Released in April 1990, A Weapon Called the Word was the debut full-length album by The Levellers. The album contains re-recorded tracks from the band's first two E.P.

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 recordings: Carry Me E.P. (upon which the tracks "Carry Me" and "England My Home" were originally released) and Outside/Inside E.P. (which contained "Outside/Inside", "Barrel of the Gun" and "I Have No Answers"). The band did not re-record the track "The Last Days Of Winter" from the Carry Me E.P. despite the fact the album's title A Weapon Called The Word is taken from that song.

Two versions of the album exist: the original 1990 release which has 12 tracks (the first twelve listed below) and a 1996 re-release by Musidisc which added two live recordings of the band's guitarist/vocalists Mark Chadwick and Simon Friend plus a remix of the track Three Friends to the end of the album.

This album is noteworthy in the Levellers' catalogue for being the only full-length album to feature the musical input of Alan Miles, who played guitar, harmonica and mandolin and supplied backing vocals as well as contributing musical arrangements. For future Levellers albums, he is replaced by Simon Friend on vocals and multi-instrumentals.

The 1996 re-release credits Simon Friend in the liner notes despite him not being a band member at the time of recording. This is due to the added live tracks Social Insecurity and Cardboard Box City being written and sung by Simon.

A Weapon Called the Word has achieved Platinum record status despite never having appeared in the album charts, a rare feat reflecting steady and consistent sales rather than strong initial sales. Only World Freakshow was released as a single, as Musidisc's alleged mismanagement of the promotion and pressing of the single led the Levellers to part company with the label shortly after release.

Track listing

• All band members are given writer's credits on all the tracks.

1. "World Freakshow" – 3:29
2. "Carry Me" – 4:57
3. "Outside/Inside" – 2:57
4. "Together All The Way" – 4:16
5. "Barrel of the Gun" – 2:49
6. "Three Friends" – 4:20
7. "I Have No Answers" – 4:10
8. "No Change" – 3:24
9. "Blind Faith" – 3:50
10. "The Ballad of Robbie Jones" – 2:40
11. "England My Home" – 3:38
12. "What You Know" – 4:03
13. "Social Insecurity" – 2:46
14. "Cardboard Box City" – 4:05
15. "Three Friends (remix)" – 5:34

Musicians

• Mark Chadwick – vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , banjo
  Banjo
  In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
  
  
• Alan Miles – Mandolin
  Mandolin
  A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
  
  , electric guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  , harmonica
  Harmonica
  The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
  
  , vocals
• Jonathan Sevink – Violin
  Violin
  The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
  
  , tin whistle
  Tin whistle
  The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
  
  
• Charles Heather – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Jeremy Cunningham – Bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  , bouzouki
  Bouzouki
  The bouzouki , is a musical instrument with Greek origin in the lute family. A mainstay of modern Greek music, the front of the body is flat and is usually heavily inlaid with mother-of-pearl. The instrument is played with a plectrum and has a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but...
  
  , artwork

• Tim Lewis – Mighty wurlitzer
  Wurlitzer
  The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes....
  
  
• Phil Tennant – Guitar
• Simon Friend – Vocals and guitar on bonus tracks (13 and 14)

Technical staff

• Phil Tennant – Production
• Tim Lewis – Engineering
• The Yes/No People and Andy Boucher – Remixing of track 15 for 1996 re-release