kleph
19-02-2006, 07:42 AM
The Jazz Butcher is one of the most brilliant incisive pop writers that Britain has produced since the glory days of Ray Davies and Pete Townsend. Criminally overlooked by a media obsessed by the next big thing instead of what is actually good. A truly great songwriter." -
Alan McGee, President, Creation Records
That quote is at the very top of The Jazz Butcher's website and it sums up a lot about this fantastic band. The Jazz Butcher is, by far, the most criminally unrecognized musical genius alive today. Since the early 80s he and his lovable compatriots - be they "the Conspiracy" or his "Sikkorskis from Hell" - have churned out some of the most compelling, innovative, weird and downright funny music out there. His styles have ranged across a huge expanse of musical territory never less than masterful in any.
So what is the deal with these guys, anyway?
First of all, the Jazz Butcher is Pat Fish, Oxford philosophy graduate turned inebriated musical impressario. The band is whomever he is working with at that moment but tends to include a regular stable of musicians most notable guitar virtuoso, Max Eider.
His domain ranges from folk, to country, to pseudo-jazz, to mersybeat, to punk but always with a shimmering pop sensibility that makes it all work. His penchant for the absurd keeps you interested and even laughing but never at the expense of his sharp critical eye.
As the music writer C. C. Dämmerung observed in the liner notes: "the Butcher's axe grinds somewhere along the non-existent fusion between soul music and the sort of dirty pop that failed to make the Velvet Underground famous."
Which is not a bad way to spend your life when you think about it.
Early albums have drunk Englishmen, death dentists and dead Jim Morrisons floating across the soundscape. Who else could pen a tune (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/marnie.html) about a girl whose greatest desire to keep a tiger as a pet (Feline fury of the jungle!/Stripey death from Bangladesh!) and make it work? The butcher, of course.
One of my favorite songs is Southern Mark Smith (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/lyrics/smith.html). It comes off, intially as a throw away pop ditty but it has an incredible way to burrow into your medulla oblangotta before you know it. So now this delightful song is stuck in your head, what the heck is it about?
Basically the Butcher is cutting away the nonsense and meaningless bullshit of our modern world and asking what the hell really matters. And, in the end, its the relationships between people that we often overlook. Sounds trite but it really works because of the undeniably wonderful life-affirming style of the song.
(And then he recorded a different version that works just as well in a different way)
If all that weren't enough you can also find a host of the best songs about drinking ever committed to vinyl/CD/whatever; Drink (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/lyrics/drink.html) and The Devil is My Friend (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/lyrics/devil_is_my_friend.html), Partytime (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/lyrics/partytime.html) and Down the Drain (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/lyrics/down_the_drain.html).
After a few shimmeringly glorious albums the band's U.S. label went belly-up then the butcher and his guitarist non-parallel, Max Eider, parted ways. As cynically wonderful as the Butcher's lyrics can be they are well matched by Eider's disjointed exegesis conducted up and down the neck of the guitar. The reunion of these two in recent years was a joyous thing but there is something sublime about their work from this period.
There is a whole series of albums the butcher produced later, beginning with the astounding "Condition Blue (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/blue.html)" where the whimsy and oddness gives way to a more profound attempt to understand what is happening in this weird world. He ups the ante musically as well. The rawness ebbs and is replaced by complex layers of guitars that ebb and swell with the emotional turmoil of the lyrics. The Butcher knows he is odd, but why is the world that way as well? The butcher isn't interested in casting blame here, he's trying to understand. But, never fear, the practical nature of a man with the good sense to play a Fender Telecaster is never far from the Butcher's work.
For years, the butcher's work was woefully out of print and required a hefty bid on an interent auction site to bolster your collection. But things are slowly changing. Several albums have been rereleased and you can now order on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/artist/glance/-/55960/104-7314290-1862316) and elsewhere. For the new listener, I recommend the collections to begin with. Draining the Glass (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/drainglass.html) is a good take of the early butcher efforts and Excellent! (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/violent.html) does the same for the later works. Glorious and Idiotic (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/glorious.html) is an effervescently wonderful live album recorded a few years back. I also believe it is now available on iTunes.
But with an artist as good as the butcher, it's worth it to get the original albums because the man is simply incapable of writing filler. (Scandal in Bohemia (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/scandal.html) and Waiting for the Love Bus (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/bus.html) are good starts) To this day I do not know the names of most of his songs because I almost always listen to his albums all the way through each time.
