Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delirious clenched-fist folk-pop anthems, 26 May 2008
This is pretty much the high water mark album for the Levellers, from their high water mark year: a 12-month stretch that saw them drawing Glastonbury's biggest ever stagefront crowd (a record not yet broken), founding their indie-green-anarchist HQ-cum-recording-studio/commune in Bristol then hitting the number 1 spot with this, their most successful album.
Yup, it really did seem as if earnest and politically engaged eco-politics were about to sweep the nation and the likes of Take That would have to trudge through the musical fallout, heads bowed like bloody penitents.
And yet my musically cognizant friends sneer at my affection for the Levellers. "New Model Army lite" is much bandied about and they stick a finger in one ear and make fol-diddle-rol noises. Very cruel. Still, if I had to produce one Levellers album to silence the detractors, "Zeitgeist" would be it.
For one thing, this is the album where the Levellers started to leave their fol-de-rol folk template behind. In the early '90s their hit One Way had become an anthem and touchstone for British travellers and left-leaning students and the band wisely ploughed this ideological furrow, marrying squalling fiddles to guitars that crunched and drums that pounded considerably harder than heretofore. Yes, they'd already done the Sex-Pistols-with-a-fiddle thing on "All The Free Commons Of England" but this time the eco-punk 'tude was wedded to a startling melodic sensibility. In short, this album delivered a flawless selection of folk-inflected pop/rock confections, delivering at times blistering social messages and occasionally pushing the envelop of musical genre in unexpected directions - like Exodus' surprisingly effective use of skeletal rap/dub over a pounding festival anthem and the best bass riff the band ever played (so good, in fact, they recycled it on the hypnotic Too Real on follow-up album Mouth to Mouth). The apocalyptic PC Keane verges into heavy metal territory, swerving with delirious contradiction into the boozy taproom shout-a-long that is Just The One. The nearest comparison for this sort of laddish blend of hard rock and ramshackle folk is the Faces (back when Rod was on form) but "Zeitgeist" embraces postmodern world music rhythms and the sort of electric power chords that once made Black Sabbath headliners. It's intoxicating stuff.
It seems unfair to condemn the Levellers for being "of their time", as if anyone could mistake London Calling or Dark Side of the Moon for albums cut yesterday. The Levellers wear their archaisms proudly on their sleeves, but this at least is an album that seems to emerge fully formed from no discernible decade or musical movement. You simply have to take it as it is, even if that means being, on occasions, "shouted at by a bunch of crusties" as the sceptics would have it.
So, what happened next? The melodies sweetened for slick follow-up Mouth to Mouth but some of the passion and anger was missing. After that, the Levellers seemed to lose direction and certainly lost my attention. Further back in time, Levelling the Land contains their alt.folk crowdpleasers, but "Zeitgeist" stands alone as the album no other band could have created. I don't listen to it often, but every time I do, it's a rollercoaster.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic number 1 album remastered, 15 Jul 2007
By the time of 1995's 'Zeitgeist' the Levellers had broadened their audience to include a significant chunk of the nation's youth and this album hit number one. It is also one of their very best, the lyrics are still angry and biting in places and the music generally sparkles. Hilights include the losers' anthem 'Hope St', the beautiful eco-lament 'Maid of the River', Simon Friend's visionary 'Men-an-Tol'and the cheery beery drinking song 'Just the One'. This new version is given a well needed remastering job and some excellent bonus tracks from the singles.
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1 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Music from a creative plateau, 18 Aug 2007
This is a frankly disappointing album from Brighton's most famous anarchists. After releasing a series of stomping folk rock albums and festival crowd pleasers, 'Zeitgeist' goes nowhere particularly exciting and doesn't even manage to throw up one outstanding track such is the lack of spark.
It's sounds very much in the traditional Levellers vein but it's vibe is more of an out-takes and fillers album than something genuinely new.
Not a good choice as an introduction to the band but one to bang on the V dub CD rack for die hard fans.
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