Word Salad is a 1979 debut album by Fischer-Z. John Watts and Steve Skolnik formed the band in 1976 whilst at Brunel University. John Watts had been travelling up and down the country playing the club circuit. Fischer-Z was playing a crossover of the new wave, punk and reggae genres. In 1978, the band secured a record deal with United Artists, alongside the Buzzcocks, The Stranglers and Dr. Feelgood.
Track listing
"Pretty Paracetamol" (also known as: "First Impressions", but this name doesn't usually feature on the CD releases) – 3:57
"Acrobats" – 2:42
"The Worker" – 3:36
"Spiders" – 1:42
"Remember Russia" – 3:29
"The French Let Her" – 3:21
"Lies" – 3:57
"Wax Dolls" – 2:46
"Headlines" – 3:21
"Nice to Know" – 2:52
"Billy and the Motorway Police" – 2:11
"Lemmings" – 3:02
Personnel
John Watts - lead vocals, guitar
Steve Skolnik - keyboards
David Graham - bass
Steve Liddle - drums
Notes
The songs "Wax Dolls", "Remember Russia", "The Worker" and "Pretty Paracetamol" (although named on single release as "First Impressions") were used as singles. "The Worker" being the most successful, hitting #53 on the UK charts (Note: The 7" single version of "The Worker" is slightly remixed from the album and emphasises the keyboards. This version has yet to appear on CD to date).
The original CD release of Word Salad has become increasingly difficult to obtain, selling for high prices on Amazon. However, in 1997 "Disky Communications Europe" rereleased the album under the title "The Worker". It included two bonus tracks: "Limbo" and "Marliese"; the first appearing on Fischer-Z's second album Going Deaf For A Living, and the latter appearing on their third, Red Skies Over Paradise. In 2005, Disky rereleased this version again, this time simply going by the title "Fischer-Z".
