Fischer-Z – X-Ray Serenade
Fischer-Z was the kind of band without true hardcore fans. The Clash, The Police, The Stranglers, Sex Pistols: they had all brought together a crowd of fans who knew every song by the mentioned bands inside out. How different that was for the band around John Watts. On the British wave that brought new wave, punk and art rock to the mainland, Watts cum suis drifted along. No absolute fans, but at the same time nobody who disliked the sound of Fischer-Z. They were OK. At least OK enough to score a few major hits with “The Worker”, “So Long” and “Marliese”.
With Fischer-Z, one question always hangs in the air: how relevant are they (or have they been)? The answer lies in 23 albums that sold a total of more than two million copies. By comparison: The Police sold 75 million records. But where Sting, Summers and Copeland decided that enough was enough, Fischer-Z simply kept going.
This year the band celebrates its fiftieth anniversary and does so in fitting style with album number 24. “X-Ray Serenade” features seven new tracks and a handful of old classics that have been polished up, although that term does not quite do it justice. Under the addition ‘Reimagined’, the old songs have received a completely new arrangement. “So Long” has been turned down considerably in terms of tempo and gets an almost jazz-like atmosphere, especially because the voice of the now 71-year-old Watts sounds more weathered than in the original that appeared in 1980 on “Going Deaf for a Living”. The voice has gained life experience and after fifty years is naturally less supple, especially in the high register, which is after all Watts’ trademark.
Whether those reinterpretations are a valuable addition to the band’s repertoire is doubtful. The distinctive guitar riff and the pounding drums in “Marliese” have been stripped of their biting, driving character, and somehow Watts’ lyrics come across less effectively as a result. ‘The waiting almost brought me to my knees’… words that were believable in combination with the desperate screaming of the name, but almost absurd in this version.
The main feat on “X-Ray Serenade” is the seven new songs. Here Watts still proves to be a great storyteller and someone who looks very closely at the world around him. The lyrics are about ordinary people in their struggle for existence, while that existence is threatened from all sides, not least by political choices. We may be fifty years further down the line, but the current state of the world is more concerning than ever. It still forms an inexhaustible source of inspiration.
The opener “Strings” is a good example: in a philosophical text, Watts describes the trials of modern times, in which facts and the truth no longer really matter. Who pulls the strings if you do not do it yourself? Watts sings it with urgency, almost like a final message before he turns off the lights with the current line-up after the final show. Making one more statement, because time is running out and slipping through our fingers.
This awareness of the passing of time runs like a red thread through the album, with the little monument “Precious Time” as a standout, although not typical Fischer-Z material. “X-Ray Serenade” does offer that, including the somewhat gloomy humour that Watts still possesses. Mercilessly, for example, he dissects today’s obsession with striving for the perfect body.
Is this album the band’s last feat? As far as Watts is concerned, no: ‘It has been a journey with highs and lows, but I cannot wait to celebrate it with everyone. Here is to many more years full of new music, shows and art.’ Fine. But just play “Marliese” in the version from “Red Skies over Paradise”. (7/10) (Cherry Red Records)
