The Levellers breakthrough second album ‘Levelling The Land’ holds a special place in my heart. After growing up on rock music through the 80s, they were the first proper alternative band I got into in the 90s, opening my mind to a whole host of bands and genres that would soundtrack my formative years.

You may have forgotten how big The Levellers were back in the mid-90s. With little commercial success or radio play (‘One Way’ didn’t even reach Top 40), they were taken under the wing by the traveller and indie communities and enjoyed sold-out tours which culminated in headlining the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury in 1994 to a record-breaking 300,000 people.

‘Levelling The Land’ was originally recorded with certain production constraints leaving it sounding thin compared to modern production values. So, for the 35th anniversary, the band called on original producer Al Scott to remix the album, and what he’s done is quite remarkable. While there is not a duff tune anywhere on this album, it now sounds fresh and reinvigorated. The songs jump out and punch with a new sense of vigour. It’s like they’ve been transported from 1991 to the modern world in 4K. From classic opener ‘One Way’ to anthemic live favourites such as ‘The Game’, ‘Liberty Song’ and ‘The Road ’, everything sounds fresh and as vital as it was in 1991. There are instruments and parts I have never heard before; the strings are crisp, the rhythms pound deeper. Mark Chadwick’s vocals sound as fresh as the day he recorded them, and the bass rumble that opens ‘Sell Out’ is thunderous and full of extra intent. It’s like they’ve stepped the album up a gear, notched up the RPMs a touch.

The band’s political message has not changed, and the lyrics remain as vital and current as they were in 1991. The Levellers gave a voice to communities that were harassed by the authorities, the travellers, squatters and those who wanted a different, free way of life. This music brought them all together, whether it was at free festivals, dirty squats or dark, patchouli-filled bedrooms country-wide.

It’s crazy to think that a song as good and vital-sounding as ‘Fifteen Years’ wasn’t even on initial pressings of the album and was only added as track 3 after its success as a single. It’s true The Levellers were on a roll creatively, and the wealth of bonus material on this release is testament to that.

The expanded 3 CD version adds a disc of album-era B-sides and outtakes and another disc of recently unearthed demos that show the beginnings of greatness and the development of these songs. While any Levellers fans worth their salt already has the likes of ‘Dance Before The Storm’, ‘Last Days Of Winter’ and their raucous cover of The Charlie Daniels Band’s ‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia’, the demos are well worth exploring.

From folk rock battle cries to melancholic acoustic balladeering, The Levellers have given a voice to the alternative masses who chose their way of life over the norm. And 35 years down the road, ‘Levelling The Land’ remains a defining document of defiance and uprising in 1990’s Britain. A timeless classic that has been revamped to sound the way the artists originally intended it to sound. The album is essential
listening; the bonus discs are for the die-hards.

Buy Here

Author: Ben Hughes