Ten years to the day, after the legendary ACNE concert at The Rainbow in Finsbury Park by Ayers, Cale, Nico, Eno. The Higsons were on tour in Switzerland and were invited to play a live in the studio session for a radio station, who gave the band a tape of the show afterwards, it then sat in Terry Edwards archives for 35 plus years, until on hearing the tape again Terry decided it was time it was released, having asked Eno if it was okay to recreate the ACNE cover art, we now have A second album with my birthday as the title.
The Higsons were of course Switch (Charlie Higson), Terry Edwards, Simon Charterton, Stuart McGeachin and Colin Williams with special guest Ian R Watson on trumpet.
The first set opens with Clanking My Bucket a brit jazz-funk no wave blast, Born Blind adds in an almost football chant chorus to the funky mix, along with a core bassline that all the brass works off of.
The band's classic Run Me Down has yet another brilliant bassline, with a classic guitar figure, as the backing vocals sweep in and out of the mix interweaving with the brass stabs, as they do there best not to get run over.
The Junk Keeps Piling Up as Switch really lets loose, on this cool baggy jazz-funk dancefloor ready tune, that has them admitting to being hoarders, as they wonder if our obsessions will suffocate the planet as they want to do a Marie Kondo decades before it was a thing.
I Can Hear Voices has a paranoid edge to the louche sinuous music, driving them to the very edge, as those voices just won't shut up.
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The Second set opens with 1958 that has super tight horns, as Switch celebrates his year of birth, the band want to be the coolest post be-bop band they can, with of course a funky edge, the breakdown is full of the backing vocals as this grooves away.
They slow down Heat from the classic version, into a slower looser more low-slung take, as if they are doing the dislocation dance to it. Gangway will keep you on the dancefloor throwing all sorts of weird moves as they open up that Gangway with searing guitars, as all the gang chant Hoo Ha as they sound like they are having loads of fun despite playing in an empty studio.
Do The Jerk is the bands dance craze, that will have you trying to follow all of Switches instructions, weaving away across the dancefloor, as you lose you limbs in a frenzy.
The album closes with the bands classic I Don't Want to Live With Monkeys with the bassline right up front, as the guitar jangles away, the vocals have more depth than usual, there’s a brilliant sax solo making this a very cool version as they thanks us very much at the end of this great radio session.
Find out more at https://thehigsons.bandcamp.com/album/june-1-1984????https://www.facebook.com/Higsons
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