Most live albums are glorified souvenirs, but this 1985 set from London's Marquee stands head and shoulders with Hitchcock's best albums. Backed by the Egyptians — here a three-piece including former Soft Boys Morris Windsor and Andy Metcalfe along with keyboardist Roger Jackson — Hitchcock ranges freely through his back catalogue, attacking the songs with uncharacteristic vigor. With the possible exception of 2007's Olé Tarantula, Hen! is the closest thing to a straightforward rock album Hitchcock has ever made, but it's less a matter of dumbing the songs down than revving them up. “Brenda's Iron Sledge” takes off at breakneck pace, and Jackson's buzzing riff adds a hint of apocalyptic menace to the Soft Boys'”Only the Stones Remain.”

In addition to the otherwise-unreleased “Listening to the Higsons,” a tribute to an obscure Norwich band that gives the album its title, Hen! rescues two songs (“America” and “The Cars She Used to Drive”) from the aborted Groovy Decay/Decoy, while serving as a dandy primer on Hitchcock's early work. The band's take on such bona-fide classics as “Egyptian Cream” and “My Wife and My Dead Wife” may not outdo the studio versions, but they're fascinating and worthy alternates, like dispatches from a… read more »