Honestly. You take your eyes off of a band for thirty-two years and what do they go and do? Make you look like a right old idiot, that’s what. Who knew that The Levellers were still making records this great?
Admittedly, Together All the Way is the second under the Levellers Collective name and the second to re-tread some old favourites in a slightly Folkier style. Even so, there’s absolutely no need to go and do something like this. Produced by Sean Lakeman and augmented by The Wonder Stuff’s Dan Donnelly and a couple of Moulettes, this is an album that you won’t want to pass you by.
For those of us that haven’t been paying attention, The Levellers Collective makes life nice and easy. The Game is originally from the classic Levelling the Land album so is one we all should know. Here, though, it’s a dark and brooding thing, it’s reflective and bleak only looking up as the violins sweep in at the end to whip up a storm. From the same album is Sell Out and this one is horribly close to the bone. If there was a relevance to the lyrics in 1991 then they have lost none of their power in 2023. It’s slower, more considered and continues to rail against the modern world and those that exploit it. In a time when basic freedoms continue to be stripped away it is, surely, as important as ever to wonder “how do you sleep at night?”
This makes it all sound as though The Levellers have slowed down with age, have mellowed a bit. That, however, wouldn’t really be true. Down By the River ‘O’ is absolutely storming. A Rev Hammer song that rattles the rafters and kicks up all sorts of dust. Just as vital is Wheels, originally from 2021’s Truth and Lies, which has a psychedelic swirl miles away from whatever it is you imagine that The Levellers might give us. Hannah Moule, from the wonderful Moulettes, adds a gloriously poppy vocal to a standout tune.
For those of us that haven’t been so dim as to ignore The Levellers for 30-odd years, the biggest draw on this album must be the two brand new tracks. Man O’ War looks back at a life well lived, acoustic guitars and strings dialling down the fury and replacing it with an understated warmth and a lovely contemporary Folk song. Sitting in the Social, however, seethes with anger. Drums and bass pound a sea-shanty rhythm, a repeated chant reminding us all of the gross sense of unfairness that The Levellers were telling us about way back in ’91. Their fury hasn’t abated, nor their sense of fair play.
Battle of the Beanfield always was a cornerstone of The Levellers philosophy and here it takes on a stark, cello lead urgency. A fiddle and Mark Chadwick’s voice stabbing away, viciously. A righteous fury entirely undimmed by the passing of the years, instead lending a laser focus to the words.
If you’ve ignored The Levellers for a little while too, then Together All the Way is the perfect way to get reacquainted. An unexpected treat.
Gavin McNamara
TallFolk 