Hello Pig

In their prime, a decade or so ago, the Levellers made for an awesome live prospect – all flailing fiddles, flying dreadlocks and impassioned agit-prop lyrics.

There were few anti-establishment causes the Brighton-based collective didn't support and they provided the soundtrack to all the major eco-battles of the era. This is the band, remember, who once planted trees all around the UK to counteract the pollution caused by their tour bus! (Some cynics had a better idea i.e. don't tour!).

Hello Pig (which they resolutely deny is a reference to the Police) is their first album since taking a sabbatical following the release of their 'Best Of' a couple of years back. Soundwise, not much has changed in the interim apart from a tendency to succumb to studio trickery to enhance their trademark raggle-taggle approach.

'Happy Birthday Revolution', the current single (inspired by a meeting with Che Guevara's daughter), is a clever Beatles pastiche, heavily borrowing from the two White Album songs that make up its title. As such, it's uncannily accurate, down to the John Lennonesque vocal, but ultimately pointless, like most of this album.

Worst offender is the bafflingly titled 'The Weed That Killed Elvis', a claustrophobic cacophony of a beast that defies repeated listening. More mainstream and accessible tracks like 'The Edge Of The World' and 'Voices On The Wind' find them back in the Waterboys’ "big music" territory which they appropriated so skilfully, while 'Do It Again Tomorrow' mimics early Pink Floyd.

The rest of this, particularly 'Old England', 'Red Sun Burns' and 'Modern Day Tragedy' is dull, predictable polemic wrapped in fiddles and epic posturing.

For the Levellers it seems, life is a constant battle, bless their crusty hearts. Listening to this is a struggle few will find worthwhile.