Rewind: Levellers - Bozos

This rather unusual techno-punk single by the Levellers was released 20 years ago this week in October 1998. 'Bozos' was recorded for the Brighton folk-rock outfit's best of compilation One Way Of Life, and reached number 44 in the UK singles chart.

After scoring a number of big selling albums and hit singles in the 90s, as well as becoming legends on the festival circuit, the Levellers had released their Mouth To Mouth LP the previous year in 1997. The album went to number 5 in the UK charts and spawned another three Top 40 singles, with 'Too Real' reaching number 46. However, the group's mainstream success had peaked, and by 1998 they found themselves at a crossroads. A press release detailing the 2014 Levellers movie 'A Curious Life' refers to the band disappearing "in a train wreck of drink, drugs and creative drought" at this point, yet to the outside world things seemed to be so positive at the time.

But maybe this explains why the band were relatively quiet during 1998 and 1999. China Records wanted them to release a Best Of album in order to keep the momentum going, so they grudgingly agreed. Two new songs were recorded for the package, one of them being the superb 'Shadow On The Sun', another darkly infectious folk-rock treasure that bizarrely never got a release as a single. They also opted to cover an obscure 1988 track by Flik Spatula, another band who were signed to Hag! Records around the same period. Adapted from the original 'We're All Bozos On This Bus', I can recall seeing adverts in the music press for the single, and bought it from HMV in Bath without even hearing the song once in advance due a complete lack of radio support. A hectic blast of punk rock peppered with drum n bass beats, the band's new change in direction didn't please hardcore fans, and 'Bozos' went unheard by the mainstream pubic. Although I love it, it does stick out like a sore thumb on the Greatest Hits.


Read an interview with frontman Mark Chadwick from a few years ago HERE, where he remembers the history of the group. Chadwick is currently playing a number of acoustic solo shows in the UK, including a date in Trowbridge this Friday (October 19).


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