Customer Reviews

Truth & Lies

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sure, they're a bit more mature, and that youthful angst they so beautifully put forth in their beginning albums has faded, but that angst can truly only belong to the young anyway. "Truth and Lies" still has the edginess and the depth of their previous albums.

The funny thing about this band is how well they age. The albums that disappointed me (Levellers, Zeitgeist and Hello Pig) are now played as much as any of the albums I loved immediately.

This one I loved immediately. It's melodic, interesting, and flows quite nicely. The violin hook in the first song is quite catchy and the song "For Us All" sticks in the head hours after you've heard it.

Overall, great album, and if you enjoyed "Green Blade Rising" you will enjoy this one.

I've been a fan of the Levellers for years. The songs on this album are great, but it seems to be mastered so 'hot' (i.e. no dynamic range) that it is literally constantly distorted (i.e. digital clipping everywhere). Not only that, but it almost sounds like there's some kind of strange effect applied to it throughout (chorus or flanger or something like that). - it gives the impression of listening underwater! It is quite a shame. I really think they should remaster this album and release it again - the sound quality is really that poor, in my opinion.

It's really strange because past albums have been much better for sound quality than this in my opinion. Try listening to this CD, followed immediately by Zeitgest - you'll notice you have to turn up the volume a lot when the latter comes on (because it is mastered much less 'hot'), and it sounds a lot better overall.

I probably listened to this album over 50 times already. Each song is great and stands on their own. "Make you Happy" is their first single and I can see why. The track is very catchy and it will you have you singing along in no time. The Levellers still have political lyrics in their music, and i'm all for that.

In some songs, the production seems to be overproduced because it just sounds too distorted. Definitely takes a few listens to get used to. Other notable tracks: Last Man Alive, For Us All, Wheels, Said and Done and The Damned. The one album that I think Truth & Lies sounds like is Hello Pig, because it was done by the same producer. I believe this album is ten times better than Hello Pig though. This could be one of my favorite Levs album to date!

For the unacquainted, the Levs are ace. They are a folkish punkish indie band that had very deserved top 10 singles and albums in the UK in the 1990's. Their sound is distinctive..think Clash with an electric fiddle, yet also diverse. How many English folk bands have a didgeree do player accompany them on some of their works, or can get away with a Kazoo without sounding too silly? They rap, they scream, and produce melodic folksy ballads. They cover The Clash, Grateful dead, and English folk songs as well as being excellent songwriters. They are every bit as political as the Clash, so if you find folksy left wing social commentary unpalatable then I must sadly warn you to stear clear.

It is their live shows that stand out above any of their studio recorded material. They are pretty much the best, most fun, live band ever. If they are playing within 500 miles of your house my advice is go see them.

In my opinion "Truth and Lies" is the fifth best levellers album. Hint: I think that they are all quite good. My order of preference goes: 1. Levelling the land (A must have album for everyone on the planet- Get this album before dabbling further!), 2. Weapon called the word, 3. Mouth to mouth 4 The Levellers,5. Truth and Lies, 6. Hello pig, 7. Green blade rising.
This ranking is purely a reflection of my preference for the, youthful, defiantly hope filled punkish energy of their earlier works. The Levs have hit middle age, and while they are every bit as energetic live as they have ever been, and they hopefully have not morphed into Paul Weller, they have matured. Gone are the days when they were going to change the world. Now they just appear to be hoping for the best. As they provide commentary of these times of corporate control, war, and environmental destruction, and, how we are all interconnected, and implicated in it. These are songs for dark times. The album has but one happy pop song "Make you happy". The best songs are "Steel knife" and " Last man alive". Steel knife is presumably about the British hostage that was killed in Iraq last year after efforts by his family amongst others to distance themselves from Tony Bliars involvement in the occupation. The Apocalyptic "Last man alive" is musically anthemnic, but lyrically desperate. It tries to indicate that the human race can still reverse global environmental destruction with the lyrics " As the ice around you starts to melt don't panic, I'm holding your life belt" but indicates that may be we are already to far down the line "You were never meant to be when you first put out to sea".

With this album the Levellers continue to tell it like it is, and while the subject matter is largely dark I still expect a fun filled performance when I next see them live.

Back in the mid 90's I had subscribed to the British NME and the former Melody Maker. Every December I was curious to know the 50 best albums of the year each of those two magazines had elected. At that time I was hasty and reckless to think that any of those 50 best was worth buying and listening. I learned a lot from my own mistakes. In 1995 I blindly bought about 15 of those 50 best based on the reviews presented by those two magazines. Only two or three remain with me. The others were unmercifully swapped. One that I still keep is 'Zeitgeist', a good album that reached # 1 in the UK chart in August '95 and that I would listen to in the car every time I had to make a long trip. Today I skip at least 5 out of the 13 tracks of that album. More recently, browsing through Amazon vast stock of albums and listening to track samples, I remembered the Levellers and decided to check what was available from them. To my surprise, they have 10 original albums, and three of them produced and released before 'Zeitgeist'. And there I went again, patiently listening to the 30 seconds of each track of all albums available. And my time-consuming research was rewarded with this classic called 'Truth & Lies'. God, blessed be thy talent for paving the way of thy children towards a treasure like this. I agree with most reviewers here that the Levellers are a raggle-taggle, fiddle-driven folkish punkish indie band. One of the Amazon editorials gives us a hint of how the Levellers sound like: "Imagine a punk-rock Waterboys doing a better job of balancing their rock and acoustic incarnations". Well, I would not come up with the Levellers with this kind of imagination. The Levellers are much more than that one-hit (album) wonder called Waterboys. Well, imagine The Hollies had not produced a dozen of very bad albums and had focused on their 12 best songs from the 60's and improved from there! That's what the Levellers sound like. Just add some inspirational moments of Gerry and The Pacemakers. Or think about a little spicing by a more talented Big Country with their first album or The Bee Gees' Idea before they went disco. There's no need to comment track by track. They speak and sound by themselves. But I've got something to say. This is an album that wakes me up in the morning, makes me feel alive and kicking, makes me happy, makes me feel like confessing to you all how much I miss my best friend, my dad, makes me feel like taking a ride around the world for him, makes me strong like a steel knife like him, makes me get my feet back to the ground like a train on its wheels like him, makes me wonder what is left to be said and done after he has gone, gone but not damned or doomed or dead, but just sleeping and tonight when this album is over I will sleep with him on my mind. My dad was the truth and the rest were lies.

Alceu Natali (dedicated to my father, Armando Natali)

THE RECORDING OF THIS PRODUCTION WAS POORLY DONE, AND RUINS ANY CHANCE OF THIS BEING A GOOD ALBUM. I THINK THAT THE SONGS WERE MIXED AND PRODUCED IN A GARAGE. IT'S A SHAME, BECAUSE THE SONGS ARE VERY GOOD, SPECIALLY, "LAST MAN ALIVE" THIS IS THE BEST ALBUM SINCE "LEVELLING THE LAND"