Level 42 / Running In The Family 25th Anniversary sets

Disc 3 says “LIVE AT WEMBEY” on the front sleeve.

Slipshod. Sound is pretty decent though.

Thanks Juanjo for clarifying the running times.

Remastered by JON ASTLEY. Just opened the shrinkwrap.

Disc 1 doesn’t sound too compressed but I ain’t got his earlier remaster.

Disc 4 (DVD) has a “TV edit” of Fait Accompli that’s 61 minutes long. That’s a good bit shorter than the original VHS isn’t it? Don’t have mine to hand so maybe somebody could verify.

It’s all about performance rights and production rights I’m sure. If they included all those mixes (that many of us already have from various sources, ripped vinyl etc) then they surely have to pay some small portion to all the remixers, anyone who performed or produced etc.
Also we have the old ‘couldn’t get a hold of original masters of various tracks so we didn’t bother putting inferior versions in the set’. I’d rather hear that from a band or record company than have paid for some of the sound sludge currently doing the rounds on recent deluxe editions.
At the very least I would have wanted the/and/or an entire Wembley concert. There is no way they played 11 songs that night. Sound issues right? A Physical Presence and Micro kid were played I’m sure
And Fait Accompli is the beginning of the slide, live anyway. They chose to rock out and lost all of their subtlety. It was a conscious decision by many bands in the 80’s once they started playing sheds. Staring at the Sun is a good album, but there is already movement in the songwriting towards a big shed sound.
Another wasted opportunity in the boxset world.

PS Does anyone remember the term ‘Indie Landfill’? This is what’s happening to boxsets and deluxe editions nowadays. More and more there is less thought, care or attention when putting these things together. So much coming onto the market now that is just so badly thought out in the rush to capture a little slice of the market.
Boxset Landfill

I only want the Fait Accompli on DVD. I have all the others already. I got a tweet from Mark King saying it was only available in this box set and even he said it was a bit pricey for what I wanted. Will have to wait til it is released on it’s own. It’s getting stupid now. Why can’t they just release individual cds or dvds? Blaaaaah!

The acoustic versions and “Fait Accompli” are the attractions for me here. I have the 12″ mixes 3 or 4 times now on various CD releases, I think. The remaster had better be good to do any better than Jon Astley’s remasters in 2000. They were excellent.

My 2CD+DVD version of “Running In The Family” would be as follows:

Lessons In Love 4:04
Children Say 4:53
Running In The Family 6:12
It’s Over 6:02
To Be With You Again 5:19
Two Solitudes 5:37
Fashion Fever 4:35
The Sleepwalkers 6:02
Freedom Someday 6:20
Running In The Family (7″ Version) 3:56
To Be With You Again (7″ Version) 3:55
Micro Kid (Live) 6:24
It’s Over (7″ Remix) 4:42
Children Say (7″ Remix) 4:06
Starchild (7″ Remix) 6:14

Lessons In Love (12″ Version) 6:58
Something About You (Shep Pettibone remix) 8:03
World Machine (Shep Pettibone Remix) 5:39
To Be With You Again (ADSC Mix) 6:04
Lessons In Love (Shep Pettibone Remix) 7:44
To Be With You Again (Dub Mix) 5:45
It’s Over (Extended Remix) 6:00
Physical Presence (Live) 5:45
Running In The Family (Dave ‘O’ Remix) 6:39
Children Say (Extended Remix) 5:42
Starchild (12″ Remix) 3:25
The Platinum Edition Megamix 10:45

DVD
– 1987 concert
– all 5 music videos
– The Making Of Running In The Family

Another tepid collection. I was developing this for Cherry Red when Universal pulled the plug on it and decided to produce it in-house. Of course, the Universal version doesn’t have the 7″ versions of all the singles issued from the album. It’s not clear which remixes are included, but it appears there are more than a handful missing. I used to love buying deluxe editions. Slowly, they have become less than essential on the shopping list. Peter Gabriel take note.

Yeah, another badly missed opportunity here. The highlight for me would be to finally get Fait Accompli on DVD (not sure my old laserdisc even plays anymore). But the 12″ mixes on CD1 appear to be the same three from the old Platinum Edition, and L42’s longstanding habit of padding out “special edition” releases with recently-recorded live versions is simply maddening.

The album’s original release was supported with at least a full CD’s worth of remixes, including some that are still vinyl-only. And they likely could get deep into a second disc if they included the World Machine-era remixes that appeared on many of the RitF singles. That’s the kind of material they should be including here, not an audio rip of a common-as-dirt live video.

These box sets are getting worse. Apart from the acoustic CD everything else has been available for years including the Live At Wembley concert which can be ripped from the DVD release. Why Fait Accompli is included in this package is a mystery as that is from the Staring At The Sun period. They can keep this box set as well Peter Gabriels So.

I would have liked the first CD with the DVD and art cards etc. Not really interested in acoustic versions or live concert CDs.

Wasted opportunity. 3 CDs and only 3 remixes and no outtakes or unreleased mixes – who comes up with these ideas?!

Level 42 just had a great 40th Anniv. Tour (including dates in the USA) around the time of an overall-box set, including (gasp) a 4th disc of acoustic versions… I really hope half of this isn’t more of the same session…