Levellers
Levelling the Land

THE REVIEW

Some things stay with you. It doesn't matter how much time has passed, it doesn't matter that the music you listened to when you were 15 now sounds different to your ears. It doesn't matter the water under the bridges. There are things that, as trivial as they may be, stay with you, engraved in letters of fire. Every note, every word. And you discover, half a lifetime later, that they still make you feel emotional and ecstatic like X years ago.

The Levellers in Italy have never really caught much attention. Um, maybe I'm not doing them justice: they have caught some attention, but from a sparse minority. While in England, Germany, and Scandinavia, there are people who tear their clothes for them (although at one time they were labeled as "the most famous unknown band in England"), here they've always been like a very well-kept secret. Too well-kept. And they never took hold, even though unusually they were among the shooting-star bands of the then VideoMusic, where the video for "One Way" played relatively often, catching the interest of some.

The origin of the name is shrouded in mystery. Clearly inspired by the political movement first pro, then anti-Cromwell during the 17th century English revolution, it's not clear whether it's a kind of tribute to the "older brothers" New Model Army (not surprisingly Justin Sullivan, at the beginning, called himself Slade The Leveller) or just a rather random choice. Nevertheless, the Levellers are politically engaged, without a doubt, and for years they have supported political battles mostly related to the traveller and squatter communities, from which the whole band somehow originates.
Their music, with the omnipresent violin leaving an indelible mark, is a kind of combat folk, simultaneously close to the Clash (does English Civil War ring any bells?) and to Billy Bragg. The voices of Mark Chadwick and the new addition Simon Friend alternate and intertwine, one softer and the other more furious. And they navigate between generational anthems ("One Way", "The Riverflow"), more strictly folksy ballads ("The Boatman"), declarations of love to the busker's life ("The Road") and protest songs ("Battle of the Beanfield"). Additionally, in honor of DIY, their covers are handmade, always the work of Jeremy Cunningham, the group's bassist.

"Levelling the Land" is their second album, dated 1991. Sincere, genuine, heartfelt, unpretentious. Filled with youthful enthusiasm and the belief in the possibility of changing things, elements that have inevitably faded over time. They were already active since 1988, although gradually they moved away from the matrix of protest songs in a strict sense towards perhaps a more radio-friendly approach. And they still play and release records and tour. With graying hair, with children, with beer bellies from a thousand brews. And they still make my heart beat. So much.