Strange Fruit Records

Strange Fruit Records
Founded1986 (1986)
FounderClive Selwood
John Peel
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Official websitewww.strange-fruit-music.co.uk Archived 2004-12-08

Strange Fruit Records was an independent record label in the United Kingdom.

The label, established by Clive Selwood and John Peel in 1986, was the primary distributor of BBC recordings, including Peel Sessions.[1]

The name came from the song written by Abel Meeropol and famously performed by Billie Holiday, itself a reference to racially motivated lynchings.[1] The label had the aim of generating sufficient revenue from recordings of 'big name' artists to allow the release of recordings by lesser-known artists.[1] The label's first release was New Order's 1982 Peel Session, in July 1987, and was followed by sessions from some of the biggest names from the punk rock and post punk eras. Recordings from as far back as the 1960s were also released by the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. As well as individual sessions, the label also released albums compiling several sessions by the same artist.[1] Strange Fruit was sufficiently successful that it spawned subsidiary labels including Nighttracks (sessions from radio One's Evening Show), Raw Fruit Records (concert recordings from the Reading Festival), and Band of Joy (BBC session recordings from the 1960s and 1970s).[1] In 1994, Peel's BBC colleague Andy Kershaw started another subsidiary label, Strange Roots, which released session recordings by world music and roots artists from his radio show.[1]

Strange Fruit closed in 2004. It was part of the Zomba Group of companies and was shut down when the label merged with BMG. The last release the label put together was an album of New Order's complete Peel Sessions, fitting as the first release that came out was an EP of New Order's first Peel session. Six months later John Peel died.

Clive Selwood died in June 2020.[2]

Strange Fruit Records catalogue (Peel Sessions, BBC)

Individual artists

Compilations

Other albums

  • SFRSCD016 or SFRSCD079 - Tom Paxton, Live In Concert (recorded in London, England in 1971 and 1972, released 1998)
  • SFRSCD035 - Melanie, On Air [taken from November 75 concert, with added sessions from 1969 & 1989)
  • SFRSCD036 - Joe Cocker and The Grease Band, On Air [taken from Top Gear 13 October 68; Symonds 14 October 68; DLT 21 September 69; and Top Gear 11 October 69) Released 1997
  • SFRSCD037 - The Delgados, BBC Sessions (1997)
  • SFRSCD077 - A House, Live In Concert
  • SFRSCD082 - Inspiral Carpets, Radio 1 Sessions (1999)
  • SFPSCD090 - Uzeda Recorded 8 May 1994 Maida Vale Studios BBC
  • SFRSCD094 - Joy Division, The Complete BBC Recordings (2000)
  • SFNT015 - Icicle Works "Radio 1 Sessions - The Evening Show" - Four track 12" EP, recorded 1982, released 1988.
  • SFRCD114 - The Chameleons "John Peel Sessions" (1990)
  • SFRCD201 - Soft Machine "The Peel Sessions" - All tracks recorded for BBC Top Gear.

A bootleg of the White Power rock band Skrewdriver's Peel Session exists, in very bad quality and with a cover in the style of the Strange Fruit Peel Session releases. It however is not a Strange Fruit release.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Larkin, Colin (ed.) (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0231-3
  2. ^ Cherry Red Records, Twitter.com, 23 June 2020
  • BBC Radio 1 at BBC Online
  • Strange Fruit Records publishing catalog at MusicBrainz
  • Strange Fruit Peel Sessions
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