The Jazz Butcher: Proof Of Cosmic Indifference

From allmusic.com: "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 over a decade of constant line-up shifts, stylistic mutations and even a series of name changes which found the band performing variously -- and apparently randomly -- under such titles as the Jazz Butcher Conspiracy and the Jazz Butcher & His Sikkorskis From Hell..." Pat Fish resides comfortably at the top of my list of fringe/cult musicians who were, for one sad reason or another, robbed of greater notoriety. He's a thousand times more clever, fun and instantly likeable than contemporaries like Elvis Costello, and he bounces effortlessly between comedy, tragedy and just plain strange like the best written episodes of M*A*S*H. It just pisses me off, quite frankly. I once read an interview with Michael Stipe in which he praised Pat Fish as an influence. That was probably the last time some bigshot mentioned him in an interview, unfortunately. Related: The Jazz Butcher "Angels"