Sex and Travel

Personnel: The Jazz Butcher (vocals, guitar, keyboards).
Recording information: 1985.
Unknown Contributor Role: The Jazz Butcher.
This is classic Jazz Butcher. Short songs/stories about everyday, ordinary things and people wrapped up in melodic post-punk/new wave-style music. And they are done in a way that is pure Jazz Butcher (aka Pat Fish). Here an ordinary typewriter becomes ideal percussion to a monotone song about an average "English-speaking gentleman on holiday." This is a song that Ray Davies could have written circa 1969, but here the added keyboards and typewriter turn this story into something downright eerie. This is the charm of the Jazz Butcher. The smile they place on the listener's face is quickly erased into an expression of unease. Although the title of this album would suggest a live recording, it is not. No, the title gives away the content of the album -- songs about sex and travel. Beautifully crafted tunes with wonderful arrangements, usually on the sparse side, but it works. The Jazz Butcher's voice is his usual deadpan mixed with sympathy and irony. For this release, the Jazz Butcher features ex-Bauhaus member David J, who co-writes one song which has the expected dark feel to it ("Walk With the Devil"). This is a great album. ~ Aaron Badgley