The Levellers - Mouth to Mouth (China Records) Interesting name, Levellers. The original Levellers were a radical bunch of Oliver Cromwell supporters during the English Civil War of the 17th century. As their politics was republican, one account has it that their name implied all men should be equal.
This is hardly fitting for the band, though, whose raucous folk-punk has elevated them way above the average for the past nine years.
Commercially, though, they retain some equality, since they are hardly in the elite 10-million-album-selling class.
The reasons for that cannot be artistic, since the Levellers' engaging brand of rustic rock deserves a wide embrace. They are the Waterboys in Doc Martens, packing a punch behind a hypnotic violin sound.
Their fast-paced, folky twang gives their approach an urgent dimension, and, where the fiddling starts to wear thin, there's a blast of heavy guitar to gather up the standard. Far Away and CCTV benefit from additional muscle.
That is largely brisk, and uplifting for it, with just an occasional, slower number taking the record down a blind alley.
