Coming as he did in the wake of the post-punk world and
before the havoc that
dance culture wreaked, Pat Fish/The Jazz Butcher was the
product of a difficult
epoch in British music. Now working as The Jazz Butcher
Conspiracy,
'Illuminate' is his tenth album and could be seen as an
attempt to justify the
relevance of that era. So, the second track, ' Politics aside, Pat Fish sticks to his '80s musical guns too, as memories of Lloyd Cole, Scritti Politti and The Go-Betweens flood back. Stylistically diverse as 'Illuminate' is, it has none of the pan-cultural appeal that lies at the heart of '90s eclecticism. Instead, Pat Fishpersists in what he's good at: crafting an album of fragile pop songs best suited to those with fond memories of their '80s glory days. But, for all its merits, 'Illuminate' doesn't shed fresh light on arguments over whether or not The Jazz Butcher was criminally overlooked talent. (5/10) Neil Spence.
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