Guaranteed

Level 42

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 25, 1992)
• Original Release Date: 1991
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000008HP1
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #228,402 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Guaranteed

2. Overtime

3. Her Big Day

4. Seven Years

5. Set Me Up

6. Ape

7. My Father's Shoes

8. Kinder Eye

9. She Can't Help Herself

10. If You Were Mine

11. Lasso the Moon

12. With a Little Love

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't give up on a great thing, April 28, 2006

By	S. A. Felton (southern OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I became a fan of Level 42 in 1987, when they put out the fantastic
album called "Running In the Family." Those were maybe the last days
when I listened to the radio, when there was actually some new music from
time to time, Top 40, commercial, whatever, that made it worthwhile
listening to see if there was something new. It seems like for years we
have been caught in some kind of "oldies" loop, countless stations playing
oldies from different decades, with practically no new rock music worth
listening to, and even the decent music doesn't seem to hold a candle to
the great music that came out from the 1960's-80's. We seem to be stuck
musically, and that's not the only area we are stuck in (global
consciousness expansion?). Thank g-d for classical music!

Like many, I assumed that Level 42 had reached their peak on that
amazing album. I bought a number of their prior albums and liked them, esp.
"The Pursuit of Accidents," which I would highly recommend to anyone
who hasn't heard it. These great musicians can rock while putting some
"white man" kind of funk (with or without a jazzy feel) into their music,
with clever, catchy melodies. The synergy between the contrasting and yet
complementary talents of the bass and keyboard players gives them a
unique, powerful sound, and most songs are more than listenable.

But "Running In The Family" was their peak to me, and that was
confirmed when their next album came out and wasn't nearly as good,
probably because they lost their guitar player.

Until about a year ago I had pretty much stopped listening to Level 42,
but some friends were making some CD's out of "Running In The Family" and
other LP's we had, and I decided to see if they had kept going. So now
I have heard what I believe were their final 2 albums, "Guaranteed" and
"Forever Now." All I can is, they got their act back together, and then
some, in these final albums. Both are amazing, and I would rank "Guaranteed"
as their best album, by far, and that is definitely saying something.

"Guaranteed" is definitely on some other level, 42 or otherwise,
maybe higher. The songs are great, they are varied, they show superior
talent and musicianship, drive, creativity, and more. My two favorite
songs on the album are the intense rocker, track 5, "Set Me Up." It
amazes me that a group that generally follows the rock/funk/jazz
formula can turn it on in such an intense way. The other song I want
to mention is track 10, "If You Were Mine," which is my favorite Level 42
track of all time (again, this is saying something). It is 4 1/2 minutes
of beautiful rock, great melody, great themes, a "perfect" song - right
when you think it's over it has that final kick, the last 45 seconds
or so, as if they were saying, "we got this one right on the money, from
beginning to end."

If by some fluke you are a Level 42 fan who has never heard this
album, you will be blown away!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a 2-in-1 BMG compilation, not THEE Guaranteed album, February 16, 2005

By	David Below (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Just an FYI, this album is incorrectly listed and displayed.

It's a mixed BMG compilation of both the RCA 'Guaranteed' album of 1991 and the 'Forever Now' album of 1994. BMG decided to name this 2-in-1 album 'Guaranteed' and it throws people off. You don't get the track listings as they appear on the individual albums. And this amazon page looks to be defaulting to what it knows as the 'Guaranteed' album's tracklist.

[...]

Hope this helps.
- a Level 42 fan

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True musicianship, rare professionals...., March 11, 2005

By	Ahmad Tarmidzi "floydrose" (Singapore) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This album is indeed NOT the RCA release Guaranteed album. That one is really hard to get these days. Having been a faithful Level 42 fan for a very long time.... Mark King being my main influence on the bass, this album, like most of the early ones, is a masterpiece. Allan Holdsworth also contributed in this album (in case you don't know, he's the guitar wizard worshipped by other guitar maestros). So if you're looking for the RCA release, don't look here. But this album is a true gem.