Description
‘Basic Strategies for Going Out’ shares the two Peel Sessions recorded by Huggy Bear in 1992 and 1993. Eight tracks total, two previously unreleased songs, a revelatory early version of “Her Jazz” and a fanatical gaiety throughout. For a band that so wholeheartedly invested in opposition, the chance to go up against the stifled decorum of the BBC pushed Huggy Bear to a nitroglycerin blaze. From the outraged to the rousing to the coy to the hell-bent, ‘Basic Strategies for Going Out’ reveals the extremes reachable by a band at ferocious work.
Released by arrangement with the BBC, ‘Basic Strategies’ was mastered by Fred Thomas from the original session recordings. It is the first Huggy Bear recording issued since 1994, and at present their only commercially available release.
For friends in Canada, copies available from Emissions Record Shop in Toronto for better shipping rates
For friends in the UK, copies available from Monorail and Rough Trade for better shipping rates
Reviews:
“The 10-inch vinyl record is the most punk format, an outcast among misfits, unfairly hated on for being both too long and too short, trapped between worlds, the perfect embodiment of the music it contains. Huggy Bear taught us this in 1993 via one of the greatest punk records of all time, Taking the Rough with the Smooch, and again now with this newly released Peel Session which, despite being recorded more than 30 years ago, may still transmit rabies.”
– From Chris Richards’s review in The Future is Ours to Make (Apr 2 2026) [LINK]
“Now comes Basic Strategies For Going Out, a coruscating compilation of two Peel Sessions the band recorded in 1992 and 1993 – ‘the first Huggy Bear recording issued since 1994, and at present their only commercially available release’, the label proudly proclaims.”
– From Peter Watts’s review in Uncut, March 2026 [LINK] (note: I am not at all proud that this is the only Huggy record that you can buy in 2026 – it is a disappointment and an example of how the capitalist drive to own and monetize EVERYTHING has overtaken independent business.)
“Every one of their records demands that you hold space for converging ideas and cheeks beaming and slapped red on both sides, being enlightened and angered, brought into the fold and outcast instantly based on cruel data unavailable to you, a whipsaw subversion of youth culture born to burn.”
– From Doug Mosurock’s review in Heathen Disco Music Reviews #168 (Feb 11 2026) [LINK]
To view the complete production costs for this record, click HERE
