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General Category => Everything Else => Topic started by: Master Ray on January 08, 2018, 07:47:24 PM
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Apologies if anyone's brought this up before, I don't seem to remember anyone doing so... :(
A band I'm rather fond of, seen them many times live and they're always great, who seem to be somewhat wrapped up in NMA's history, not least because their support slot on the Impurity tour seemed to be one that not only grabbed them a lot of fans from this community but gave them a push-up into bigger venues that paved the way for them to become (briefly) the darlings of the indie-press... that whole violin-rock thing that NMA were doing in T+C and Impurity (see also The Wonder Stuff) didn't hurt. Of course, that thing didn't last but they've kept up a solid following since then and I know there are quite a few NMA fans who still follow them! And The Levs have that hugely popular 'Beautiful Days' festival (that NMA have played at several times) which attracts some great acts, I should make it to that event one day!
But there are some naysayers and I can also see why they might think that. They haven't, IMO, progressed in the same way that NMA have, into different sounds and musical genres and experimental stuff, just for the hell of it. Is that a bad thing? I've met NMA fans who think every album should sound just like T+C or NRFTW or whatever and they're not arsed about the band doing anything new. Which is OK, you know what you like,right! But The Levs have only put out three albums in the last twelve years and when you see them live, probably 60% of the set will be from the first three albums. Playing on past glories..? As I mentioned earlier in this paragraph?
I still hugely enjoy this band, I'd love to hear what other regulars or newbies on this Forum think of them. The Levs and NMA are playing on July 01st in Manchester Castlefield Bowl! I know a couple of other people here are going... anyone here love them or hate them or are indifferent? What are your favourite albums or tunes? Am I just talking bollocks as usual? ;)
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Don't really know enough to give a defined opinion of them but will say what I think.
Spent most of the 90s and beyond disliking them , had the wrong opinion that they were basically a nma rip off band. Previous threads have stated there more along the lines of pogues etc kinda of agree with that tho Shane is a better song writer n they have swapped the Irish element for a west country one .
Picked up levelling of the land a few years back and thot it was good tho I put it on the mp3 n gave the disc away .
Will agree with the progress factor tho I heard there newer stuff, so a bit unfair.
Two reasons why I'm not going to Manchester . 1 - it's outdoors. Weather? Sound quality? 2 - NMA aren't the headline
Anyway back to the levz. I think there a decent get pissed sign along band but nothing more .
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I will be simple.I like some albums and been to Levs gig only for one time and it was really gig we enjoyed,danced and had a really good time.But lyrically Levs don't get me.Never did.I have a problem with that 'anarchy" thing.Exploited's anarchy is more friendly to me.As Mr Sullivan said,I don't believe in message music.Zeitgeist,A Weapon..Levellers and Leveling The Land are albums I like and sometimes I give a listen.
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Don't really know enough to give a defined opinion of them but will say what I think.
Spent most of the 90s and beyond disliking them , had the wrong opinion that they were basically a nma rip off band. Previous threads have stated there more along the lines of pogues etc kinda of agree with that tho Shane is a better song writer n they have swapped the Irish element for a west country one .
Picked up levelling of the land a few years back and thot it was good tho I put it on the mp3 n gave the disc away .
Will agree with the progress factor tho I heard there newer stuff, so a bit unfair.
Two reasons why I'm not going to Manchester . 1 - it's outdoors. Weather? Sound quality? 2 - NMA aren't the headline
Anyway back to the levz. I think there a decent get pissed sign along band but nothing more .
Hmmm, bit vague there Pol? ;) Tell us what you REALLY think! ;D
No worries, mate, not your cup of tea, I was expecting reactions like that. I can think of a certain mutual friend who thinks the same! And as to Shane... a rare genius. Apparently he's in a wheelchair nowadays but, heck, he was given six months to live in about 1991!
Anyone else got opinions about this band?
