Level 42 - To Be With You Again - 1987 - TOTP

From the 30 April 1987 edition of Top Of The Pops, here's Level 42 miming to To Be With You Again. Mark King is evidently such an amazing bass player that he doesn't even have to touch the instrument.

[@soulmetal2012]

This is one of my favorite songs from Level 42!

[@zagortenay114]

Trace.......extended version......no.....eh......

[@MrRuddles1]

This song it brings back so many memories,great band.

[@deanabarrett3871]

RIP Boon Gould who sadly took his own life in 2019. This is my favourite Level 42 track and unfortunately they never play it live anymore.

[@paulfoinette4566]

Hi Deana, it's back on the set list for the 2021 tour!

[@acidmack1041]

I went to see them in Sheffield last Monday (1st November 2021) and this was the first song they did...one of my favourites :) They also did Its Over, Children Say, Running In The Family & Lessons In Love from the Running In The Family album

[@robertwilson214]

So catchy, might be best song of 80s.

[@megaphoenix2001]

day i bought this on 7" i played it 20 times in a row

[@MrRuddles1]

I miss the 80sand this song reminds me of my first real crush or should i say infatuation, great band love all there records.

[@AlexW14]

This is pure perfection. The opening riff is just ridiculously catchy, and it just gets better and better. I’m not sure why they said this album was Pop, they sound like no one else.

[@sylwiaanio8044]

Super przebój 👌👍😀

[@UltraPOPDJ]

I love this song! My favourite Level 42 record next to "The Sun Goes Down".

[@zagortenay114]

Hot water....no eh....

[@euanelliott3613]

Not long after this, Boon left the band citing ill health, to be followed a month later by his brother Phil with nervous exhaustion. Guitarist Paul Gendler and Prefab Sprout drummer Neil Conti helped Mark and Mike to fulfil outstanding tour dates before Gary Husband arrived on drums and Steve Topping joined to play guitar. The band went to Dublin to write the next album and Topping was replaced by Ex Go West guitarist Alan Murphy. They went to Miraval in the south of France with Boon helping to write lyrics, and recorded Staring At The Sun in just 26 days, Alan Murphy in particular maintaining a ferocious workrate. I understand that Alan knew he was HIV positive when he joined the band though I'm not sure the band knew at that point. Clearly he wanted to have a good time with a great band and worked right up to his death on 19.10.89. Boon passed away years later along with Allan Holdsworth who helped to record Forever Now. Three great musicians from one of the best bands ever.

[@HaroldGoodfortune]

The middle 8 is fantastic

[@2kumako]

I love this song. 大好きな曲です。

[@zagortenay114]

Coronavirusse?

[@OldSkoolGrandad]

Totally agree with you..they did'nt have a point to prove..or a record producer to suck upto..they were original ..

[@KarlosAMRR]

estar contigo otra vez, grandes interpretes en su estilo de banda con instrumentacion en vivo a lo estudio,, eso me gusta gracias a Cheeseford por subir

[@junkerjorg2157]

Boon Gould....unvergessen.

[@helenberry5877]

💛

[@MrRuddles1]

Yes it is a shame they are miming because they can sing live ,one of the greatest bands ever ,this song brings back so many memories.

[@restructures]

Looking at all of Mark's TV "performances" on KZbin, it's clear he's adopted a very, um, casual approach to lip-/bass-synching: stand a couple of miles from the mic, "play" the bass if and when you feel like it. Hilarious! Gotta find some way to cope with those ridiculous promotional "performances", I suppose :)

[@robhendo3865]

Yes mark hated mining that’s why he chose to not play bass when it’s clearly heard been played

[@yakitoriJH]

yeah, agreed. And the gesture at 1:51 is too touching! Right from the soul....

[@edclavel]

Will see them tomorrow night in SF followed by LA on Sat!

