Leftfield on Leftism's greatest influences
As Leftfield's seminal debut turns 22 this year, we speak to its creators Neil Barnes and Paul Daley to find out which albums influenced and helped shape Leftism
Yello – Solid Pleasure
[Ralph Records, 1980]
I loved this album when it first came out and I got into it again in the early nineties. The track Blue Green was a Café del Mar sunset favourite, where I spent a lot of my summers at that time. Hypnotic, a real leveller, and timeless in its effect. A lot of stuff I was hearing out there I brought back to London, and the studio – [it] was definitely a big influence on Leftism. [Paul Daley]
Hugh Mundell – Africa Must Be Free By 1983
[Greensleeves Records, 1978]
Recorded at the Joe Gibbs studio and also Lee Scratch Perry's Black Ark studio. This album more than any helped me develop the idea of working with reggae artists. I had originally thought of the idea on Not Forgotten but developed it further with working with Earl Sixteen on Release the Pressure.
This album has the delicate beautiful soulful vocal of a sixteen-year-old Hugh Mundell mashed up and thrown against [the] cutting edge production of Joe Gibbs, Scratch Perry and Augustus Pablo. Stand-out track Why Do Black Men Fuss and Fight [features] minimal vocals leading into this big fighting dub. A sad prophetic track considering that Hugh Mundell himself was murdered not long after its release. A massive influence on the vibe of Release the Pressure. It showed me just how you could put a song [in] a tough minimal vibe and take it on a journey. [Neil Barnes]
Joe Gibbs & The Professionals – African Dub - All Mighty - Chapter 4
[Joe Gibbs Music, 1979]
Lovely dub effects and production, I only had this on cassette at the time but managed later to pick up the vinyl. It was a regular play in my car on the way to the studio. Also King Tubby, Prince Jammy [and] a lot of the Jamaican producers of the seventies and eighties were the only people to use all of the space on the speakers. Dub and reggae had been around in my life from punk gigs of the mid seventies, and listening to the John Peel late night shows of the late seventies – it had a big influence on a lot of the feel of Leftism. In the eighties I got to listen [to] and explore Jamaican music more and this was also a big influence on the production of Leftism. [PD]
John Carpenter – Assault on Precinct 13
[Record Makers, 1976]
Leftism was very influenced by both film music and the whole idea of the self-made, self-taught musician, both of which this album sums up. Not only that, but it really influenced all the string lines and melodies that were in my head, particularly on Song of Life and Space Shanty. It's a really simple and raw record with haunting strings played on a Prophet-5 (analogue synth). The drums are just minimal and simple but the whole effect of the record is so powerful and frightening. It really made me realise that although I wasn't a keyboard player I could still write simple and effective chords to make new and fresh music. [NB]
Manu Dibango – Big Blow
[Derby, 1978]
True afrocentric funk – I still don’t know how they created some of the sounds on this record. I still love the sounds on the track Big Blow – this was a big tune for me in the early eighties warehouse / undeground London club scene and was dropped regularly at the Dirtbox, Wag Club, Le Beat Route, [and] Mudd Club and was a bank holiday favourite. Amazing vocals, horns synths, electronic drums but strictly Cameroonian funk – still deadly today. This was definitely a track that nudged us towards Afro Left. [PD]
Bulgarka Folk Trio – Bulgarka Folk Trio
[Балкантон, 1985]
Folk and world music was a massive influence on me, particularly this beautiful album by the Bulgarka Folk Trio from 1985. One of my many second-hand buys I picked up from working at Honest Jon's in London, it was a big influence on the whole of Leftism. I loved the idea of the juxtaposition of putting their vocal on tough beats. This idea had been in there since I wrote Not Forgotten, and carried on into tracks like Song of Life. I see it as the international folk language; John Lydon was part of this idea too. Some people thought this was all a bit odd, only Paul got it. When I played him the first demo of what became Open Up he really got it. [NB]
Ultravox – Systems of Romance
[Island, 1978]
Robin Simon’s robo-chop guitar sound on Quiet Men was one of my inspiration for the guitar sound on Open Up. Ultravox were a post-punk electronic alternative in their early days – their blend of electronics and rock were quite forward thinking, and their early albums have always stayed with me. This was the the last album with John Foxx as vocalist and was produced by Conny Plank who is also one of my heroes. [PD]
Ray Barretto – Acid
[Fania Records, 1968]
Truly the greatest conga player in my eyes and a big influence on us – this was a brilliant album. Made in the late 60s but radically ahead of its time, every track is a killer. We brought the percussion sound of this album and others like it into Leftism. You can hear its influence on Black Flute and Afro Left particularly, but really, the way we played all the keyboards was a bit like percussion instruments. I think we just liked hitting things! [NB]
Jam & Spoon – Tripomatic Fairytales 2001
[Epic/Sony Records, 1993]
To me these albums were the Teutonic balearic Dark Side of the Moon of the early nineties. Psychedelic ambient electronic masterpieces by Jam El Mar [and] the late Mark Spoon – the production of these albums is still stunning today and represented a sonic bar to try to reach in the studio. Genius, and again always a leveller and great for reference in the studio, and as a come-down album in the early nineties – superb and beautiful. [PD]
Renegade Soundwave – In Dub
[Mute, 1990]
An album which was never out of my box throughout the early nineties. You can't underestimate the influence they had on the dance scene at the time. Tracks like Women Respond To Bass and Thunder really showed us how much could be done. Not only that, but this was a stripped-down version of tracks remixed for the dance floor; sort of what we planned. They were also the first band I heard that used creative sampling by taking a riff from the Pistols. A powerful record that, though from a more indie direction, showed us that you could have songs on a record and also make instrumentals too. [NB]
Leftism is reissued on 5 May via Sony CG. Leftfield perform Leftism in full at Motion, Bristol, 11 May. O2 Brixton Academy, London, 12 & 13 May. Academy, Birmingham, 19 May. Apollo, Manchester, 20 May. Barrowland Ballroom, 26 & 27 May.