WEAPON CALLED THE WORD;
First album was Weapon Called The Word which spawned classics such as "Carry Me", "Together All The Way" and "England My Home"..
LEVELLING THE LAND;
I've been a big fan since 1991 and the Levelling The Land album. This was the album which grabbed me and never let go. My favourite Levellers track is on here - The Boatman. Other greats include "15 Years", "The Game", "Another Mans Cause" - just the whole album basically!
This album also included the anthem "One Way", which has been a Live favourite for years. "There's only one way of life, and that's your own" - never a truer lyric ever written.
LEVELLERS;
If you wanted lyrics that actually meant something, this was another album to buy. "100 years of Solitude", "Dirty Davey" and "The Likes Of You & I" stood out, but the whole album was again very impressive.
ZIETGEIST;
Zietgeist was superb. The singles "Hope Street" and "Fantasy" came from it but my favourites were "Saturday To Sunday", "Maid Of The River", "Forgotten Ground" and "PC Keen".. Yet another immensely strong album, lyrically and musically.
HEADLINES - LIVE;
The Levs released a live album from the 95/96 tour (which included a date at the Villa Leisure Centre - I reckon it's about time there was a another one. This one has all the "old" favourites on - "One Way", "The Boatman", "Liberty", "The Road" and "The Riverflow" etc...
MOUTH TO MOUTH;
Mouth to Mouth wasn't liked by some but I thought it was fine. "What A Beautiful Day" grabbed the public's attention but some top tracks included "Survivors", "Far Away" and the heart-tugging "Elation". It was at this point I had my first taste of the Levs live at Wolverhampton - and what a night it was.
HELLO PIG;
Just to prove I'm not completely One-eyed, THIS was my least favourite of all the Levs albums, and I'd waited THREE years for it too. The "real" Levellers got lost somewhere on here - some tracks stood out - "61 Minutes Of Pleading", "Sold England" and "Edge Of The World" reminded me of past greats - but the album lacked, and Mark didn't need to mess about with voice machines when he has a voice like he has.
GREEN BLADE RISING;
The latest album is Green Blade Rising, and for me, a return to a more "traditional" Levellers sound. The album is excellent - in my personal opinion, only "Not What We Wanted" is a bit of a let down - the rest is excellent. "Pretty Target", "Falling From The Tree", "Wild As Angels" and "Believers" are my picks of the album.
Seen them live twice now- they have such power that they can get people really involved in a gig - even when some of those people didn't really know much about them in the first place.
Levellers: Truth & Lies Album Review
So, the mighty Levellers are back with another studio offering and it's the best stuff they've come out with for a while. The Album cover depicts Uncle Sam covered in sh*t with blood dripping from his fingers.
They're not evolving into any new musical directions and certainly not appealing to any new fans (No.38 for the single said it all) but this album shows there is plenty of life in the old dogs yet. "Green Blade Rising" was the last album and was good - but this is definitely better.
"Last Man Alive" is a brilliant guitar driven start and the closest thing I've heard to "Fifteen Years". The single "Make You Happy" does just that and "Confess" carries on the standard with a catchy chorus and lyrics that suggest they boys maybe tired but they would do it all again.
"For Us All" will be a favourite on the live scene and "Knot Around The World" keeps the pace up with a topical current war politics theme. "Wheels" is another great track on the album and "Who's The Daddy" reminds us all that we have little control over what goes on in our lives.
Small negatives are that Simon doesn't sing on his own on the album (which is actually a big minus) and the record does tend to drift for the last couple of tracks in my opinion.
Overall it's a very, very good return for the Brighton boys and should keep the live audiences well entertained over the coming months.
GIG WATCH;
CHELTENHAM TOWN HALL - MARCH 4th.
Although I'd seen the Levs in Wolverhampton in 1997, this was the first time I'd got to see my favourite band play in my home-town.
Support acts were very good - Kovak (not sure of the spelling there) were quite Travis like and the lead singer did a decent impression of Matt Bellamy (Muse) during one track.
Next up - lone man and guitar (Nick Harper I think his name was) - boy could he play and wail! Managed to change a guitar string during one track - very impressive.
IT'S 9.20pm....
Fantastic, absolutely bloody fantastic. I didn't really expect anything else from The Levellers, but they proved that they still give a live show that few can rival.
The old songs were without doubt received best by the home crowd - "One Way", "The Game", "Carry Me", "Liberty", "The Riverflow" etc. Slightly embarrassing when most people thought "Dirty Davey" had finished when there was still one of the most moving lines in music still to follow.
The Levs gave the latest album , Green Blade Rising a good airing too, opening with "Come On" and then blasting out "Pretty Target", "Four Winds" and "Aspects Of Spirit". The band looked as if they were enjoying it as much as the crowd were.
Didn't get to hear my personal favourite "The Boatman", but that was a very minor point. "Another Mans Cause" seemed very apt with War just around the corner.
Surprised at the mix of people there - if some of those who went were going just to check out the Levs they would have left as confirmed fans - they are just THAT good. I left with very sore legs (to go with the Knee/Thigh injuries!) but I didn't care, it was well worth it.
Simply brilliant. Best £15 I could have spent (+drinks!). Don't leave it so long before coming back again guys!
They didn't leave it too long....
GIG WATCH II:
Cheltenham Town Hall - April 5th
First up was a four-piece called The Mutts who could obviously play but got pretty boring after four or five tracks. Didn't have a clue what the lead singer was going on about.
