Levellers Announce 35th Anniversary Expanded, Remixed & Remastered “Levelling The Land”

Brighton, UK’s Levellers have been one of the UK’s most enduring and best-loved bands for nearly four decades, and part of that incredible success has been built on the timeless anthems that comprised their sophomore album, Levelling The Land, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. Recorded at Ridge Farm studios in Surrey over the summer of 1991, it was produced by Al Scott, who was charged with translating the band’s incendiary live performances into something more refined within the recording environment. Featuring the singles One Way, 15 Years and Far From Home, Levelling The Land redefined the UK’s musical landscape providing the soundtrack for a society fed up with the twin evils of Thatcherite politics, and the post-80’s pre-grunge musical wasteland. Released just a couple of months later, the album also included fan favourites that have grown in stature over the years such as The Game, Liberty Song, The Riverflow, Boatman and the incendiary Battle Of The Beanfield. Its success is testament to both the strength of the band’s songwriting and performance, and Al Scott‘s superb production skills. However, both parties knew that the album didn’t truly capture the power of Levellers live. The new remixed version of the album will be released on a single vinyl edition, reflecting the tracklisting of the original album. The specially expanded CD version of the album comes as a 3CD package, featuring an array of bonus tracks including B-sides, out-takes and demos that can be pre-ordered on CD, vinyl and digital formats here, the band have also revealed an outtake version of Fifteen Years.

“We had 24 tracks of analogue tape to work with and we used them all. But music in the early 1990s was bound by technology. We were told by the record company that too much bass would overload people’s tiny TV and car speakers, making them fart and rattle. Subsequently low frequencies were removed from the EQ which we felt left a slightly disappointing listening experience, particularly when compared to modern recording. The advances in music mixing technology have now given us a ‘wider’ stereo image to listen to, allowing for more space in the music between instruments and voices. So I called Al Scott with the idea to remix the album from the original multi-tracks so it sounds current, but, really importantly, without losing sight of the album that everyone knows and loves. He was immediately up for it and in my opinion has done the perfect job. The digital transfers of the 2″ reels of tape also contained unfinished versions of songs and some unheard music. So I put a call out to the rest of the band to search through cupboards and drawers for any cassette tapes or other material that might relate to the early 90s. Soon after, I received a small package in the post from Charlie (Heather, drummer) containing a few old cassettes, mostly uninspiring but one labelled ‘Demos of the LP’. The track listing on the box revealed it was indeed demo versions of ‘Levelling The Land’. This tape had been in Charlie’s possession, unheard for nearly 30 years and now we had material for this expanded release.So forget the anniversary, it’s just a number after all. Far more important is that this definitive collection of material is finally seeing the light of day. Songs as relevant today as they were in 1991. Sounding great!” (fiddle player Jon Sevink)