Record Labels

In 1969 Peel founded Dandelion Records (named after his pet hamster) so he could release the debut album by Bridget St John, which he also produced. The label released 27 albums by 18 different artists before folding in 1972. Of its albums, There is Some Fun Going Forward was a sampler intended to present its acts to a wide audience, however Dandelion was never a great success, with only two releases charting in national charts: Medicine Head in the UK with "(And The) Pictures In The Sky" and Beau in Lebanon with "1917 Revolution".

As Peel stated:

It was never a success financially. In fact, we lost money, if I remember correctly, on every single release bar one. I did quite like it but it was terribly indulgent. Not as indulgent as it would have been had I not had a business partner, admittedly... I liked having a label. It enabled you to put out stuff that you liked without, in those days, having to worry about whether it was going to work commercially. I've never been a good business man.

Peel appeared on one Dandelion release: the David Bedford album Nurses Song with Elephants, recorded at the Marquee Studios, as part of a group playing twenty-seven plastic pipe twirlers on the track "Some Bright Stars for Queen's College".

Albums

    • 63750: Bridget St John - Ask Me No Questions

    • S63751: Beau - Beau

    • 63752: Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - Soundtrack

    • 63753: Occasional Word Ensemble - The Year of the Great Leap Sideways

    • 63754: Gene Vincent - I'm Back and I'm Proud

    • 63755: Siren - Siren

    • 63756: Mike Hart - Mike Hart Bleeds

    • 63757: Medicine Head - New Bottles Old Medicine

    • DAN8001/K49001: Siren - Strange Locomotion

    • DAN8002/K49002: Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - The Asomoto Running Band

    • DAN8003/K49003: Stack Waddy - Stack Waddy

    • DAN8004/K49004: The Way We Live - A Candle for Judith

    • DAN8005/K49005: Medicine Head - Heavy on the Drum

    • DAN8006/K49006: Beau - Creation (With The Way We Live)

    • DAN8007/K49007: Bridget St John - Songs for the Gentle Man

    • DSD8008/K69001: Lol Coxhill - Ear of Beholder

    • 2310145: Burnin' Red Ivanhoe - WWW

    • 2310146: Supersister - To the Highest Bidder

    • 2310165: David Bedford - Nurse's Song with Elephants

    • 2310166: Medicine Head - Dark Side of the Moon

    • 2310193: Bridget St John - Thank You For

    • 2310211: Mike Hart - Basher Chalky Pongo and Me (as Mike Hart & the Comrades)

    • 2310216: Clifford T. Ward - Singer Songwriter

    • 2310217: Tractor - Tractor

    • 2310228: Kevin Coyne - Case History

    • 2310231: Stack Waddy - Bugger Off

    • 2485021: Various artists - There is Some Fun Going Forward (sampler album)

      • Singles

    • S4596: Gene Vincent - "Be-Bop-A-Lula '69" / "Ruby Baby"

    • S4661: Medicine Head - "His Guiding Hand" / "This Love of Old"

    • S4781: Mike Hart - "Yawney Morning Song" / "Almost Liverpool 8"

    • 4786: Bill Oddie - "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at" / "Harry Krishna"

    • S4974: Gene Vincent - "White Lightning" / "Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair)"

    • S5075: Medicine Head - "Coast to Coast" / "All for Tomorrow"

    • S5119: Stack Waddy - "Roadrunner" / "Kentucky"

    • S4403: Beau - "1917 Revolution" / "Sleeping Town"

    • K4404: Bridget St John - "To B Without A Hitch" / "Autumn Lullaby"

    • S4405: Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - "Ballad of the Big Girl Now" / "Lament for Earth"

    • S4493: Clague - "Mandy Lee" / "Bottle Up and Go" (With Kevin Coyne)

    • S4494: Coyne-Clague - "The Stride" / "I Wonder Where"

    • DAN7002/K19004: Siren - "Strange Locomotion" / "I'm All Aching"

    • DAN7003/K19002: Medicine Head - "(And the) Pictures in the Sky" / "Natural Sight"

    • DAN7004/K19003: Yamasukis - "Yamasuki" / "Aieaoa"

    • 2001276: Medicine Head - "Kum On" / "On the Land"

    • 2001282: Tractor - "Stoney Glory" / "Marie" / "As You Say"

    • 2001325: Medicine Head - "Only To Do What Is True" / "Sittin' in the Sun"

    • 2001327: Clifford T. Ward - "Carrie" / "Sidetrack"

    • 2001331: Stack Waddy - "You Really Got Me" / "Willie the Pimp"

    • 2001357: Kevin Coyne - "Cheat Me" / "Flowering Cherry"

    • 2001382: Clifford T Ward - "Coathanger" / "Rayne"

    • 2001383: Medicine Head - "How Does It Feel" / "Morning Light"

    • 2058214: Coxhill Bedford Duo - "Mood" / "Sonny Boy" / "Oh Mein Papa" (B-side by Will Dandy & the Dandylettes)

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 (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 its doors 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 seeing as the first release that came out was an EP of New Order's first Peel session. Six months later John Peel sadly passed away.

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