Links: The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy webpage (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/) (which includes a wide assortment of music samples (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/audio))
The Jazz Butcher Trouser Press entry (http://trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=jazz_butcher)
Alan McGee, President, Creation Records
That quote is at the very top of The Jazz Butcher's website and it sums up a lot about this fantastic band. The Jazz Butcher is, by far, the most criminally unrecognized musical genius alive today. Since the early 80s he and his lovable compatriots - be they "the Conspiracy" or his "Sikkorskis from Hell" - have churned out some of the most compelling, innovative, weird and downright funny music out there. His styles have ranged across a huge expanse of musical territory never less than masterful in any.
So what is the deal with these guys, anyway?
First of all, the Jazz Butcher is Pat Fish, Oxford philosophy graduate turned inebriated musical impressario. The band is whomever he is working with at that moment but tends to include a regular stable of musicians most notable guitar virtuoso, Max Eider.
His domain ranges from folk, to country, to pseudo-jazz, to mersybeat, to punk but always with a shimmering pop sensibility that makes it all work. His penchant for the absurd keeps you interested and even laughing but never at the expense of his sharp critical eye.
As the music writer C. C. Dämmerung observed in the liner notes: "the Butcher's axe grinds somewhere along the non-existent fusion between soul music and the sort of dirty pop that failed to make the Velvet Underground famous."
Which is not a bad way to spend your life when you think about it.
Early albums have drunk Englishmen, death dentists and dead Jim Morrisons floating across the soundscape. Who else could pen a tune (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/marnie.html) about a girl whose greatest desire to keep a tiger as a pet (Feline fury of the jungle!/Stripey death from Bangladesh!) and make it work? The butcher, of course.
One of my favorite songs is Southern Mark Smith (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/lyrics/smith.html). It comes off, intially as a throw away pop ditty but it has an incredible way to burrow into your medulla oblangotta before you know it. So now this delightful song is stuck in your head, what the heck is it about?
Basically the Butcher is cutting away the nonsense and meaningless bullshit of our modern world and asking what the hell really matters. And, in the end, its the relationships between people that we often overlook. Sounds trite but it really works because of the undeniably wonderful life-affirming style of the song.
(And then he recorded a different version that works just as well in a different way)
If all that weren't enough you can also find a host of the best songs about drinking ever committed to vinyl/CD/whatever; Drink (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/lyrics/drink.html) and The Devil is My Friend (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/lyrics/devil_is_my_friend.html), Partytime (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/lyrics/partytime.html) and Down the Drain (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/lyrics/down_the_drain.html).
After a few shimmeringly glorious albums the band's U.S. label went belly-up then the butcher and his guitarist non-parallel, Max Eider, parted ways. As cynically wonderful as the Butcher's lyrics can be they are well matched by Eider's disjointed exegesis conducted up and down the neck of the guitar. The reunion of these two in recent years was a joyous thing but there is something sublime about their work from this period.
There is a whole series of albums the butcher produced later, beginning with the astounding "Condition Blue (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/blue.html)" where the whimsy and oddness gives way to a more profound attempt to understand what is happening in this weird world. He ups the ante musically as well. The rawness ebbs and is replaced by complex layers of guitars that ebb and swell with the emotional turmoil of the lyrics. The Butcher knows he is odd, but why is the world that way as well? The butcher isn't interested in casting blame here, he's trying to understand. But, never fear, the practical nature of a man with the good sense to play a Fender Telecaster is never far from the Butcher's work.
For years, the butcher's work was woefully out of print and required a hefty bid on an interent auction site to bolster your collection. But things are slowly changing. Several albums have been rereleased and you can now order on Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/artist/glance/-/55960/104-7314290-1862316) and elsewhere. For the new listener, I recommend the collections to begin with. Draining the Glass (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/drainglass.html) is a good take of the early butcher efforts and Excellent! (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/violent.html) does the same for the later works. Glorious and Idiotic (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/glorious.html) is an effervescently wonderful live album recorded a few years back. I also believe it is now available on iTunes.
But with an artist as good as the butcher, it's worth it to get the original albums because the man is simply incapable of writing filler. (Scandal in Bohemia (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/scandal.html) and Waiting for the Love Bus (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/albums/bus.html) are good starts) To this day I do not know the names of most of his songs because I almost always listen to his albums all the way through each time.
Links: The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy webpage (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/) (which includes a wide assortment of music samples (http://www.jazzbutcher.com/htdb/audio))
The Jazz Butcher Trouser Press entry (http://trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=jazz_butcher)