The Levellers... what's your opinion?

[Crowman]

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 .



             

[Bunny]

Men an Tol is my favourite track. Fantastic song   

[Anna Woman von NRW]

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   

[Master Ray]

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   

Damn, I KNEW that chap from 'Victoria' was a beard!        

[Bunny]

You mean HAS a beard....like me......

Or is a bear.....also like me 

[Master Ray]

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..?

[jez pike]

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.

[paul74]

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.

[Master Ray]

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?

[Rusco]

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.

[Rasi]

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.

[frankoschenko]

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

[Master Ray]

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!

[Simon73]

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 )

[frankoschenko]

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.