Leftfield Leftism

Leftfield Leftism

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Leftfield were part of a select group of early ’90s dance acts, along with Underworld, Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy and Orbital, who showed that dance music could compete with their guitar-obsessed contemporaries, not least when it came to live performance. Ditching the previously acceptable PA route, Leftfield soon became known for their punishing live performances, accomplished drummer Neil Barnes driving the set from behind a drum kit, where the incredible volume rivalled anything a rock band could muster. At one gig they unseated some of Brixton Academy’s plasterwork, earning them, or rather their sound system, a ban from the venue. Clues to Leftfield’s potential had been dropping since the beginning of the ’90s with releases ‘Release The Pressure’, ‘Song Of Life’ and ‘Open Up’ all enjoying critical and chart success. Each of the tracks appear on ‘Leftism’, giving fans a solid roadmap when first sitting down to tune into the album as a whole. Although the practise of including singles on the subsequent album comes in for some criticism, they sit perfectly here and hint at a long term plan for the album. One concession to ‘proper’ album status is the role call of guest vocalists, supplying proceedings a diverse character. Remember that this is from an act whose music press coverage of the time usually mentioned ‘faceless techno’ in there somewhere. As well as friends and peers Earl Sixteen, on album opener ‘Release The Pressure’, Lemn Sissay, on ‘21st Century Poem’, and Danny Red on ‘Inspection (Check One)’, star quality was provided by Toni Halliday of electro goths Curve (ask yer dad) and, of course, John Lydon on ‘Open Up’. Of course, to the uninitiated the most notable guest appearance on ‘Leftism’ is Lydon’s - formerly Johnny Rotten of The Sex Pistols, latterly Country Life butter salesman, and avowed dance music hater. That was until Leftfield were revealed to be the chink in his armour, wherein the duo met the punk legend and, thankfully, got on famously, bringing Lydon up to speed on quality dance music and initiating sessions for the “Burn Hollywood burn” rant of ‘Open Up’ (which amusingly reached number thirteen on the UK Singles chart just as Hollywood suffered extensive bush fires). Expertly showcasing the duo’s oeuvre, laughably termed ‘progressive house’ at the time, it opened with the dub influenced ‘Release The Pressure’ and tribal house of ‘Afro-Left’ before taking things down a notch with the sublime chill out classics ‘Melt’ and the first half of ‘Song Of Life’. Things move up a gear through ‘Song Of Life’, taking in Toni Halliday’s sultry appearance on ‘Original’, into the solid middle section’s beat-heavy selections, ‘Black Flute’ and ‘Space Shanty’. Setting up the second half of the album, ‘Inspection (Check One)’ moves once again into dubbier territory, ‘Storm 3000’ keeps it bass heavy, adding some jungle rhythms before Lydon lets loose on the visceral, furious ‘Open Up’. Closing out with the dark, reflective ‘21st Century Poem’, it’s an expertly paced album, clearly understanding the dynamics of the album form, though the pair claim scant attention was paid to such notions.