Reason #294: The Gift Of Music
First off if you live anywhere in the UK and have not seen The Jazz Butcher live then shame on you! Pat Fish has a new combo out there, and is playing all over your neck of the woods. And if you go see him, please buy him a drink or seven and tell him that Uncle E says ‘Hi”.
Second, any chance I have to proclaim the genius of Pat Fish, Max Eider and mates I take, and I’ve still got lots and lots of albums and singles left in their discography to praise, chief among them The Gift Of Music, a collection that rounds up a ton of great singles and oddities. Like every Jazz Butcher album released in the ’80’s, collection or otherwise, it contains a HUGE percentage of A-list left of center pop tunes, and this one contains some of the best of the best!
Some of my all time favorites reside here: Marnie (a “punk version of Santana”, states Allmusic, and they’re not wrong), Southern Mark Smith and Rain (fantastic jangle pop, the later teaching REM how to do their job properly), their great rendition of the Modern Lovers Roadrunner, and the delightful sing-along oddity Water all rank very high within their massive discography. Real Men is a pounding number bemoaning the more ape-like males out there, and the jazz Butcher Meets The Prime Minister, Zombie Love and The Jazz Butcher Meets Count Dracula are all great garage rock tracks.
This collection’s great strength is that it flows like an album should, it’s musical variety adding to the overall enjoyment instead of distracting the listener as so many compilations do. It’s terrific, and by God I wish Fish would hurry up and bribe whoever he needs to bribe to get his early Glass Records catalogue back in circulation!!
Thanks for another wonderful introduction, Ian! I’m listening to Roadrunner and Zombie Love…and continuing to find more.
You are quite welcome, Danica. Please have a listen to his newest album, Last Of The Gentleman Adventurers that came out a few years ago, and if you like it please purchase it directly through his website. He’ll appreciate it, and so will I. One of my all time favorites, right up there with the top 10, and he should be a national treasure by now. Ok, I’ll step off my soap box now…
E, I have been meaning to tell you I have finally begun to take the plunge. I bought a 7″ of “Marnie” and a 12″ of “Conspiracy (You’ll Be Allright)”. I have no idea if that was a good place to start. It’s just what I happened to find in a shop. ‘The Gift of Music’ costs a fortune in the usual places, by the way. One guy on Amazon is selling it on CD for $850. What a maniac!
Hey Brian…while I wouldn’t have started with “Conspiracy”, as that isn’t quite representative of Pat Fish’s (and Max Eider & Friends) body of work being just them and a drum machine, Marnie is a fun tune and an excellent way to get involved with this most excellent band. If you can, pick up “Draining The Glass” CD, and if you are collecting vinyl I think you can find the excellent comp “Bloody Nonsense” for a reasonable amount. That’s the one that got me started upon its release and in my opinion a great way to start and get some of the best of the early stuff, some released on LP’s, some rarer. As I said Pat told me that there is a pretty good possibility the catalog will be reissued shortly, so that idiot asking over $800 for The Gift Of Music will be redundant pretty soon…
But I am PSYCHED you’ve started! I think you’ll find them a refreshing change from the norm. Honestly, and I know I’m biased, but I don’t think one can go wrong with anything they’ve released. A good and cheap way to get your hands on some of the early stuff is to pick up a copy of the live “Glorious And Idiotic”; it’s a terrific performance!
Cheers!
E
Oh dear! Shame on me – I’ve never heard or listened to these dudes. Would probably like them, too. Will endeavour to correct this as soon as possible (Bloody Nonsense sounds like a good place to start)!
Hi J. I’m thrilled you’re going to hint some JB down! From reading your blog I think I can safely say you’re gonna dig ’em. Thanks for continuing the discussion, it’s what it’s all about.