GARY HIGGINS / ゲイリー・ヒギンズ / SECONDS. / レコード

DRAG CITYがリリースした再発ものACID FOLKの中でも強烈に印象的だったのが、GARY HIGGINSの73年リリース作「RED HUSH」でした。この作品、まさに木漏れ日系ACID FOLKの極地とも呼べる極上の内容。

そんなGARY HIGGINSがまさかの36年振りとなる新作をリリース。またしてもどっぷりと木漏れ日の森に誘ってくれるようです・・・


featuring THE RANDOM CONCEPT
Dave Beaujon, Terry Fenton, Graham Higgins, Dave VandeBogart

とのことでかつての仲間THE RANDOM CONCEPTも再バックアップしているとのこと。THE RANDOM CONCEPTは60年代に後のSILVER APPLESのSIMEON COXEをリードヴォーカルに要したサイケバンドでした。SIMEONは不参加なものの、あの頃、が間違いなく甦る名盤です。

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From Gary…

“The songs for this album collection came about in a pretty logical way. Drag City had ‘found’ me and with that whole incredible and magical journey surrounding the reissue of Red Hash and the concerts that ensued, I was doing a lot of singing and guitar playnig again. From this process things began to churn pretty quickly once more and it wasn’t long before I was off into a whole new journey of writing material. A few of these tunes made it into the live shows. ‘5 AM Trilogy’ comes to mind. We also were playing ‘TenSpeed’, though not a new song it was slightly post Red Hash (1975), it had been dusted off and reworked from the mid 70’s and added to the live show.

The motivation to do another record was not hard to find. Having a group of new songs I was into and more than a few ‘older’ ones as well, it again seemed like a very logical thing to do. They all needed a place to be and ears, old and new, to listen. Additionally, I can’t tell you how many times I have read “It’s too bad that Red Hash was the only record he recorded” I knew I could fix that. In the ‘old days’ I had always felt a bit denied due to the unpleasant peripheral circumstances to really take advantage of the Red Hash experience. When Drag City decided to do the reissue, all this and much more was realized. So many years had passsed and a new, younger audience had emerged. Having tasted the fruit, it was far from a stretch to want to keep that energy and excitement around to savor and surely not to fade away again for another 35 years!

Fourth, but not least, it had been an issue for me ever since the original Red Hash album that I had other musical sides that only a few were aware of, like I had been mainly a drummer in those days and not a guitar player, and my love of electric music. I had always wanted to put more of that forward and with the new CD, a bit of that has been realized. Lastly, it is very important to me that people know I can still play and still write and that in many ways my glass is far from half empty. I’m still here and energized in the now, very happy to put a fresh foot forward with Drag City and the new CD.”