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Saw them on Impurity tour and loved them so got into them in a big way
Saw them loads around the early to mid 90's
Love the early stuff though
Hello Pig is the absolute bollox!!!
Havent seen them much over the years since though, but went to Lincoln last year to see the Levelling The Land 25th Anniversary (let's cash in on past glories) gig :) :)
My personal opinion is that if Ferocious Dog and Gaz Brookfield hadn't been the support I don't think they would have sold out as many dates as they did
Not too bothered about seeingthem in July but whatever happends we'll have a good day
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Was a big fan through the first 3 albums then kinda lost interest, just didn't seem to hold my attention anymore, never sensed development or something new. Seen blinding gigs, good gigs, and also a few bad ones but never indifferent ones. Beautiful Days was always a brilliant weekend notwithstanding the usually shite weather.
Not sure if I would go and seem them nowadays, maybe if I was looking for a nostalgia trip. Impossible to put my bias to one side but I can never seem them as headliners over NMA - just not good enough.
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Ok. Loved Zeitgeist and Levelling the Land but switched off after that. They will forever be tied with NMA but in my humble opinion, not a patch. I think theyre headliners in name only, but then I might be biased. Id imagine fanbase will be not too disimilar sizewise. I dont buy into the pseudo-anarchy side of it but I respect them for some of their songs. I think itll be a good show. And a day before me birthday!!
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Anna... there is rather a lot of good stuff after the first three albums (Mouth To Mouth and Zeitgiest are damn good albums) but you're right. Much as I enjoy their stuff personally they are somewhat 'preaching to the choir' nowadays. Nothing to remotely match Winter or BDAW. But heck, that same choir keep showing up and have a good time, the band make a living, so fair enough!
Red... funny you said that, 'Hello Pig' is the one Levs album that I didn't like at all when it first came out! Haven't listened to it since then, but I'm always happy to reappraise something so I'll check it out, always respect your opinions mate!
Bunny (damn, I can't get used to calling you that ;D ) looking forward to seeing you at that summer gig. Get on Youtube and check out tunes that you're not familiar with, you might some tunes you like. And, yes, in an ideal world NMA would be headlining this big one-day festival... but in an ideal world we'd have a competent government, Trump would be working at a petrol station in Bumfuck, Iowa and I'd be married to Jenna Coleman. ;)
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MR...you know my first name, Ill accept it! Im sorry but Jenna Coleman is mine!
I will check some of the later stuff out as I said I just got a feelng it wont register. Maybe its just one of those things where a band hits its hiatus and fades off? But I guess some folks will love everything theyve ever done
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OK... here's a few later tunes from the Levs...
What A Beautiful Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SKS_xcBS5w
Truth Is
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmlYo9iCr20
Alone In The Darkness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GHRSzm8mf0
Too Real
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGu9MayJKPM
Just The One (the version with Bellowhead...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn8qwmABIIQ
Come on
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wav7yo39jFo
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Anna... there is rather a lot of good stuff after the first three albums (Mouth To Mouth and Zeitgiest are damn good albums) but you're right. Much as I enjoy their stuff personally they are somewhat 'preaching to the choir' nowadays. Nothing to remotely match Winter or BDAW. But heck, that same choir keep showing up and have a good time, the band make a living, so fair enough!
Red... funny you said that, 'Hello Pig' is the one Levs album that I didn't like at all when it first came out! Haven't listened to it since then, but I'm always happy to reappraise something so I'll check it out, always respect your opinions mate!
