 1989
It's starting to look like Side 4 is turning into "underperforming January release side", no wonder the sleevenotes are losing interest. It's sort of fitting to hear this track next to Duran Duran: not only were both these tracks taking advantage of the January market to outchart the previous release from the album, but both acts had emerged at the opposite end of the 1980s, and both were now lacking key founder members. The Gould brothers (who were actual brothers, unlike the two Taylors in Duran Duran) had departed and whilst replacement guitarist Alan Murphy was a very talented player who died far too young (less than a year after this in fact) he doesn't get a lot to do on 'Tracie', co-written by Mark King and new drummer Gary Husband. The track is a slightly edited version of the album cut on YouTube (video available on Muzu) and you can hear it's trying for some of the bubbly funk sound of earlier hits like 'Hot Water' but the song itself just doesn't seem to go anywhere and however well King plays the bass it's hard to pay attention.

The group seemed to have lost their way at this stage, though they staggered on a few years. King later revived the name for live work, sometimes joined by co-singer Mike Lindup. A colleague of mine saw that af Watford Collisseum last month, he said they were very good.

Also appearing on: Now 4, 6, 7, 10, 13
Available on: Staring At The Sun (Expanded Version)

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