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.

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_records LP;CD