Leftism (album)
| Leftism | ||||
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| Studio album by Leftfield | ||||
| Released | 30 January 1995 | |||
| Recorded | Rollover Studios, London | |||
| Genre | House | |||
| Length | 69:37 | |||
| Label | Hard Hands, Columbia | |||
| Producer | Leftfield | |||
| Leftfield chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | |
| NME | 9/10 |
| Q |  |
| Select | 5/5 |
| Slant Magazine |  |
Leftism is the first studio album by electronica musicians Paul Daley and Neil Barnes under the name Leftfield. The album was released in 1995 on Columbia Records. Leftism consisted mostly of reworked versions of previous singles by Leftfield and new original pieces. The album contains guest spots from musicians not associated with dance music at the time such as John Lydon from Public Image Ltd. (and formerly of Sex Pistols) and Toni Halliday from Curve. The album was described as progressive house, although some journalists found that label too limiting, suggesting the album incorporated many genres. After completing the album, the duo in Leftfield initially were not happy with it.
On its release, the album was well received from the British press with positive reviews from the NME and Q. The album was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 1995 but lost to Portishead. Leftism sold well and was released months later in the United States. Critics have praised the album as one of the major album-length works of dance music, with Q referring to it as "the first truly complete album experience to be created by house musicians and the first quintessentially British one".
Leftism is an album that consists of singles recorded previously by Leftfield members Paul Daley and Neil Barnes between 1992 and 1995, with the exception of the single "Not Forgotten" which is not included, and other new tracks. These earlier singles included "Release The Pressure", "Song of Life", and "Open Up". Some of these singles were remade and changed drastically from their original versions for Leftism. Barnes stated that "rethinking and re-recording a few of our older tracks put us on the right road."
Barnes chose the guest vocalists who were not associated with dance music, as he "love[s] taking people with nothing to do with dance music, like Toni, or Danny Red, and putting them in a different environment, It's getting back to the original ethic of remixing, taking anything and turning it into dance music." Barnes was a fan of the group Curve, and had Toni Halliday from Curve to come in and work on the song "Original". "Open Up" features John Lydon on vocals. Neil Barnes stated he had known Lydon since he was 19 years old through a mutual friend. Leftfield wanted to do a track with Lydon for about two years but were held up as "it took all that time to get him to commit to doing it and to get the track good enough." Two reggae vocalists are featured on the album, including Danny Red on "Inspection" and Earl Sixteen on "Release the Pressure".Lemn Sissay guests on "21st Century Poem".
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