Bunny (damn, I can't get used to calling you that ;D ) looking forward to seeing you at that summer gig. Get on Youtube and check out tunes that you're not familiar with, you might some tunes you like. And, yes, in an ideal world NMA would be headlining this big one-day festival... but in an ideal world we'd have a competent government, Trump would be working at a petrol station in Bumfuck, Iowa and I'd be married to Jenna Coleman. ;)
I must apologise, I've made a typo
Hello Pig is absolute bollox not THE absolute bollox :) :)
Sorry for misleading you and any others who thought I was mad saying it's a great album
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;D ;D ;D ;D
Yeah, I was wondering about that! Well, that's one less thing I have to do tomorrow! ;)
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The Levs have got to be my 2nd favorite band,must've seen them 30/40 times,and my Levellers T shirt collection is trying to catch up with NMA.I shall be ahappy boy at the Manchester gig in the summer.
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The Levs have got to be my 2nd favorite band,must've seen them 30/40 times,and my Levellers T shirt collection is trying to catch up with NMA.I shall be ahappy boy at the Manchester gig in the summer.
Glad you like them Jez... others aren't so keen, so I'd be interested in you elaborating a bit if you have time? Favourite albums, songs, why they're your second favourite band etc?
Nearer the time, perhaps some talk of arranging a meet, I know a few folks who are going? ???
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I've always loved "folk/rock/punk" whatever,its the mix of acoustic guitars with fiddle(or flute-Jethro Tull),a few years before the Levs made it i used to follow a great Liverpool band called Gone to Earth,they split up just as the Levs were making it,i went to see them in Cornwall and a poster for the week after said"If you like Gone to Earth,you'll love The Levellers!"A few other similar bands were Tower Struck Down and You Slosh.My favorite album has got to be Levelling the Land,that is their "Thunder and consellation"as for favorite track mmm Battle of the Beanfield sound like a song NMA never recorded,some of the more modern stuff like Chollera Well are great,but also love quiet ones like Men-al-Tol.They are playing my home town,Preston in 3 weeks so i shall report back,by the way have you listened to my band Deadwood Dog?,please check us out.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyl75jHCRjs
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I am a big fan of levellers and did follow them around from the Impurity Tour 90 onwards up until 1999. and I also got to meet some great people who worked with them so for me I was and are still a fan .
My Favourite Album would be the First one but there still making good music today .
Its was at the time great traveling around the county and meeting up with all your mates who were also in to NMA so we be came became good mates .
Last time I got to see the Levellers was about 2010 and it did fell like a I was watching them play all the hits from 1990s and it still was great but it felt a bit dated .
I have seen the Levellers play over 100 times and always remember how raw there were back in the day :)
I would be good to see NMA and Levellers play on the same bill again .
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Men an Tol is my favourite track. Fantastic song 8)
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Anna... there is rather a lot of good stuff after the first three albums (Mouth To Mouth and Zeitgiest are damn good albums)
Good point - I better revisit :)
and I'd be married to Jenna Coleman. ;)
Im sorry but Jenna Coleman is mine!
Awfully sorry chaps but she picked me a long time ago ;D ;) :-*
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Anna... there is rather a lot of good stuff after the first three albums (Mouth To Mouth and Zeitgiest are damn good albums)
Good point - I better revisit :)
and I'd be married to Jenna Coleman. ;)
Im sorry but Jenna Coleman is mine!
Awfully sorry chaps but she picked me a long time ago ;D ;) :-*
Damn, I KNEW that chap from 'Victoria' was a beard! ;D ;D ;D ;D
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You mean HAS a beard....like me......
Or is a bear.....also like me 8)
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Ha!
Back to the original point... Jez, you mentioned Tower Struck Down... bloody hell, a band from my hometown, I didn't think that anyone else here would have heard of them! Saw them quite a few times 'back in the day' and always enjoyed them. I don't know if you've kept up to date, but sadly founder member and lead singer Mark Callaghan died in 2011. :'(
Pretty sure they supported NMA on at least one occasion..?
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I heard that Mark had passed away,sorry to hear,they did support NMA,but i didn't see them that time.The bass player is now in a band called The Headsticks,who are worth a listen.I believe Fluffy,the fiddle player is now a teacher.
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Think I'll be making the trip to the Bowl - great venue if the manchester liquid sunshine stays away.
