The majestic Serious Drinking reviewed live in Soundmaker, 4 June, 1983.

The Higsons, The Farmer Boys, Serious Drinking
The Electric Ballroom, London

It’s the Farmer Boys’ evening judging by the number of quiffs ‘n’ check shirts in the audience. They’ve presumably been drawn by the band’s clutch of very catchy singles and their certain naive and self-effacing charm. For instance, after, ‘A Promise You Can’t Keep’, Baz says, “you’re too kind, I’d have gon home by now.”
So what’s the problem? For me at least, it’s that The Farmer Boys’ music is rather like their anthemical ‘Soft Drink’, not a heady brew to take away and savour, but a pleasure enjoyed briefly and forgotten, a sort of Orange Juice without the soul. I like the older songs but already the newer ones are sounding weaker and though a real drummer would be an improvement, I can’tsee thm making the big league with their current fun band brand of pop.
Serious Drinking, my band of the evening, preceded them with a good short set, genuine classics such as ‘Countdown To Bilko’ and ‘Bobby Moore Was Innocent’ rubbing shoulders with only slightly less immediate new songs. Their ‘Heavy Brew’ – shall we say five pints? – with its humourous roots in punk and ska, was not ideal for this audience but the band’s rabble-rousing songs got a good few dancing, and even more grinning.
I was prepared to be bored by The Higsons’ energetic funk and duly was by much of the set. Their enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment spread though, and they got the most positive response of the whole evening with half the Ballroom dancing b the end. For the last song, about fifty punters invaded the stage for a song-and-dance to the exhilarating ‘One World’. I was not alone in being won over and the band were called back despite the ‘curfew’ to do a blistering ‘I Don’t Want To Live With Monkeys/Put The Punk Back In The Funk’ encore.
Maybe the Higsons haven’t missed their boat after all.

Peter Stockton