{"id":21469,"date":"2023-03-10T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=21469"},"modified":"2023-03-09T12:53:50","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T12:53:50","slug":"levellers-collective-together-all-the-way-on-the-fiddle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=21469","title":{"rendered":"Levellers Collective – \u2018Together All The Way\u2019 (On The Fiddle)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Following on from their 2018 release \u2018We The Collective\u2019, The Levellers have again teamed up with Hannah Miller and Ollie Austin from The Moulettes to reimagine songs from their 35-year career in a more stripped back, acoustic way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since that celebrated album, the ever-busy Brighton band have released a studio album (Peace), a live in the studio lockdown album (The Lockdown Sessions) and kept the band on the road with a string of live dates, festival appearances, as well as curating their own \u2018Beautiful Days\u2019 festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The band are currently taking the show on the road with an 18 date UK tour showcasing these new versions as well as more classics from their discography. This album also features the first official recordings of new member Dan Donelly on guitar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recorded live at the Levellers own Metway Studio in Brighton, and captured beautifully by producer Sean Lakeman, \u2018Together All The Way\u2019 takes a more folky approach to some classic Levellers favourites, adds their recent single \u2018Down By The River \u2018O\u2019\u2019, written by longtime collaborator Rev Hammer, and adds two brand new songs titled \u2018Man O War\u2019 and \u2018Sitting In The Social\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone who has seen a Levellers acoustic show can testify that their foot-stomping, festival friendly anthems transfer well into laid back, acoustic goodness, and this album captures that vibe perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opener \u2018The Game\u2019, from their classic \u2018Levelling The Land\u2019 album, is probably the most distinctive in terms of approach. A deconstructed version that couldn\u2019t be further from the anthemic live favourite. Where the original relied on an urgency created by frantic fiddles, rock guitars and a rousing chorus that came on like a call to arms, this version creates a different atmosphere altogether, relying more on chilled beats, strings and melody. The fiddles are still there, understated, and more as an accompaniment to Mark Chadwick’s ever-powerful voice, the haunting backing vocals adding dramatic effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, the upbeat \u2018Down By The River \u2018O\u2019\u2019 is more in tune with classic Levellers and very similar to their take on \u2018The Devil Went Down To Georgia\u2019. A foot-stomping, fiddle frenzy ensues with a glorious melody guaranteed to make you swing your pint of cider as you sing-along. This captures the live feel of a Levellers show perfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The Cholera Well\u2019 is taken right down to almost a dub version, the instruments stripped right back yet Chadwick’s fiery vocals still maintain the passion and fire that is prevalent in the original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The title track \u2018Together All The Way\u2019 doesn\u2019t stray too far from the path, but the acoustic guitars, pumping bass line and that glorious fiddle refrain make this classic Levellers song sound…classic again. Even the absence of that cool harmonica riff isn’t really missed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Wake The World\u2019 and \u2018Wheels\u2019 both come from that period when the band lost their way a bit in the early 2000\u2019s and both benefit from the new arrangements, but I wouldn\u2019t call either of them highlights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Chadwick’s vocals replacing Simon Friend\u2019s gruff delivery and stabbing strings replacing his dampened guitar riff, \u2018Battle Of The Beanfield\u2019 could not sound any different. But with mournful cello and fiddle sweeps, it still has that urgency and still carries the same stark message from all those years ago. This is an album highlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two new songs sandwich a sweet reworking of the classic \u2018Sell Out\u2019. The reflective \u2018Man O War\u2019 with its beautiful vocal harmonies, Blackbird-like picked acoustic guitars and Celtic vibes, is a song you could say is stereotypical of a band in the twilight years of their career, but that doesn\u2019t mean it’s not good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same goes for album closer and fellow newbie \u2018Sitting In The Social\u2019. A powerful, rousing tune very similar in feel to \u2018Subvert\u2019 with tribal beats, handclaps and gang vocal harmonies. The stripped-back approach works well with this new song and the dramatic delivery makes it a killer closer for the album. Tenpole Tudor and Dexy\u2019s are not two names I ever thought of referencing in respect to The Levellers but, there you go, I said it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a good ebb and flow to this album. Breathing new life into old tunes and mixing up new ideas that show, while they may well have mellowed with age, they can still knock out a protest song or two and let’s face it, the Levellers social commentary is as relevant today as it was back during the 90\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A perfect companion to \u2018We The Collective\u2019 and a testament to the fact that whatever the production and arrangement, the Levellers have a fine set of tunes in their arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buy Here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Ben Hughes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following on from their 2018 release \u2018We The Collective\u2019, The Levellers have again teamed up with Hannah Miller and Ollie Austin from The Moulettes to reimagine songs from their 35-year career in a more stripped back, acoustic way. Since that celebrated album, the ever-busy Brighton band have released a studio album (Peace), a live in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[3920],"class_list":["post-21469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-levellers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21471,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21469\/revisions\/21471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}