They're also playing Liverpool Philharmonic in April - acoustic set - top venue.
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I heard that Mark had passed away,sorry to hear,they did support NMA,but i didn't see them that time.The bass player is now in a band called The Headsticks,who are worth a listen.I believe Fluffy,the fiddle player is now a teacher.
The only time I knew for sure that TSD supported NMA was at the Buckley Tivoli which I only found out about a few days after. >:( Wasn't this roundabout the pre-Strange Brotherhood era when it was a bit unclear about whether the band were still together? Any sharper minds than mine be able to clarify?
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I liked Levelling the Land and have couple of their albums. I was almost lucky to get to one their gig in Helsinki during 90's. But I think it was sold out so we didn't get in but enjoyed the open air gig outside in the park which was nice though.
I've always seen the Levellers as some kind of a result of the same culture where NMA are some kind of precursors that created new things, bands, groups, events, people... That's mostly what I feel the Family is. It's the fans who have to create the new things, take it to somewhere to a new level. Sounds pathetic I know. After all we like the music and meet friends, but there is also a good ground to start new things too, aint it?
However, I don't feel I'm a big, big fan of Levs, but still appreciate what they've done/do about.
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Levelllers were always one of my favorites, but those last few years I have been really disappointed in them.
They released 2 awesome studio albums in the last decade, which should be reason enough to be proud of. Seeing them live 3 times I learned they are stuck in the past. New songs are more or less never played, instead they play "Levelling the Land" over and over again.
Also they re-release that album in various live formats over and over again and 2018 will see the release of studio re-recordings of some of the tracks from it.
A band that records such a great album as "Static on the airwaves" should celebrate it. Instead they chose to release a super-expensive deluxe edition of it and not even include the bonus tracks, which were only available on itunes. Just to re-release the album again a few years later with all bonus tracks included. Which is nice, but a slap in the face for those who went out to buy the deluxe package.
Their discography is second to none and noone can take this away from them. But apart from that I am flat out disappointed with the band.
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Hello,
this is my first post in the forum and I´m not 100% sure if there´s something like a customary introduction thread I´d should pay a visit to first? If so, please let me know.
About the topic: after I got hooked on NMA around the time of "Impurity" being released (actually being absolutely overwhelmed with finding a band directly voicing a lot of my beliefs, concerns and what else tortured my teenager´s mind in the late 1980s / early 1990s) I stumbled over the Levellers a little later and also liked them very much.
While New Model Army stayed my unrivaled favourite band since then, as others wrote here before, I lost touch a little with the Levellers after a few years for reasons unknown to me. Probably because the later lyrics didn´t touch me as much or as deeply as Justin Sullivan´s.
Nevertheless, they´re still helping me in overcoming the annual what-have-I-missed-in-life-by-choosing-this-path-depression when being listend to at a campfire together with my trusty western guitar.
Additionally, they´re "passively" listened to a lot because they helped recording the first Rev Hammer album and had a song written by him on the album "Zeitgeist", which I like a lot.
Bye
frankoschenko
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Hi Frank, am I OK to call you that? ;) Welcome to The Forum, please post often about anything at all, we're (almost) always a friendly lot and very welcoming of newcomers. You'd have to go a long way to upset people around these parts!
I also really got into NMA around the Impurity era and seeing as The Levs supported NMA on that tour, I suppose it's the same for them. You're absolutely right about how they grabbed a lot of followers but many people have drifted in or out over the years (or possibly not come back at all), they're a damn good band but don't ignite in peoples hearts the same way that NMA did and still constantly do. Doesn't mean we can't enjoy what they do!
Again, please post back!
