Levellers - Live at the Royal Albert Hall

  by Fiona Hutchings

published: 11 / 12 / 2009

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Review

The Levellers performance at the Royal Albert Hall last year was more than your average rock folk outing. The first half of the gig was acoustic and the second electric and in case that sounds a little gimmicky it is clear from the preparation involved that this was a labour of love. Fiddle player Jon Sevink explains, "We booked the show in advance so we had plenty of time to prepare. You can't treat it like a normal gig. We thought we'd tart ourselves up a bit by using a string quartet, a grand piano and some professionals to add some 'class' to the proceedings. We had a great night." That much is obvious from the material featured on the album. At ten tracks its relatively short for a live album. Equipment problems on the night meant several songs were lost from the final recording. Those that have made it safely to CD cover their career to date fairly evenly from 1990's 'A Weapon Called the Word' through 'Levellers' (1993), 'Zeitgeist' (1995) 'Mouth to Mouth' (1997) to 'Letters fFrom The Underground' (2008) What is noticeable on the first listen is that the ten tracks are not presented in chronological order but there is little discernible difference between early single 'Together All The Way' and the anthemic 'Hope Street'. The latter is the stand out track of the album. The crying fiddle of the original is tempered with the use of a violin that only adds to the sense of desolation of the chorus and bounces off the angry energy of the verse and bridge. The vocals are probably most messy here too but that just adds to the charm. The Levellers don't need an injection of 'class', they have had their own inimitable brand of that for 20 years, but the attention to detail and production on this album have paid off. I wonder if the criminally under appreciated 'One Way' was amongst the casualties of technical faults that night. It feels like a glaring omission on the album. Mark Chadwick's gloriously gravelly vocals have not softened with age and the lyrics of love, death, a planet and youth betrayed are as relevant and fresh now as they were first time round. Once dismissed by some as tree hugging, crusty hippies the Levellers continue to stand as strong and constant as an oak. With a new studio album in the offing it seems they will be as enduring too.

Track Listing:-

1 No Change
2 Julie
3 Together All The Way
4 Before The End
5 Chemically Free
6 Death Loves Youth
7 Exodus
8 Hope St
9 This Garden
10 Men-An-Tol

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/levellersoffi
http://www.levellers.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Level
https://twitter.com/the_levellers