[@TheFartGallery]

Ah the days of real music .. no Jessie J or Will.I.Am autotuning here .. oh and they play instruments too . how bizarre! Actually the best version of this is the Apollo 2003 concert .. have a search

[@nataliegarrett7378]

Great post

[@3DPeter]

@MrRuddles1 playback during tv shows was normal in the 80's. i gues that it was cheaper than setup al the instrumental gear and do soundchecks, and carry along a load of technicians and roadies, because popular artist went from one tvshow to the next to promote themselves. And most important, we didn't care, because we already knew that they could sing and play alright. Something we can't say about those today's artist, because they care more about their image than their singing.

[@beingheardmedia6339]

Yep. Even critics who hated them acknowledged they were FIERCE live musicians. So Level 42 could get away with this. Others, not so much. And it's kind of funny here that Mark doesn't even bother to pretend.

[@angellouisesings]

@stonepolismusic saw them in SD and Anaheim too. Highlight of my life. Although I'd seen them in London in 2006, seeing them here did not compare. Plus I got to meet them.

[@stonepolismusic]

@eac067 Awesome! I just say them in San Diego and Anaheim and all I an say is one of the best concert experiences I've been too. Definitely top five...Enjoy!

[@oxoPCetoxo]

Ahh, But true Level 42 fans should know that this band may have done the odd bit of lipsynching for certain shows TOTP being the predominant one.But they CAN actually sing live and I also understand what you mean by the 'Look' Mark gives, he also does it in the video. Very very sexy. Mind you he is still a very sexy man.

[@angellouisesings]

@eac067 I was in LA too. Such fun!

[@canseevideo1]

Anyone else agree that Steve Wright (bloke at the end) looks like Weird Al Yankowic

[@NoMoreHighRise]

Level 42's best song. Which one of them lost their girlfriend to the 'American' dream?

[@Phleeper]

Boon, the guitarist. He wrote the lyrics to this song.

[@lshannon41]

@SuzLa1 true, one of my favourites was when the stanglers did go buddy go, they took all the strings off thier instruments! and of course this charming man by the smiths morrissey replaced the microphone with a bunch of flowers

[@beingheardmedia6339]

I wonder if Mark's resemblance to Rutger Hauer gave them a boost in Holland in the early days...

[@MFavplace]

I had the biggest crush on Mike Lindup !

[@kneeleydavis574]

So did I, he is so handsome!

[@Spaniard2264]

Love this group and love this tune. Too bad they lip sync here :-(

[@TheJellybaby1988]

@SuzLa1 Didn't you know it was compulsory to mime and not play insrtuments on TOTP...The sad thing is we all into it bought it.Hahaha

[@SuzLa1]

Everybody had to mime on TOTP and some bands took the P and messed around.

[@SuzLa1]

At one time they had to mime it all and later it was just the music that was mimed. Not sure which this is.

[@chestnutsev7]

S TO C. Rainy days and sundays.

[@nowdid]

The only thing that can kill Mike Lindup is...KRYPTONITE...I thought you knew. :)

[@khunopie]

An obvious 1980s lipsinc job. Note the distance between mouth and microphone.

[@djfobtronics]

Yikes @ Mark's hair. He needed a #1 haircut lol

[@mickeytipp]

Peter Powell

[@3DPeter]

@seriousbe dude, i'm a fan of tears for fears too, but mark king doesn't sound like roland orzabal at al.

[@lilyanne8716]

3DPeter nah if u were to compare tears for fears with a band it would be depeche mode

[@vrooomize]

me encanta la canción, pero me jode el playback....

[@corigraves]

were they miming again here ... unfortuantely i think this was done when his voice was prob not at its best .. and they still had to do the performance ... ughhh .. dont like it but i dont think they had very much choice in the matter ...

[@DingKong]

It was Top of the Pops - everyone mimed on it at that time. It was just the way it was.

[@PeaveyPV20]

i luv this band but the miming in this clip is awful look how far king and lindup are from the microphones

[@seriousbe]

The singer sounds a lot like Roland Orzabal...Perhaps a bit too much!

[@wexfordrob]

As an artist just working up