The Higsons - The Curse of The Higsons [3CD] (1984/2013)

Led by future The Fast Show star Charlie ‘Switch’ Higson and featuring renowned brassfor- hire maestro Terry Edwards, Norwich quintet The Higsons formed while attending the University Of East Anglia on the cusp of the 80s. With English white-boy funkateers in vogue and John Peel fighting their corner, the band’s irreverent punk-funk clatter chimed with the zeitgeist, and their reputation-building early 45s such as I Don’t Want To Live With Monkeys and Conspiracy stormed the indie Top 10 across 1981-82.

Yet, despite a dalliance with Jerry Dammers’ 2-Tone imprint, it would take until 1984 for The Higsons to release their lone – and long-deleted – LP The Curse Of The Higsons on the Upright label. It remains fresh and tasty, yet while their distinctively pacy cover of Andy Williams’ Music To Watch Girls By inevitably stands out, the adrenalised Gangway and the robust, radio-friendly Run Me Down also jostle for pole position.

Disc Two’s comprehensive brace of non-LP A-sides include terse Cold War commentary Tear The Whole Thing Down, plus fiery flips such as I Walk The Land from the band’s final single, Take It, from ’85. The manic, visceral Norwich live show dominating Disc Three, meanwhile, was originally issued as the 4,000-only Live At The Jacquard Club by the semi-official Chaos Cassettes in 1982.