View source for Strange Fruit Records

{{Short description|UK record label}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2024}}
{{One source|date=January 2011}}
{{infobox record label
 | name = Strange Fruit Records
 | image = <!--  Commented out because image was deleted: [[File:Sympathy logo.jpg]] -->
 | parent = 
 | founded = {{start date|1986}}
 | founder = [[Clive Selwood]]<br />[[John Peel]] 
 | distributor = 
 | genre = 
 | country = [[United Kingdom]]
 | url = www.strange-fruit-music.co.uk Archived [https://web.archive.org/web/20041208213343/http://www.strange-fruit-music.co.uk/neworder.htm 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 Radio One|BBC]] recordings, including [[Peel Sessions]].<ref name="Larkin">Larkin, Colin (ed.) (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Indie & New Wave'', Virgin Books, {{ISBN|0-7535-0231-3}}</ref>

The name came from [[Strange Fruit|the song]] written by [[Abel Meeropol]] and famously performed by [[Billie Holiday]], itself a reference to racially motivated lynchings.<ref name="Larkin" /> 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.<ref name="Larkin" /> The label's first release was [[New Order (band)|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.<ref name="Larkin" /> 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).<ref name="Larkin" /> In 1994, Peel's BBC colleague [[Andy Kershaw]] started another subsidiary label, Strange Roots, which released session recordings by [[world music]] and [[Traditional music|roots]] artists from his radio show.<ref name="Larkin" />

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.<ref>[https://twitter.com/CherryRedGroup/status/1275400375198273536/photo/1  Cherry Red Records, ''Twitter.com'', 23 June 2020]</ref>

==Strange Fruit Records catalogue (Peel Sessions, BBC)==
;Individual artists
{{div col|colwidth=28em}}
* SFPS001	[[New Order (band)|New Order]]
* SFPS002	[[The Damned (band)|The Damned]]
* SFPS003	[[The Screaming Blue Messiahs]]
* SFPS004	[[Stiff Little Fingers]]
* SFPS005	[[Sudden Sway]]
* SFPS006	[[The Wild Swans (band)|The Wild Swans]]
* SFPS007	[[Madness (band)|Madness]]
* SFPS008	[[Gang of Four (band)|Gang of Four]]
* SFPS009	[[The Wedding Present]]
* SFPS010	[[Twa Toots]]
* SFPS011	[[The Ruts]]
* SFPS012	[[Siouxsie and the Banshees]]
* SFPS013	[[Joy Division]]
* SFPS014	[[The Primevals (band)|The Primevals]]
* SFPS015	[[June Tabor]]
* SFPS016	[[The Undertones]]
* SFPS017	[[Xmal Deutschland]]
* SFPS018	[[The Specials]]
* SFPS019	[[Stump (band)|Stump]]
* SFPS020	[[The Birthday Party (band)|The Birthday Party]]
* SFPS021	[[The Slits]]
* SFPS022	[[Spizzenergi|Spizz Oil]]
* SFPS023	[[The June Brides]]
* SFPS024	[[Culture (band)|Culture]]
* SFPS025	[[The Prefects]]
* SFPS026	[[Yeah Yeah Noh]]
* SFPS027	[[Billy Bragg]]
* SFPS028	[[The Fall (band)|The Fall]]
* SFPS029	[[Girls at Our Best!]]
* SFPS030	[[The Redskins]]
* SFPS031	[[T.Rex (band)|T.Rex]]
* SFPS032	[[Tubeway Army]]
* SFPS033	[[Joy Division]]
* SFPS034	[[The Adverts]]
* SFPS035	[[The Mighty Wah]]
* SFPS036	[[The Triffids]]
* SFPS037	[[Robert Wyatt]]
* SFPS038	[[That Petrol Emotion]]
* SFPS039	[[New Order (band)|New Order]]
* SFPS040	[[The Damned (band)|The Damned]]
* SFPS041	[[Wire (band)|Wire]]
* SFPS042	[[Electro Hippies]]
* SFPS043	[[Syd Barrett]]
* SFPS044	[[Buzzcocks]]
* SFPS045	[[Cud (band)|Cud]]
* SFPS046	[[The Very Things]]
* SFPS047	[[Ultravox]]
* SFPS048	[[Extreme Noise Terror]]
* SFPS049	[[Napalm Death]]
* SFPS050	[[The Cure]]
* SFPS051	[[The Bonzo Dog Band]]
* SFPS052	[[The Nightingales]]
* SFPS053	[[Intense Degree]]
* SFPS054	[[The Stupids (band)|Stupids]]
* SFPS055	[[The Smiths]]
* SFPS056	[[Bolt Thrower]]
* SFPS057	[[Half Man Half Biscuit]]
* SFPS058	[[The Birthday Party (band)|The Birthday Party]]
* SFPS059	[[Lindisfarne (band)|Lindisfarne]]
* SFPS060	[[Echo & the Bunnymen]]
* SFPS061	[[Family (band)|Family]]
* SFPS062	[[The Room (band)|The Room]]
* SFPS063	Eton Crop
* SFPS064	[[Nico]]
* SFPS065	[[The Jimi Hendrix Experience]]
* SFPS066	[[Siouxsie and the Banshees]]
* SFPS067	[[Amayenge]]
* SFPS068	[[Ivor Cutler]]
* SFPS069	[[Unseen Terror]]
* SFPS070	[[Four Brothers (band)|The Four Brothers]]
* SFPS071	[[A Guy Called Gerald]]
* SFPS072	[[Inspiral Carpets]]
* SFPS073	[[Carcass (band)|Carcass]]
* SFPS074	[[The Go-Betweens]]
* SFPS075	[[Associates (band)|The Associates]]
* SFPS076	[[Colorblind James Experience]]
* SFPS080	[[The Jam]]
* SFPS081       [[Teenage Fanclub]]
{{div col end}}

