tell me about Fischer-Z?

earth to nigel recently did a quite decent cover of it too.

Signed to UA / EMI who seemed to have a lot of faith in them and pushed them quite hard, I'm sure I remember them touring supporting The Stranglers and they released 3 albums and a bunch of singles between 79 and 81 and managed to get a minor hit (either The Worker or Pretty Paracetamol - can't remember which it was now) by virtue of releasing a picture disc single (when such items were still a new gimmick) at a very low price. The albums were Word Salad, Going Deaf For A Living and Red Skies Over Paradise (the best bits of which were later compiled as Going Red For A Salad) and they also released a couple of albums by vocalist / guitarist John Watts after the band split up.

John Watts has continued recording both in his own name and Fischer Z's (in fact the 2 seem to be pretty much synonymous / interchangeable). http://www.fischer-z.com/

One of my childhood fondest memories (mostly because of So Long and Marliese), Fischer-Z is a great post-punk band, and Red Skies Over Paradise is my favourite album, though Going Deaf For A Living is nice as well (never listened to Word Salad). John Watts, the brain behind Fischer-Z, never rose to those heights again, solo or with the second incarnation of Fischer-Z (which is, as Stewart said, a solo project with changing band elements), much more introspective than FZ Mark 1.

I'm still waiting for a remastered edition of Red Skies, with Marliese b-side "Right Hand Men" as bonus track, probably their best track ever...

<3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vf55WTILmqw

heard a Darren Hanlon cover of Perfect Day on the radio recently

way to ruin my morning

cute story though:

"I’d met Jenny Cruse through a mutual friend in Brighton in 2000. One night at a local watering hole dubiously titled ‘The Pull and Pump’ while drinking Dr Pepper cocktails, her boyfriend Simon persuaded her to ask me a question that had been playing on her mind. She timidly explained that she’d once been involved in a band in the 80’s called Fischer-Z. She’d been told that their song ‘the Perfect Day’ had been a hit in Australia, and me being the only Australian she’d met was the only one to confirm the rumour. “I know that one” I beamed and commenced to break into the first verse of the song by ‘Little Heroes’ of the same name… ‘One perfect day, we’ll go out walking…’ She looked crestfallen, and demurred that it wasn’t the one. I turned red and plopped another shot of Amaretto into my half beer and Coke. Towards the end of the night we all convinced her to sing the actual song and I realised I did truly remember it. I even recalled the video clip, which had 2 girls running between houses with a suitcase (I later found out that one of them was Jenny herself). The whole experience made me realise what a great song it was. I learnt the chorus and lyrics and the next shows I played in Brighton. Jenny got up to sing it with me and afterwards we ended up at their flat and Simon recorded it on a cassette 8-track. I’d long forgotten about the tape until I was moving house recently and playing it brought back that whole experience of my visits to Brighton and my friends there. I thought it might be worth sharing with others."

aw

This Darren Hanlon cover of "Perfect Day" is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. He finds what to my ear is a rather ordinary pop new wave track and says "if the backing vocals were as loud as the lead vocals this would go from ordinary to extraordinary" and then he just does it. Wow.

I have no idea who Darren Hanlon is other than this song, is he good?

i'm probably not the best to answer that as i hate his entire oeuvre