Jazz Butcher, The Vinyl Records
The Jazz Butcher was the vehicle of prolific singer/songwriter Pat Fish, an archetypal British eccentric whose sharp observational wit and melodic gifts navigated the group through constant lineup shifts, stylistic mutations that included jangle pop, jazz, punk, cabaret, sophisti-pop, and oddball novelties, and a series of name changes. No matter the players involved, the style of music on offer, or the name under which it was made, the songs Fish wrote and recorded were alternately hilarious and heartbreaking, maddeningly tricky, and joyfully simple at once.