Next in line were the Stateside Hombres - nine band members on stage here playing ska/reggae stuff and it was pretty good. One of the guys was linked with our former local heroes EMF (you remember them? - You're Unbelieveable!) The third track sounded very Bad Manners and certainly got the crowd interested and grooving - this was a bit more like it - I quite liked it.
The Levellers hit the stage just after 9.30pm and rattled through seven tracks from the "Levelling The Land" album which was most definitely the best received by the crowd.
Most of the studio albums were represented by something, a few different songs had an airing and the mix was pretty good. Simon sang song solo "When Love Runs Out Of Time" but "Dirty Davey" and "One Way" were the pick of the night as the guys were on top form yet again. The old tracks are always the best in my opinion!
The crowd seemed less in number than last year, although it was apparantly a sell-out. Some people there made me wonder why they bother going at all - one bloke near us never moved or clapped the entire night, even during all the upbeat happy tunes, the miserable tosser.
The night finished with "Wake The World" which, while a good track, is a strange one to finish on as it's so laid back and slow. The 2003 tour used that as its finishing song so I was surprised they kept it.
Overall they still produced a live show few will touch and £16 to make your ears ring like hell for 24 hours seems an absolute bargain
Mad Caddies, The Irish Club, Birmingham 2004.
When we visited L.A. last year, Roger played us a tape in his car of a band called the Mad Caddies covering Abba's track "S.O.S". Roger also said not to miss them if you get a chance to see them live, so me and Hatemanu took that opportunity on Friday night. It was well worth every penny.
Second support band Belvedere were OK but very samey and it got quite boring near the end so the crowd were well up for the Caddies at 9.20pm.
They played a mix of all sorts of stuff including their well known tracks such as "10 West", "Drinking For 11" and "Weird Beard". They covered the Abba track and also a short version of R.E.M's "Everybody Hurts". Anyway, after a very sweaty hour and twenty minutes they finished with the fantastic "All American Badass" which just about finished everyone off for the evening. They were brilliant and everyone loved it.
The evenings fun wasn't over yet as we dashed back to New Street Station just in time to see our 11.04pm train moving off the track one minute early. We'd missed our train home! It was looking like we'd be stranded in Brum for the evening but Hatemanu's Dad and friend Marilyn (who drove) came to get us at 1.30am - something which we were very, very grateful for. We owe them one for that.
We met some very interesting people on the night, the helpful lady at the Bus Station, the guy in the Iron Maiden t-shirt, the barmaid who didn't know what "Monkey Brains" were, the two guys at the Station offering "round the world" advice on where to sleep, and the guy with dreads who pushed me and Hatemanu over and then shook our hands! Thanks to whoever it was who helped me up by the way.
Mad Caddies: ALBUMS SO FAR
Duck And Cover
"Macho Nachos" is easily the finest track of the whole album, speedy punk with an unforgettable horn line which you will be singing to yourself for weeks. "Monkeys" is up next, complete with banjo and "Road Rash" and "The Joust" are my personal faves. A real mix of everything on here.
Quality Soft
"Goleta" will make you skank till you drop, that's for sure, but more importantly this album should put you into a good mood whenever it hits your CD player.
The Holiday Has Been Cancelled (EP)
Only 5 tracks on here, starts off with the excellent "Falling Down" and finishes with one of the best cover versions you'll here - Abba's "S.O.S".
Rock The Plank
Some classic stuff on here. "Mary Melody", "Days Away" and "Bridges" get the album off to the perfect start. Maybe less horns on here than normal but any album with "All American Badass" on it cannot be criticised at all. It just has to be one of my favourite tracks ever!
Just One More
The latest studio offering has everything the Mad Caddies can musically offer. "Drinking For 11" starts it off slowly and accoustically but "Contraband" changes the tone completely going into all out thrashing guitars. "Villains" is another highlight, along with "10 West" and "Wet Dog". Song of the album for me though is "Leavin".
Live In The Key Of Eh
Unless you've seen them live then you may not appreciate this as the album doesn't capture the "live" experience enough for me. This was pretty much the set list we saw on that night in Brum - a mixture of everything they've ever done.
The Toronto crowd seem pretty quiet during a lot of this but I'm sure they were jumping away getting extremely sweaty - as you do! All the old favourites are on here and it all ends with "All American Badass" - the only way possible.
But Why Are They So Unknown?
If it hadn't have been for meeting up with Rog in L.A. , I would probably still be blissfully unaware of the Mad Caddies today. Fortunately just 14 months and one gig later I'm a big fan - but talk to many in this country about the Caddies and you just get a blank look.
Getting hold of the live album "Live In The Key Of Eh" was difficult which obviously wouldn't attract too many fans. Amazon sub contracted it and it was imported in as no shops were interested in stocking it here.
Why though? These blokes play music and have a great time doing it but there's no compromise in the quailty. I love the guitar and horn mix - always have, and the drumming, bass guitar and vocals are excellent too.
If you want punk it's here. If you want Ska it's here. If you want Reggae, we'll it's here too and if you just wanna skank away silly then look no further. Probably the only band of it's type hyped in my own special way - on our hold music CD at work.
Fortunately I'm in charge of burning CD compilations for our hold music but I have to be a bit careful what I put on there. We listen to it all day but the customers also get to hear it while they wait so "All American Badass" and "Bridges" are off the menu - brilliant tracks though they are!
"Drinking For 11" is there though, as is "S.O.S" the Abba Cover, "Spare Change" and "Just One More" also features. I feel we have the best hold music in the country!
Hatemanu came with me to the gig but had been converted anyway, so go on, give em a try, you know you want to!
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