Levellers release brand new single ‘Alive’ – long-lost track available for first time

LEVELLERS 1995 – photo credit Martyn Goodacre

REMIXED ALBUM RELEASED NOV 7TH
PRE-ORDER HERE NOW

TOURING UK IN NOVEMBER 2025
https://www.levellers.co.uk/

Acclaimed British band the Levellers have released their brand new single ‘Alive’. A dramatic and vibrant track, demonstrating the rockier side of the band full of chiming guitars and eastern-influenced riffs and rhythms, reminiscent of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’ in parts, accompanied by an upbeat lyric of positivity, it was first recorded as part of the sessions for their number one album Zeitgeist, 30 years ago, but got replaced at the last minute and has been hidden in the vaults ever since.

Jon Sevink, the band’s violinist, reveals, “Every album has a story attached to it, a road leading from start to finish. The track listing doesn’t always give the full picture. On the Zeitgeist journey, ‘Alive’ was one of the first songs to be demoed. It remained as a potential album track right through the recording process until the mixing stage when another song ‘Just The One’ appeared as a late runner and was deemed more in line musically with the rest of the album tracks. ‘Alive’ was relegated to an also-ran and languished in the vaults until its potential was realised by a judicious edit and voila, a new lease of life. It’s a banger!!”

The video for ‘Alive’ captures the band recording in their – then – newly purchased Metway studio… which the band still rehearse and record in to this day, alongside on-the-road footage in Prague three decades ago. Watch the video HERE

In 1995 the aptly titled Zeitgeist solidified Levellers at the forefront of British music. Following their record-breaking headline performance at Glastonbury Festival the year before, Zeitgeist soared to the top of the charts with its release in August, batting off competition from Blur and The Charlatans, and becoming the sound of that summer alongside the likes of Supergrass, Oasis and Pulp.

Now for 2025, in the 30^th year of Zeitgeist, the album has been gloriously remixed by Al Scott, the original producer who first sat down with Levellers at their self-sufficient Metway studio in Brighton to make the album, an iconic establishment which is still running to this day. The album will also be available with brand new Atmos mixes, giving a whole new audio experience for fans of the original recording.

Jon Sevink continues, “’Zeitgeist’ was written in 1995 in an empty industrial building in Brighton, the band’s new home. Paid for, amazingly with an album advance from indie label China records and recorded largely using second-hand equipment including an old analogue tape machine there was pressure to succeed. With ‘Levelling The Land’ producer Al Scott back at the helm, the feel might have been DIY but we, as a band, had a point to prove and confidence was high.

So here we are, 30 years later talking about the reissue of our number 1 album. The analogue tape days may be over but the memories are still there in the digital recordings and a subtly different appreciation of the material with the passing of time.

Working with Al Scott on the mixes has been a real joy. He understands that once released, the music becomes part of the consciousness of music fans and any dealings with the past need to be treated carefully and with respect. The aim is not to reinvent but enhance and having been involved with the 1995 production he has brought a clarity to the new versions without losing the feel of the originals.

The ATMOS mixes sound like the songs when we were playing them live in our own Metway Studio in Brighton, the closest you’ll get to being in the band. The space between the instruments and voices gives an amazing experience that you don’t get in stereo.”

Featuring some of the band’s biggest hits in ‘Hope St’ and ‘Fantasy’, along with fan favourites ‘The Fear’, ‘Exodus’ and ‘Men-An-Tol’, the 2LP set includes a second remixed disc containing the single mix of ‘Just The One’ (with Joe Strummer on piano) along with B sides and rarities from the Zeitgeist sessions. The deluxe 3CD set includes an extra ‘Outtakes’ album.

Levellers completely rewrote the rulebook on their own terms, proving themselves heroes of the scene for free thinkers, drop-outs, vagabonds, vagrants and dreamers. Zeitgeist, like its title, caught its moment in time and yet still sounds timeless. Perhaps because the Levellers have always operated outside the flimsy constructs of fashion, perhaps because they have always worn their heart on their sleeves, and perhaps because their songs resound through the decades – or perhaps because they are wrapped up in a very English idealism – they have always defied gravity.

Like all the great bands they sound like the eternal music that comes from the soil of their surroundings. Their music is the true folk that shimmers throughout the centuries and the music from the soil of this land.

Zeitgeist is a perfect snapshot of a distant time where the future dream was not tainted by the current psychodrama. It has a poignancy, a commentary, a melancholy, a joy, a wisdom and a madness.

NOVEMBER 2025 UK TOUR DATES
Wed 12 – Southampton, Guildhall
Thu 13 – Wolverhampton, KK’s Steel Mill
Fri 14 – London, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
Sat 15 – Derby, Vaillant Live
Sun 16 – Manchester, Academy