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i always liked them and yes in the beginning they were more combat folk then they went more poppish..............i saw them last time when they supported NMA at Koln and I loved it as they played lots of the old songs. as you mentioned, they have not changed a lot and they excite the crowd with the oldest and the most classsical songs. Then for sure politically speaking they are more than ok (lyrics content )
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Hello Master Ray,
thanks for the warm welcome and yes, I´m ok with being called Frank. It´s not that my nickname is too mysterious, I guess :-) About posting often, I think that will be no problem. Let´s hope you didn´t open Pandora´s box with that suggestion...
Because of this thread, I´m listening to the Levellers´ "Static On The Airwaves" album right now for the first time and have to say the music goes well into the ear directly, rhythmic and melodic as ever. For the lyrics, since I´m at work and must at least pretend to concentrate, I will give it more time in the evening but the mood (of the first few tracks) seems to be as expressive as on "Levelling The Land" or "A Weapon Called The Word". Looking forward to plunge into it.
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Levelllers were always one of my favorites, but those last few years I have been really disappointed in them.
They released 2 awesome studio albums in the last decade, which should be reason enough to be proud of. Seeing them live 3 times I learned they are stuck in the past. New songs are more or less never played, instead they play "Levelling the Land" over and over again.
Also they re-release that album in various live formats over and over again and 2018 will see the release of studio re-recordings of some of the tracks from it.
A band that records such a great album as "Static on the airwaves" should celebrate it. Instead they chose to release a super-expensive deluxe edition of it and not even include the bonus tracks, which were only available on itunes. Just to re-release the album again a few years later with all bonus tracks included. Which is nice, but a slap in the face for those who went out to buy the deluxe package.
Their discography is second to none and noone can take this away from them. But apart from that I am flat out disappointed with the band.
Rasi, I think that sums up a lot of peoples reactions... well put. But if you're going to put out 'old product' again, at least make it worthwhile for the folks who bought it in the first place!
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Oh, FFS... The Levellers get a big article in The Guardian today when that same newspaper won't even give NMA the slightest sniff of attention? Again, I really like The Levellers, but blimey... >:(
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jan/31/the-levellers-30-years-interview-brexit-mark-chadwick-jeremy-cunningham
Also, I might have commented on this post...
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Also, I might have commented on this post...
Indeed - sterling work there you Long Distance Runner you ;) :-*
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Saw the Levs for the first time on Impurity in Leeds.
I was actually blown away by the energy of the band and just the sheer catchiness of the tunes. They rapidly became my second favourite band and as they toured almost constantly, I probably saw them more times than I did NMA during the early to mid 90s. Like many on here I kinda lost my way with them after Zeitgiest. They, for me anyway, have had the odd moment since but no consistency.
I still go to see them but it is sadly apparent just how much they depend on their earlier, stronger material.
For me NMA have evolved, the Levs had trodden water.
That said, A Weapon Called the Word is in my top 10 if not 5 albums of all time.
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Really love Levs ,a band that have played in this music backwater called Jersey (twice).just wondering what people here think of latest album ? I am sure it won't be to all Levellers fans taste,i think it is excellent,really interesting versions of old songs.And yes,i do agree it is about time they did something new and stopped keep recycling Leveling the Land.
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Haven't heard it yet, will get around to it at some point. I have to say that just re-recording old songs is a bit of a cop-out, especially when your last 'proper' album was years back...
Apparently, at the forthcoming Manchester Castlefield Bowl gig (with NMA and The Wildhearts in support) 'Levelling The Land' will be played in full... again...
:-\
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Apparently, at the forthcoming Manchester Castlefield Bowl gig (with NMA and The Wildhearts in support) 'Levelling The Land' will be played in full... again...
:-\
On the bright side at least you'll get to hear stuff you know ;D
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Actually, one of the best Levs gigs I ever saw was in Crewe (of all places) a few years back when they only played one of their hits 'What A Beautiful Day' (last encore) and the rest of the set was almost entirely very early stuff that they hadn't played in years... imagine NMA showing up and playing a whole set from 'Vengeance - The Independent Story' with a couple of album tracks from No Rest'.... ???