ARTiST: Levellers
TiTLE: Zeitgeist
LABEL: Rhino / Warner
GENRE: Rock
TiME: 62:10 min
SiZE: 86,9 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Jul-13-2007
RELEASE DATE: Jul-16-2007
WEBSiTE: n/a
Track List:
01. Hope Street 04:15
02. The Fear 03:22
03. Exodus 04:21
04. Maid Of The River 03:50
05. Saturday To Sunday 03:14
06. 4 AM 03:44
07. Forgotten Ground 04:22
08. Fantasy 03:19
09. P.C. Kean 03:54
10. Just The One 01:42
11. Haven't Made It 03:00
12. Leave This Town 03:08
13. Men-An-Tol 04:35
14. Miles Away 02:32
15. Your 'ouse 04:26
16. Drinking For England 03:45
17. Searchlights 04:41
Release Notes:
Seven years on, fourth album in, and the Levellers
sound like...the Levellers, which is no better or
worse a fate than most groups have in store for them
if whatever formula was established can work. It has
to be said, though, that the weird sonic connection
to the Mission UK from earlier releases reappears at
points -- the opening electric crunch then acoustic
swirl of "Hope St." in particular sounds like
something Wayne Hussey would have cooked up on
Carved in Sand. That said, in the end the Levellers'
particular sonic stew really is its own more and
more, Chadwick's high, sometimes strained vocals,
the reworking of various strands of folk styles, the
anthemic pump-your-fist heft of so many of the
songs. Al Scott, having done a solid job producing
Levelling the Land, does the honors again here --
for all the reputation for raggle-taggle, the
Levellers themselves certainly value full-bodied
arrangements and results. Friend once again gets a
particular chance to shine with some of his smashing
rhythm leads and soloing; he may never get the
write-ups in guitar magazines, but there's little
doubt that his performances on songs like the
crashing "4.am" and "Fantasy" are strong stuff. This
time around, the dancebeats suggest a little less of
Madchester's long-dead approach and more of, say,
the Afro-Celt Sound System, but they're still there,
cropping up from time to time but generally giving
way for a straight-up rock drive at most points.
Fellow aesthetic spirit Rev. Hammer gets a nod with
a cover of his "Maid of the River," but otherwise
it's the Levellers doing their own thing. As a
result, the album's as good a starting point as
anything they've released, because whatever one's
reaction to Zeitgeist is determined by what one
thinks of all the other albums.