FINE GOLD UK  

THE LEVELLERS - A MUST BUY RETROSPECTIVE

It's been a difficult last few years for The Levellers. At least when the press noted the band's existence the public read about them and bought their records in sufficient quantities.

Now, in 2001, little is heard of The Levellers, though the band continue to plough their chosen field with as much vigour as ever.

Perhaps it's time to take stock and for the band to offer up something for their ever-loyal fanbase. And what do you know .. here it is. 17 tracks of passion from the days when The Levellers were spokesmen to a generation of independent-thinking-punk-spirited-free-living-all-loving travellers and visionaries.

'Special Brew' hit the racks in time to promote the band's headlining slot at the 37th Cambridge Folk Festival. And The Levellers are a true British folk band.

1988's Barrel Of A Gun opens proceedings, on this odds-and-sods collection, with a call to arms military style drum intro, before singer Mark Chadwick delivers a tale of law brutality and injustice 'from the barrell of a gun'. His voice ravaged by passion and seemingly genuine rage compliments a great Clash-like chorus and, despite being recorded '2-track straight to cassette', it's a corker.

Skipping the muffled mess that is Capital Gain straight to the excellent swirling and provocative Hard Fight .. a tale of throwing off institutionalised-conformities and being culturally re-born 'But it feels so good/To be understood/By Yourself again'.

The Pogues-like hoe-down of England My Home, complete with gravely vocals and insinuation that England is just another state of the USA, is built on adrenalin and melody and delivered with all the passion of a band that wear their causes on their sleeve.

Moving on to the more professionally produced, and more fiddle led folk tales that make up the must have 'Carry Me EP'. These four tracks are just seven months down the line from their 2-track counterparts .. and already the lyrical flair and accomplished musicianship of The Levellers is very much to the foreground. Plus, a more musical, melodic and calculated delivery of England My Home.

A year passed before the public had access to the Outside/Inside EP and by now The Levellers' place in rock/folk law was established.

They were outsiders with a devoted following and a musical bag brimming with killer tunes and authority threatening lyrics. And, although a couple of the EP's tracks appeared on the much earlier 2-track EP, they were now delivered with a fresh impedance, no-doubt inspired by the devotion of the band's ever-increasing fanbase.

My CD refused to play the remaining EP and two two live tracks. But, on the strength of the tracks already reviewed, Special Brew is a timely reminder how we, as a record buying public, have tended to overlook one of the most important people-bands since the untimely demise of The Jam in the early 80s.

www.levellers.co.uk