The Scotsman
(UK)
March 15, 1995
Credit:
Tom Lappin
Illuminate
1994 live line-up stumbled through a series of tunes and such under Butcher's direction, aided and abetted by a number of the usual suspects;
Alex Lee on guitar,
Alex Green on saxes, that sort of thing.
Creation
LP;CD
The difficult tenth album from one of British pop's great
lost eccentrics. Jazz
Butcher albums consist of two or three guaranteed drop-dead
moments of
brilliance and a lot of amiable whimsy.
Illuminate doesn't
break the mould
and the glorious
Cute Submarines
, the deliciously catchy
paean to art-rock
When Eno Sings
, and the heartfelt Jurassic Park as Utopia
of
Land
are
essential additions to the great Jazz Butcher compilation in
the sky. The rest
is just silly, indulgent or leadenly political. lacking the
JBC gift of
pop-irony. True converts are encouraged to investigate
1988's wonderful
Fishcotheque.
***(Okay) Tom Lappin.
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