Consider the last words by Saint Francis of Assisi, “Welcome, Sister Death.” Now remember from somewhere that Sister Death is also a deeply dark and disturbed comic book character. Of course from there, there is no reason in the world you shouldn’t be thinking about the slightly demented actress Shirley Maclaine, or one of her favorites, Harlan Ellison the Science Fiction writer. Of course, at this point a light bulb has gone off in your head and you remember the story “The Crying of Lot 49” by Thomas Pynchon, from your experimental literature class. But what do these all have in common is the question ... why the ground work, laid out in a black humor style by the philosophy major Pat Fish, who strapped on an electric guitar and founded the ethereal group, The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy [also known as The Jazz Butchers, and The Jazz Butcher and His Sikkorskis From Hell].See, it all does make sense once it’s neatly laid out in a concise manner, now isn’t it? And though the music of The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy is actually that of Pat Fish, accompanied by and ever changing cast ... the atmospheric, layered, crystal clean, and heavily guitar textured music, which seems to steal that part of your brain which wants to listen to the lyrics, because they are so conceptually brilliant ... requires a constant juxtapositioning, an eternal balancinging act of sorts, to keep oneself centered and attuned to all that is going on within the space of a single moment.“Excellent! - The Violent Years” is an excellent compilation, with fifteen songs, from five albums, spanning nearly ten years of music. The album seems to be divided into four separate core styles of music that Pat ebbs and flows from ... so you are going to find a sweet representation here that should take you just where you want to go, coming back is another issue all together. And unlike most compilation albums, this one actually lists the album each of the songs came from, which makes it very easy when it comes to further exploration of the music. I resist bringing in the Brian Jonestown Massacre here, but there is nothing else I can think of comparing this music to ... its the same, its different ... its unto it’s own, utterly brilliant.So, if its a head full of neo psychedelic sounds, swirling melodies, stunning guitars, vocal harmonies, and intelligent lyrical stories that hold your attention, then I highly recommend this sampling from The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy.Review by Jenell Kesler