Strange Fruit Records

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.

The name came from the song written by Abel Meeropol and famously performed by Billie Holiday, itself a reference to racially motivated lynchings. 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. 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. 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). 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.

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.

Strange Fruit Records catalogue (Peel Sessions, BBC)

 * Individual artists


 * SFPS001	New Order
 * SFPS002	The Damned
 * SFPS003	The Screaming Blue Messiahs
 * SFPS004	Stiff Little Fingers
 * SFPS005	Sudden Sway
 * SFPS006	The Wild Swans
 * SFPS007	Madness
 * SFPS008	Gang of Four
 * SFPS009	The Wedding Present
 * SFPS010	Twa Toots
 * SFPS011	The Ruts
 * SFPS012	Siouxsie and the Banshees
 * SFPS013	Joy Division
 * SFPS014	The Primevals
 * SFPS015	June Tabor
 * SFPS016	The Undertones
 * SFPS017	Xmal Deutschland
 * SFPS018	The Specials
 * SFPS019	Stump
 * SFPS020	The Birthday Party
 * SFPS021	The Slits
 * SFPS022	Spizz Oil
 * SFPS023	The June Brides
 * SFPS024	Culture
 * SFPS025	The Prefects
 * SFPS026	Yeah Yeah Noh
 * SFPS027	Billy Bragg
 * SFPS028	The Fall
 * SFPS029	Girls at Our Best!
 * SFPS030	The Redskins
 * SFPS031	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
 * SFPS040	The Damned
 * SFPS041	Wire
 * SFPS042	Electro Hippies
 * SFPS043	Syd Barrett
 * SFPS044	Buzzcocks
 * SFPS045	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	Stupids
 * SFPS055	The Smiths
 * SFPS056	Bolt Thrower
 * SFPS057	Half Man Half Biscuit
 * SFPS058	The Birthday Party
 * SFPS059	Lindisfarne
 * SFPS060	Echo & the Bunnymen
 * SFPS061	Family
 * SFPS062	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	The Four Brothers
 * SFPS071	A Guy Called Gerald
 * SFPS072	Inspiral Carpets
 * SFPS073	Carcass
 * SFPS074	The Go-Betweens
 * SFPS075	The Associates
 * SFPS076	Colorblind James Experience
 * SFPS080	The Jam
 * SFPS081      Teenage Fanclub

Compilations

 * SFRLP100	The Sampler
 * SFRLP101	Hardcore Holocaust
 * SFRCD119     Too Pure (Th' Faith Healers, Stereolab, PJ Harvey)
 * SFRLP200	21 Years Of Alternative Radio 1
 * SFRLP111     Joy Division

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.