5 Classic Albums

As a long time Level 42 fan, I had already collected the original pressings of each of their albums on CD. The other day I was listening to World Machine, and noticed the quality of the CD does not do the album justice. It sounded very digital. I know all CDs are digital, but the original UK pressing of Work Machine has an almost metallic, wispy digital quality that pushes its way through the music here and there, especially in Mark's vocals. So, I looked around to see if there were any remastered versions of these beloved albums available. I did find reissues for all of these albums, most consisting of a remaster in 2007. But, I also came across this box set reissue. Due to the low price, I decided to give it a shot thinking this is likely a simple repackaging of the 2007 remasters. Worth a try?Quality wise, I can say that Work Machine and Running In the Family do sound better, but only a hair better. The limitations of digital audio, not as well understood when the original CD issues were pressed, has come to be much more well known in our time. Engineers who remaster these albums, hopefully, account for these limitations, hopefully end up mastering the album to very high sound quality standards. That is what sometimes happens, and should happen. All that being said, World Machine and Running in the Family are just a little louder than the original CD pressings, which some would not trust, but only a "notch" or 1 to 2 decibels. This difference is only apparent when doing a 1 to 1 comparison. Secondly, the bass is just slightly higher than it was on the original pressings. Again, this is only evident with a 1 to 1 comparison. (Higher bass accounts for the sound taste of our time; we have become accustom to louder bass). So far so good. Third, the recording is just slightly more organic sounding, less metallic, but only very slightly. It is still pretty digital sounding for World Machine, but the difference, for me, is worth the investment.So, this box set is worth it if only for the reissues of World Machine and Running In the Family, both of which have special editions that have become very expensive.Given that, lets move only True Colours. Basically, I can tell almost no difference between this copy and the original CD pressing. It might be just slightly louder, but that's all I can tell. This is not a bad thing as the original was decent, but don't expect a real change.Now lets move onto Standing In the Light... oh wait,,, hold on, where is that album!?!? Yes, this is part of the "5 Classic Albums" reissue series that has been done for so many artist. Given that they limited it to only 5 albums, I guess they decided to throw out Standing In the Light. Why this album? I cannot tell. It is by no means their weakest album, and some may say it's one of their best. Surely they could have made an exception for Level 42 and make this a "6 Classic Albums" box set, but then, why not include The Early Tapes also? Probably because these five album box sets are intended to be low cost reissues to sell to nominal fans or people who are not that into music. So the line has to be drawn somewhere if they are to keep it to only 5 albums, but for Level 42, leaving out Standing in the Light is like cutting our the face of your sibling in a family portrait, or removing half of The Two Towers from a reprinting of Lord of the Rings. (Not that Level 42 should be compared to Tolkien).As for The Pursuit of Accidents, it sounds great! I have failed to yet do a comparison with the original CD pressing except to say all the songs are the same versions.Why would I look to see if the songs are the same? It is because the biggest problem with this box set is with the beautiful, perfect, 1981, self title album Level 42. For the version on this box set, they substituted the single radio edited versions of both "Love Games" and "Starchild" for the original album version. Heresy! Love Games is a full 2 minutes shorter than the original album version! These songs were not meant to be short; they are much better in their original album length. The only reason a record company ever produces a radio edit is because radio stations wanted shorter songs so they could have more time for commercials. What a travesty that these shorter versions of the songs ended up on the Self Title CD album included in this box set.Overall, sound quality is better than the original CD releases, but only a hair better. It is barely noticeable, but worth it for Work Machine and Running In the Family. But, they messed up the 1981 Self Title album. If I had sufficient funds, I should probably try to complete my vinyl collection of this band's output, but then again, maybe I need to tone down my inner audiophile.

I'M VERY HAPPY! THE CD ARRIVED A LOT SOONER THAN I THOUGHT BECAUSE IT WAS OUT OF STOCK WHEN I ORDERED IT. I EXPECTED TO GET IT SOMETIME IN LATE JANUARY. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR PUTTING A RUSH ON THE DELIVERY. I LOVE THIS VERY UNDERRATED GROUP. MY ALL TIME FAVORITE LEVEL 42 JAM IS 'STARCHILD' THAT SONG CAME OUT WHEN I WAS IN THE NAVY IN 1983. . MY NAVY SOUND TRACK.

Good cd's for an amazing price. i was not aware how good these cds were from front to back. should have been bigger in US. Package quality B+, Sound quality B, Performance B+

These are not the original versions of the albums/CD's. Many of the songs are shorter versions of the originals....not just by seconds but some by minutes. Really disappointed.

Wife koves these Brits. Good jams!

Fabulous!!

I had forgotten how good these band was! All five album are very solid, and buying them in a pack of five makes this an easy buying decision. Great funky jazz that will keep you tapping your feet if not dancing around the room. Really enjoying this set

Quality of cd's is great. Only thing I do not like is that it does not include the liner notes for any of the 5 cd's.

I've recently rediscovered L42 after being an avid fan in the 1980's. I had bought the first four releases followed by World Machine and then got into modern jazz in a big way.It's nice having this collection on CD (and such good value) and as it also includes two alums I'd never heard even better. I really like True Colours and wish that I had bought it when it was first released,My only grip with the set is that it doesn't give you any track information on my infotainment display - but I will be able to add these manually when I put them onto my iPod.

I first purchased the album "Running in the Family" in 1984 on cassette tape after seeing the band on Top of the Pops and thought they were a brilliant band! My cassette player packed up a few years ago and have been unable to listen to it since, so was delighted when I saw 5 Classic Albums on line as it included that very same album and what fantastic value considering my cassette tape cost me £6.99 in 1984!

I have these albums on vinyl. I don't have a turn table set up at the moment so I bought the CD set to take a flash back in time. Worth every penny! The raw sounding quality musicianship was brought home to me once again but what I hadn't noticed years earlier was the production quality or lack of it used in making these albums. How much better would they have been done today? We'll never know. Brilliant none the less. Love Level 42. Inspired.

This brought back a lot of memories. I had many of these albums on vinyl which were lost many years ago. Great band of the highest calibre musicians.

LEVEL 42 are a much under-rated and lesser known band that really rock! I have been a fan since back in the day & this album covers pretty much all their best stuff. Highly recommended