The Beat Surrender

The Levellers for those who have been living in a cave for the last 20 years almost (although in fairness that’s the type of place you would expect to actually bump into the Levellers isn’t it?), are a band that have traditionally had a huge following of pop fans, punks, crusties and travellers. They used to be the consumate festival band and in the early tro mid-nineties they were pretty damn big.

To put it into context I used to be a bit of an myself with the first three albums, I saw them playing at The Town & Country Club in Leeds which at the time held just over 2,000 people and that put them on a level with the likes of the Manics, James and Suede around that time. They had hit videos (DVD’s weren’t around then kids) and whisper it…top twenty singles and top five albums!

As quickly as they came into fashion though they kind of died a commercial death around the time of Brit Pop and it’s ultimate demise, they were never taken entirely serious in the music press, but they did have their moments and some of their early stuff is still a decent listen.

All of this of course washed over the Levellers who were happy just doing what they were doing and that seems to be something they have continued to this day. So in 2008 we have them returning (not that they’ve really been anywhere) with a brand new album, Letters From The Underground.

They’ve often been described as anarchic folk-punks, however for me they lost their punk and anarchic elements along time ago, which basically leaves them with a folk style…and that is where the problem lays for me. They no longer have that fire in their music, yes this new album is a very political record, but the majority of their anger is aimed towards the Iraq / Afghanistan wars and lets be honest that subject has been done to death in music circles in recent years.

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