The Levellers - 3 Reasons Why You Really Should Listen To Them

They were hated by the music press and spied on by the police. They battled addiction and an unfashionable image, so it's a wonder The Levellers ever went on to become the leaders of a counter-culture phenomenon back in the nineties.

Not being such a big eco-warrior type of guy, I’m not really your typical Levellers fan. Back in the day the occasional song from the first album I’d heard hadn’t really made any impression on me either. However, things changed when I walked in a record shop (remember those?) in about 1991. Playing in the background was some music I’d never heard before. It had a folky/punk feel akin to an updated Pogues or Waterboys sound. I immediately liked what I was hearing, went up to the desk and enquired who it was, turns out it was The Levellers’ ‘Levelling The Land’ album which had just been released. I bought it and was hooked on them for the next ten years.

The timing was perfect, we’d seen the end of ‘classic rock’, the start of grunge so I’d lost interest in that genre and needed something new. I got into ‘Levelling The Land’ and with the next few albums I’ve grew to like them more and more, to a point where I could listen to them anytime, anyplace and enjoy their music on multiple levels – both for folky pleasure and for eco-analysis. Even though The Levellers are not and will never be my favourite band (there’s just too much crap in their post-2000 catalogue), I still consider them to be essential, and one of those full-of-surprise “wow, why haven’t I heard this before?” moments that people just need to experience. So here’s why:

Those Incredible 6 Years. 
Or, to be more precise, the 1991-1997 “golden” era, which found The Levellers at the absolute top of their game. Never again would they find such a perfect balance between musical ambitiousness, ear-catching accessibility and well-thought, yet not overwhelming lyrical concepts. Those five albums (beginning with ‘Levelling The Land’ and ending with ‘Mouth To Mouth’) represent the true pinnacle of their work, and few other bands managed to keep themselves at such an incredible level of consistency over such a short stretch of albums, without once repeating themselves. Their other work has some good stuff, but most of the times it’s too inconsistent. Those 5 albums (which include the fabulous live album ‘Headlights, White Lines, Black Tar Rivers’), are mostly perfect and I would kindly suggest giving them a good listen.

The Tunefulness of Their Music. 
They are a great pop band. Underneath all the fuss, all the ‘punk’ attitude and posing which you may or may not connect to, The Levellers actually wrote great tunes. If you listen to any of their songs at random (again, only referring to the golden era), chances are high that you’ll like it from the very first listen and end up humming it for the rest of the day. Simply because, Mark Chadwick at his absolute best, simply could not do wrong when it comes to musical hooks. Chadwick recently stated “I came to it from a Roy Harper, Cat Stevens, Simon & Garfunkel, John Lennon style of singular songwriting and we thought we needed a lead instrument so we got Jon in on violin. We didn't wanna get an electric guitar player because guitar solos were out then. But having a fiddle in the sound makes it folkier, so our style kind of developed out of the songs and instrumentation; we didn't design it, the music designed itself”. This movement away from the mainstream is what attracted me at the time. As with all timeless music, brilliant songs like ’15 Years’ still sound current and relevant today, 25 years on. What I’m getting at is The Levellers had substance too, not just spirit!

Their Attitude
It's easy to forget how influential The Levellers were in the 90s. They came across as revolutionaries on a quest to change the world through the power of music. They were never quite in fashion, the band carved a niche out of the fact that they didn't really fit in anywhere; music for the disenfranchised by the disenfranchised. Travellers, punks, hippies, folkies, students, indie kids, all united by disillusionment with the Tory State and the way things were going. The Levellers had attitude and spoke the truth - and it caught on fast.

So Where To Start?
Levelling The Land is always a good starter for ten if you want an entry-point album. Though I’d recommend the Live Album ‘Headlights, White Lines, Black Tar Rivers’ from 1996 which has all the best tracks of the time. It was recorded in Blackpool on the last date of the British Zeitgeist-tour. This album for me is still one of THE best live albums, all the tracks having a certain "je ne sais quoi" that others don't, I guess it's the live ambiance and energy that really makes it.

They go to show that sometimes in art having the right ideas and the right kind of creativity and the right time beats actual proficiency in the respective field. But I digress, the bottom line is that The Levellers in their prime managed to convince and inspire fans and musicians while also staying true to themselves and their aspirations (and annoying critics of the time too). They weren’t that cool. They never took themselves seriously. And in the end, they just wanted to have some fun.