Following his departure from The House Of Love in 1990, Terry Bickers began forming a new band with drummer David Francolini, having met during Bickers' last tour with his previous band in December 1989, on which Francolini was playing with support band Something Pretty Beautiful. They first enlisted Christian Hayes, who was currently playing guitar in Cardiacs and working as a courier, and Hayes' former bandmate in Ring, keyboardist Robert White soon joined, along with bassist Joe Allen and violinist Johnny T. Levitation first played low key shows in France supporting Ride, and in Belgium supporting Galaxie 500, but soon afterwards Johnny T left the band, along with Allen, who was replaced by former Jazz Butcher bassist Laurence O'Keefe. The band signed to the independent label Ultimate Records and released their debut single in April 1991, and the 'Nadine'/'Coppelia' EP was made "Single of the Week" in Melody Maker, although it received a negative review in the NME. In August 1991 the band released the 'After Ever' EP, which again made "Single of the Week" in Melody Maker, who described the EP as "blessed genius", and the following month they released the low-key single 'Squirrel' via the new Rough Trade mail-order 7" vinyl singles club.
Through 1991 the band toured extensively, supporting the likes of Pere Ubu, All About Eve, the Psychedelic Furs and Hawkwind, but they were dropped from a tour supporting Transvision Vamp, officially because their equipment required too much stage space, but reports suggested that the headliners were worried about being overshadowed by Levitation, who were receiving a lot of press due to Bickers' profile from his work with The House Of Love. The band also received further press attention from outlandish and eccentric comments Bickers would make to the press, which often displayed a fondness for conspiracy theories, leading him to be labelled "Bonkers Bickers". In November 1991 a compilation album, 'Coterie', was released, collating tracks from the band's previous releases along with new live recordings, and following this the band left Ultimate and signed to Rough Trade. Their debut album, 'Need For Not', was released in May 1992, but the band didn't tour the album in the US as Bickers refused to go, with O'Keefe commenting that "Terry was acutely paranoid of America and failed to join us in New York and started to be a real drag". Following the collapse of Rough Trade, Levitation signed to Chrysalis, and they began working on their second album, 'Meanwhile Gardens', but after recording so much material towards it, the band decided it would be released in two parts, 'Summer' and 'Autumn'.
However, after the release of the lead single 'Even When Your Eyes Are Open' in April 1993, Bickers announced his departure from the band onstage at the Dome in Tufnell Park, London In May. A mailout to the band's fanclub featured a statement from Hayes, in which he described Bickers' departure as "an unfortunate but necessary stick in the spokes... Terry no longer wishes to be in Levitation, feeling no excitement for the material and therefore uncomfortable within the band", but Bickers would later admit that his mounting depression had much to do with the manner of his departure. The album was shelved and a string of shows were cancelled, including a headline slot at the Phoenix Festival. Determined to continue, Levitation set about auditioning new singers, and in August 1993 the arrival of American singer Steve Ludwin was announced. Instead of working on new material, the band decided to remix the existing 'Meanwhile Gardens' album and overdub new vocals by Ludwin, removing most traces of Bickers, as Hayes stated that the band really liked the material, and as they'd spent nearly two years writing it, it seemed such a waste to just dump it.
The new version received a low key release in Australia, along with a single release of 'King Of Mice' in Germany, but the band were reportedly plagued by continuing and escalating rows, and it was announced in October 1994 that they had finally split up. In 1992 a limited edition 800-copy fan-club only cassette appeared, which included demos recorded between 1989 and 1991, some of which have yet to appear on record. 'Nadine', 'Smile' and 'Rosemary Jones' were subsequently re-recorded in Oct 1990 and appeared on the 'Coppelia' EP as the first official Levitation release on Ultimate, while 'Firefly' first appeared on the 'After Ever' EP recorded in May 1991. A further version of 'Smile' and definitive versions of 'Arcs Of Light And Dew', 'World Around', 'Embedded' and 'Coterie' can be heard on Levitation's first album 'Need For Not', and the instrumental 'Jay' can only be found on the Rough Trade single 'World Around', released prior to the debut album. 'Origins', 'Mantra' and 'Day By Day' are exclusive to the cassette.
Track listing
01 Mantra
02 Nadine
03 Firefly
04 Arcs Of Light And Dew
05 Smile
06 Origins
07 Jay
08 Rosemary Jones
09 Day By Day
10 World Around
11 Embedded
12 Coterie
