Static On The Airwaves [CD]

I got this album on Saturday and Haven't stopped playing it since !! The Levellers really are doing what they do best on this album.

In terms of comparisons, the sound and production is similar to Letters From the Underground ( which I really liked ), but this album is more realised. Jon Sevink and Charlie Heather are on particularly fine form and the album contains a couple of very good ballads, which is one thing that LFTU seemed to be missing.

So, to take it from the top, the opener is a short intro piece featuring radio waves crackling and leads into We are All Gunmen, a great song with a very solid rhythm section and classic Levs railing at the state of the world.

Next up is Thruth is, a fine Violin driven Folk song with Typical Chadwick sentiments and a great chorus.This is followed by After the Hurricane, a lovely accoustic guitar piece that evokes memories of songs like No Change from the early days. Some excellent Simon banjo picking and a fully realised chorus, tuneful and melodic. This is followed by Our Forgotten towns, a lament to the death of the high street with group vocal chorus all sung over Jons Fiddle.

No Barriers is next with electric guitars, driving drums and a brilliant fiddle melody. This followed by Alone in this Darkness, a lovely heartfelt ballad with lovely guitar, fiddle and a thoughtful vocal.

Raft of the Medusa is next ( for me the highlight of the album ) with a drum driven rhythm and a great sound similar to Pale Rider on LFTU. Then Comes Mutinty, a classic Levs track and could have come off Zeitgeist and has some nice piano work from Matt.

Traveller is next, another ballad with another thoughtful performance from Mark Chadwick. This track would have not been out of place on Mouth to Mouth and again features some melodic keyboards from Matt. Second Life follows an is another toe tapping upbeat folk piece with Jon's Fiddle very much to the fore and Simon picking away in the background, excellent !!

Finally, The recruiting Sargeant, a traditional folk song that the boys have 'Levellerised'. I thought it was great and it has a very Pogues sound to it, very good.

Well, all in all I would say that if you are a Levs fan and you liked Weapon, Levelling the Land,, Zeitgeist and Letters, then you will love this album as it truly is classic Levellers. If you are new to the Levellers, this by no means a bad place to start. Enjoy!!

There has been a degree of malcontent amongst some Levelers fans regarding some of their most recent releases,I was never quite sure why, I like to hear a band twist and turn rather than be staid and oh so predictable. But if there was an album that harks back to the halcyon days of the Levellers revelling in the ambiguity of folk, blended blissfully with rock music then "Static on the Airwaves" is the one that nails their folk roots firmly back on their mast.

So they are back with another album, destined to be played at fests, summer parties and the like , in the manner that "Levelling The Land" did all those years ago.
Here we have an album that harks back to the truly folky rock feel of their very early material and it does not disappoint, and all by the original lineup.
They still wear their politics on their sleeves, but the issues have moved on a bit- desolate high streets ( "our forgotten towns") , virtual reality ("second life") war and so forth.

The fiddle comes to the fore on many tracks, most noticeably on "after the hurricane"- I don't think its any co-incidence they chose Sean Lakeman to produce, brother of folk star Seth Lakeman, it oozes folkiness throughout. There is a confidence on this album which was lacking on the slightly metallic feel of their previous album, and is arguably their best effort since `Zeitgeist'.

In an age when the divide between rich and poor is more apparent than ever its great to hear a band shout out loud about it, with enthusiasm tinged with a musical maturity that comes from being together for nearly 25 years.

Criticisms- is any band beyond them ? I think the weakest tracks are the first two, not quite sure what that first track is really all about. But oh boy, that blast of fiddle from the very beginning of "Our forgotten towns" is quite majestic and raspingly biting and continues throughout the remainder of the track, only added to with the very occasional bass note...powerful indeed. Contrast this with the more prosaic and wistfully played "Alone in this Darkness"...gorgeous stuff.

Its also interesting to note there are no photos of the band, just some artwork.....almost eschewing all notions of celebrity...I once heard the band pay themselves the national average wage, do they still ? They attract quite a bit of flack for wearing their politics on their sleevies...well I admire 'em for it. How much was this album , as in compared to an average new release??

This is , overall, a belting album, dare I use the phrase 'return to form'...ok just did, cos this album is. The Levellers have Levelled out again and aint it grand!

Sorry to break the run of five stars, but although this album is decent enough, with excellent production, a variety of material and plenty of prominent fiddle, the tunes often failed to take hold of me and were, in general, not terribly memorable. One exception to this is the final track - the Recruiting Sargent - which I found so different in style to what came before it ( and with a very explicit `political` message too ) that the end of the album `jarred`.

All reviews are subjective, and I must declare my personal preferance for higher energy Levellers songs, which are sadly absent from this album. That is why I so enjoyed their previous effort `Letters`, which grabbed hold of me on my first listening, and which I hold to be easily their best effort since their early `classic` albums.

This certainly is not a `bum` album,as I would hold `Truth and Lies` to be, and I can well understand why those of a different musical disposition to me might really enjoy it and award it more than three stars. However, for this reviewer it was rather bland and lacking in energy.