Levelling the Land

Last updated

Levelling the Land
Levelling The Land2.jpg
Studio album by
Levellers
Released7 October 1991
StudioRidge Farm (Surrey, England)
Genre Folk rock
Length44:33
Label China
Producer Alan Scott
Levellers chronology
A Weapon Called the Word
(1990)		Levelling the Land
(1991)		 Levellers
(1993)
Singles from Levelling the Land
  1. "One Way"
    Released: 1991
  2. "Far from Home"
    Released: 25 November 1991 [1]
  3. "15 Years EP"
    Released: 11 May 1992 [2]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [3]
Audio NR [4]

Levelling the Land is the second full-length album by the Brighton folk-punk group the Levellers, released in 1991. [5] The album reached number 14 in the UK album charts, [6] and was certified Gold by the BPI. [7] The original album pressing contained ten tracks but following the success of the single "Fifteen Years", which peaked at #11 on the UK charts in May 1992, [8] the song was added as track three to later pressings.

Contents

This was the first Levellers album to feature the input of Simon Friend as songwriter, vocalist and musician. He replaced Alan Miles, who had sung and played guitar and mandolin on the previous album, A Weapon Called the Word. "Liberty Song" on this album was co-written by Miles.

The single "One Way" peaked at #51 in the UK singles chart in 1991, and again at #33 following a 1999 re-release. Reviewed in the Hard Report as featuring an "upbeat tempo that never waivers throughout", the song is known as the bands "all-time theme song". [3] [9] [10] [11] The album track "Battle of the Beanfield" commemorates the Battle of the Beanfield, a police action undertaken against New Age travellers in 1985. [3]

Track listing

  1. "One Way" – 4:08
  2. "The Game" – 3:28
  3. "Fifteen Years" – 3:11 (not on initial pressing)
  4. "The Boatman" – 5:56
  5. "Liberty Song" – 4:29 (co-written by original member Alan Miles)
  6. "Far From Home" - 3:22
  7. "Sell Out" – 4:17
  8. "Another Man's Cause" – 4:35
  9. "The Road" – 4:00
  10. "The Riverflow" – 3:02
  11. "Battle of the Beanfield" – 3:41

The 2007 re-issue of the album also included the bonus tracks:

  1. "Last Days of Winter"
  2. "Dance Before the Storm"
  3. "Hard Fight"
  4. "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"
  5. "Plastic Jeezus"

A bonus live disc was recorded at Glastonbury in 1992:

  1. "The Game"
  2. "World Freak Show" (co-written by original member Alan Miles)
  3. "Dance Before the Storm"
  4. "The Boatman"
  5. "Far From Home"
  6. "Sell Out"
  7. "The Riverflow"
  8. "Battle of the Beanfield"
  9. "Jig/Three Friends"
  10. "Liberty Song"
  11. "One Way"
  12. "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"

Personnel

References

  1. ↑ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week . 23 November 1991. p. 21.
  2. ↑ "New Releases: Singles". Music Week. 9 May 1992. p. 21.
  3. 1 2 3 Raggett, Ned. "Levelling the Land Review". Allmusic . Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  4. ↑ Tearson, Michael (November 1992). "Levelling the Land: The Levellers. Elektra 61325-2" (PDF). Audio. p. 118. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  5. ↑ "Discography". Levellers. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  6. ↑ "Official Album Charts for "Levelling the Land"". The Official UK Charts Company. Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  7. ↑ "China Levellers Levelling The Land". BPI. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  8. ↑ "Official Singles Chart for "Fifteen Years"". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  9. ↑ "The Levellers, "One Way", Elektra" (PDF). Hard Report. 15 May 1992. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  10. ↑ "ONE WAY by LEVELLERS". Official Charts Company . 1991. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  11. ↑ "ONE WAY by LEVELLERS". Official Charts Company . 1999. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.