===Compilations===
{{div col|colwidth=28em}}
* SFRLP100	The Sampler
* SFRLP101	Hardcore Holocaust
* SFRCD119      [[Too Pure]] ([[Th' Faith Healers]], [[Stereolab]], [[PJ Harvey]])
* SFRLP200	21 Years Of Alternative Radio 1
* SFRLP111      [[The Peel Sessions (Joy Division album)|Joy Division]]
{{div col end}}

===Other albums===
* SFRSCD016 or SFRSCD079 - [[Tom Paxton]], ''Live In Concert'' (recorded in London, England in 1971 and 1972, released 1998)
* SFRSCD035 - [[Melanie Safka|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 (The Delgados album)|BBC Sessions]]'' (1997)
* SFRSCD077 - [[A House]], ''Live In Concert''
* SFRSCD082 - [[Inspiral Carpets]], ''[[Radio 1 Sessions (Inspiral Carpets album)|Radio 1 Sessions]]'' (1999)
* SFPSCD090 - [[Uzeda]] Recorded 8 May 1994 [[Maida Vale Studios]] BBC
* SFRSCD094 - [[Joy Division]], ''[[Joy Division The Complete BBC Recordings|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==
* [[Dandelion Records]], a record label previously established by John Peel which operated from 1969 to 1973
* [[List of record labels]]
* [[List of independent UK record labels]]
* [[:Category:Peel Sessions recordings]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{bbc.co.uk|radio1|BBC Radio 1}}
* {{MusicBrainz label|0c49508e-abff-49ad-b87c-da6270589ae3}}
* [http://www.toomanyvoices.com/peel/peel.xml Strange Fruit Peel Sessions]

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:British independent record labels]]
[[Category:Indie rock record labels]]
[[Category:BBC Radio recordings| ]]
[[Category:Record labels established in 1986]]
[[Category:Record labels disestablished in 2004]]
[[Category:1986 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:2004 disestablishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:John Peel]]