- Audio CD (12 July 1999)
- Number of Discs: 1
- Label: China
- ASIN: B000025G1I
- Other Editions: Audio CD | Audio Cassette | MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 33,654 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
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Product Description
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Imagine a punk-rock Waterboys doing a better job of balancing their rock and acoustic incarnations, and you'll have a fix on this raggle-taggle, fiddle-driven U.K. quintet --Jeff Bateman
Review
The Levellers occupy a curious position in the British rock landscape. Written off by cynics as a fiddle-happy crusty band on one hand yet lauded by millions for their song-writing skills and blistering live performances on the other, it's difficult to get an objective handle on the band's almost 20-year legacy.
This set of re-issues from the band's Warner years thus provides a welcome opportunity to appraise the band's work afresh, or at least a significant portion of it.
By the time their Warner years had started, The Levellers had lost a lot of the punkish urgency that underscored albums like Whereas All The Free Commons of England, and had settled into the slightly gentler, orotund indie-rock they are known for today.
The five albums included in this package - all re-mastered, inflated with mostly solid b-sides, and boasting new artwork, packaging and liner notes - arguably represent much of the band's best work. Certainly they contain many of the key moments that have helped make The Levellers name.
Early favourites like 'One Way,' 'Strains Of Far From Home' and 'Battle Of The Beanfield' (from Levelling The Land) have not dated badly at all, sounding just as penetrative as they did over a decade ago. The same can be said of chart-topping tunes (surprising to think they've had 14 Top 40 hits to date) such as 'Hope Street' and 'Just The One' (from Zeitgeist) and 'What A Beautiful Day' (from Mouth To Mouth), amongst others.
As well as reaffirming the band's obvious highlights, the package also offers a number of additional enticements that will be of special interest to long-term fans. Levelling The Land and Zeitgeist for example, have been expanded via a selection of bonus tracks ('Dance Before The Storm', 'Plastic Jeezus' appear on the former, 'Miles Away' and 'Drinking For England' on the latter, among others), and the latter album now features a second disc featuring a recording of their now-legendary 1992 Glastonbury headlining set.
Perhaps best of all is the chance to get reacquainted with the band's final Warner album, Hello Pig - the record that saw them undergo a surprising Sgt Peppers-style musical revolution and which, though not particularly adored by fans, earned them much critical acclaim. The album, produced by Mark Wallis (of Oasis fame), is certainly one of the highlights of the Levellers oeuvre - even if it did mean the end of their agreement with Warner Brothers.
The Levellers soldiered on though, emerging victorious through the ups and downs of label deals, the spats with the music press and the wear and tear of touring. Whatever the critics say, 20 years they are still going strong. They still manage themselves, run their own label, book their own tours and even organise their own annual festival (Beautiful Day) with no corporate sponsorship, no branding, and no media partners. They also still bang out great pop tunes, as their recent hit 'What A Beautiful Day' testifies.
Love them or hate them: you just can't help but admire them. --Paul Sullivan
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
When I was at college The Levellers were my favourite band in the whole world. They were the first band I ever saw live. I still remember The Fiddler flying down to the stage on a wire! Fantastic! In an effort to evoke the memory of the good old days, and realising that my original tape was well and truly past it, I jumped on-line and ordered myself another copy from good old Amazon. It's worth mentioning that a lot of albums don't sound half as good as you remember them. Ten or maybe Twelve (?) years on, this record still sounds great. Lyrics to songs i haven't heard in years leapt into my mouth and I was singing away at the top of my voice. If you haven't sung along to RiverFlow, either before or in a long time, your missing out on something truly joyous. Or how about Far From Home or Boatman? This record offers a lot more than just One Way.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I was sitting down the other day, and I started thinking about the albums that had really mattered to me, made me believe, influenced me, moved me; the rare album where all the songs are inspired gems, an album you can pick up in any mood, and it makes you smile, dance across the living room, an album that touches your soul!!
This is one of those albums! Buy it and smile, laugh, do a jig or just sit down in your couch and listen to it with your favourite tipple in your hand and breath in and replay and breath out and replay!!
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
For those who have followed the folk scene since the heady days of Fairport Convention, and/or who have frequented great music festivals like Cambridge and Cropredy, there is nothing unusual or original about the music that the Levellers have produced. Upbeat, anti-establishment folk rockers are everywhere should you care to look. A few are miles better than the Levellers; a lot of them are worse. But when "Levelling the Land" burst onto the early-90s, post-Madchester music scene it achieved something that few albums of its ilk have ever managed to do: it brought anti-establishment folk-rock into the mainstream. This is the album that made space-kids abandon their shoe-gazing, and got Neds and Carter fans doing crazy jigs and reels. I still don't quite know how they did it. Except to say that this is a band of outstanding instrumentalists, with a lot to say and an ear for an addictive tune. Ten years on, some of the issues that they rant about have come and gone, but the album (like all the best folk music) remains as a record of what has been and, in places, what might still be. The Levellers may have become a bit more escapist since then, but with one album they did probably more to encourage young people into folk-rock than years of bearded blokes with their fingers in their ears have ever managed to do. A "must-have".
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Levellers at their idealistic best!
Hard to believe that this album is now 20 years old. It stands the test of time. Fantastic album with plenty of songs with real "issues" at their core. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Miss J. Highley
Better late than never !.
Absolutely brilliant, i am really glad i bought this album. I have somehow managed to have not knowingly heard any of their music during the 20 years they have been around until... Read more
Published 14 months ago by ROBERT F.
THE REVOLOUTION WILL NOT BE DEMOCRATIC
The Levellers were one of the popper 90s folk-punk bands and so it isn't surprising that they gained some success with Levelling the Land. Read more
Published 23 months ago by P. Frizelle
its been more than 15 years!!!!!
i saw this band live when the were on the cusp of getting big,couple of small gigs around bath,brill music,great times this cd just brings it all back. Read more
Published on 13 Nov 2009 by E. J. L. Bushell
A Very Rare Occurance
There has been a few albums that I've loved, what sets 'Levelling the Land' apart from those albums is that there is no song on this album that I don't like, I love them all. Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2008 by Eve
Pure, unadulterated genius!
Pure, unadulterated genius. Buy this album, especially if you haven't really listened to it since you had it on a dodgy tape casette back in the early 1990s. Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2008 by TheGreatAlphonse
My first gig
My mum likened them to the Oyster band back then this was the huge album,
my first gig my friend didnt turn up so my dad brought a ticket and came in with me everyone knew... Read more
my first gig my friend didnt turn up so my dad brought a ticket and came in with me everyone knew... Read more
Published on 22 July 2008 by Mr. Samuel Chew
The Levellers' best album
The Levellers' best album, from back in 1991. When I was in the sixth form in 1994 we listened to this over and over again. Even now, I think that every song is superb. Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2007 by Greshon
Marvellous
God I love this album. None of the songs grate even after the thousandth listen, and each has become my favourite at one point or another, to be overtaken again, only to regroup to... Read more
Published on 13 Oct 2003 by Chris Hurst
10 years of magnitude?
Another purchase that was a good idea! This was my favourite tape while in the 6th form many years ago. But technology meant my TDK tape became obsolete! Read more
Published on 3 Dec 2002 by "stephencurtis20"
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