LEVELLERS to Release Remixed LEVELLING THE LAND for 35th Anniversary
Fiddle player Jon Sevink recalls tracking down lost cassette demos for the expanded 3CD release.
Levellers will release a remixed and expanded 35th anniversary edition of their album LEVELLING THE LAND on October 16th in a single vinyl edition and an expanded 3CD digipack via Warners / Rhino.
Brighton folk-rockers Levellers have been one of Britain's most enduring and best-loved bands for nearly 40 years. And part of that incredible success has been built on the timeless anthems that comprised their platinum-selling, second album LEVELLING THE LAND, which celebrates its 35th anniversary in 2026.
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 huge hit 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 enormous commercial 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.
As founding member and fiddle player Jon Sevink reveals, '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 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. Many of these have been lost for decades and were re-discovered in the process of remixing the album.
Jon Sevink continues, '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!'
LEVELLING THE LAND features one of the most striking pieces of album art of the last forty years, an image which has also adorned hundreds of thousands of t-shirts around the world. Designed and created by bassist Jeremy Cunningham, it followed on from the artwork he created for debut album A WEAPON CALLED THE WORD.
Jeremy says, 'I thought for our second album I could expand the Levellers artistic world a bit. So I kept the same two figures from 'Weapon' but instead of them confronting each other, on 'Levelling The Land' they're dancing together. But they're dancing through a broken world. To the left is kinda idyllic countryside with sunshine and a viaduct but the river running out of it disappears into a mass of cooling towers, high rise and low rise housing projects and a benefits office. The other river running out of both backgrounds is a road - and it's that our figures have chosen to dance out of the wasteland on.'
'The artwork is the same as the music on the album - it juxtaposes all these ideas … and the bottom line is weighty lyrics but played over pop music. Both the artwork and the music came from the same place. Expanding the Levellers 'world'.'
'Fifteen Years (Outtake)' is out now as part of the announcement of the 35th anniversary edition album formats.
Tracklist
LEVELLERS - LEVELLING THE LAND: 3CD
CD1: LEVELLING THE LAND - REMIX BY AL SCOTT
1. One Way
2. The Game
3. Fifteen Years
4. The Boatman
5. Liberty Song
6. Far From Home
7. Sell Out
8. Another Man's Cause
9. The Road
10. The Riverflow
11. Battle of the Beanfield
CD2: BONUS TRACKS
B-SIDES
1. Dance Before The Storm
2. Hard Fight
3. The Devil Went Down To Georgia
4. Last Days Of Winter
5. Plastic Jeezus
OUTTAKES
6. Liberty Song
7. The Road
8. Far From Home v1
9. Boatman Jig v1
10. Plastic Jeezus
11. Fifteen Years
12. Another Man's Cause
13. Far From Home
14. One Way (Dance Mix)
CD3: LEVELLING THE LAND DEMOS
1. One Way (Demo)
2. The Game (Demo)
3. The Boatman (Demo)
4. Liberty Song (Demo)
5. Far From Home (Demo)
6. Sell Out (Demo)
7. Another Man's Cause (Demo)
8. The Road (Demo)
9. The Riverflow (Demo)
10. Battle Of The Beanfield (Demo)
11. The Devil Went Down To Georgia (Demo)
12. Last Days Of Winter (Demo)
LEVELLERS, LEVELLING THE LAND - REMIX BY AL SCOTT: 1LP
SIDE ONE
1. One Way
2. The Game
3. Fifteen Years
4. The Boatman
5. Liberty Song
6. Far From Home
SIDE TWO
1. Sell Out
2. Another Man's Cause
3. The Road
4. The Riverflow
5. Battle of the Beanfield
Levellers are celebrating the 35th anniversary of LEVELLING THE LAND by hitting the road. The tour starts with the band performing at Beautiful Days, the festival they founded 23 years ago, with a show in Salisbury before performing a huge open-air headline show in their hometown of Brighton on September 5th. Further dates run through October and November.
Levelling The Land 35th Anniversary Tour dates:
21- 23 Aug – Beautiful Days Festival SOLD OUT
04 Sep - Salisbury City Hall SOLD OUT
05 Sep - Brighton Hove Park FINAL TICKETS
16 Oct - Koln Live Music Hall [DE]
17 Oct - Maastricht Muziekgieterij [NL] SOLD OUT
18 Oct - Leuven Depot [BE] SOLD OUT
20 Oct - Holmfirth Picturedrome SOLD OUT
21 Oct - Holmfirth Picturedrome SOLD OUT
22 Oct - Belfast Mandela Hall
23 Oct - Dublin Vicar Street
24 Oct - Glasgow Barrowland SOLD OUT
29 Oct - York Barbican SOLD OUT
30 Oct - Llandudno Venue Cymru SOLD OUT
31 Oct - Blackpool Empress Ballroom
19 Nov - Nottingham Rock City SOLD OUT
20 Nov - Bristol Prospect Building SOLD OUT
21 Nov - London Hammersmith Eventim Apollo SOLD OUT
