Category Archives: Old Fruit

Old Fruit

Old Fruit 30th January 2026

The Charlatans – One To Another

This weeks’ selection of vintage music focuses in on great bands of the 1990’s playing their classic material to a present day mid 2020’s audience. And still sounding amazing if not even better than in their heyday. It also maybe highlights the difficulty so many bands have in matching the highs of their early records with new material years later. There are some in these selections who have re-formed on the basis that they remain creative and put out fresh music, others who willingly accept their audiences appetite for the old stuff and then some, like first offering The Charlatans, who have never really stopped writing new albums and mixing it up live with the older classics. Still, seen here in the 2025 series of ‘Later With Jools Holland,’ they had initially played a couple of tunes from their latest release but it was still their rendition of this 1996 classic that gave the show a suitably rousing finale.

Blur – Beetlebum

Blur’s Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon have both individually remained relentlessly creative musicians and have learned the value in re-branding for newer projects and loosening themselves from the shackles of the past. And even though they are fully aware that the re-formed Blur are playing Wembley Stadium, as they did in 2023, not because of the new music but rather to let the golden days of the nineties rain down one more time, this did not stop them from tying a recently recorded album of new songs to the venture. By the time of the concerts however, there was only a passing acknowledgement of ‘The Ballad Of Darren’ during shows, attracting crowds of roughly 150,000 across two nights, that revisited the classics such as this 1997 number one single, taken from their ‘Blur’ album of the same year.

The Lemonheads – My Drug Buddy

Of course the thing about The Lemonheads is that they are essentially a one man vehicle for the music of Evan Dando, the other band members remaining a rolling cast of side-people that would not detract from the commercial clout of a Lemonheads project, no matter the identity of the players at Evan’s side. He obviously was canny enough to recognise that the band name packs more of a punch for his new music than he received when trying out as a solo artist. Furthermore, going out under the band name has given Dando license to dip into the pair of still un-surpassed grunge era classics they released; ‘It’s A Shame About Ray’ and ‘Come On Feel The Lemonheads’. A temptation that got the host especially excited on a recent TV appearance for ‘Tonight With Jimmy Fallon.’

The Cardigans – My Favourite Game

There is no evidence that I can find of The Cardigans having ever officially split up but despite this, they have not released a new album of songs since 2006’s ‘Super Extra Gravity.’ From 2011 onwards however, they have played together for occasional gigs or festival appearances, describing themselves when asked as still a going concern although evidently one that is happy to play the old stuff. It is true that they were thought of as quite twee in their earlier days and so by the time the band hit big with this song later in the 1990’s, it actually was a head-turning surprise. By the sounds of this recent live appearance, the harder rock muscle of their work remains an element they are very comfortable with, indeed they quite excel at it.

The Beta Band – Dry The Rain

Before they got a big shout out in the film ‘High Fidelity’ towards the end of the nineties, not too many had heard of The Beta Band and indeed, by the time they split up in 2004 it did feel like a case of gone way too soon. Some 21 years later they announced their reunion to tie in with a deluxe re-issue of ‘The Three EP’s’ and they atypically, amusingly, accompanied the news with statements about “shaking it out every couple of decades” and “showing the wall the Luminol, killing the lights and hitting the UV.”

Oasis – Cigarettes And Alcohol

Unlike their rivals from the decade, Blur, the re-formed Oasis showed absolutely no interest in writing any new material or attaching any particular importance to having the original line up of band members from the classic period. Neither were they bothered about TV or film coverage of the shows, this was all about the numbers all the way and squeezing every last drop out of the public appetite to attend and experience this communal live event. That is not to criticise though, because as this live clip from last year definitively proves, the combination of audience energy and band conviction did generate some authentic rock ‘n’ roll momentum from the occasions as the songs that made Oasis great in the first place enjoyed a fully deserved resurrection.

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Old Fruit

Old Fruit 23rd January 2026

Nancy Sinatra – These Boots Are Made For Walking

This week’s Old Fruit half dozen music offerings is based around early music videos, a look at how acts were approaching the visual medium in pre-MTV days, long before ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ in fact, which is where many assume the age of the music video began. Actually, the idea that a piece of promotional film could be shot to accompany a 45 release was already widely practised in the 1960s, albeit with far less attention paid to the quality or indeed the purpose of the picture. Half the time, as we shall see later, it was merely a case of a band getting their hands on a camera and filming themselves larking about. Not with todays first example though, Nancy Sinatra may have gone down the obvious sing and dance route but isn’t that all this classic slice of sixties pop needed? As long as Nancy and the dancers are all wearing boots and there are plenty of primary colours, hair shaking and movement they could hardly go wrong. Stand on it Nancy!

Mason Williams – Classical Gas

With no specialised music channels to aim for, often films would be created with a specific slot on an established TV show in mind. Such was the case for Mason Williams, who just happened to also be a chief writer on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and so had a ready made outlet for the short film accompanying his latest composition. By marrying a montage by Dan McLaughlin called ‘3000 Years Of Art,’ which utilised a method known as kinestasis, the early concept video showed rapid-fire images that created a sense of motion and helped push this classical guitar showcase high up the charts both in the US and the UK.

The Beatles – Rain

It is Strawberry Fields Forever that people often think of when crediting the Beatles with pioneering the music video medium in addition to multiple musical grounds the band broke. But, the previous year they had purposely shot promotional films for their latest ‘Paperback Writer’ 45, going to the trouble of capturing this video for the b-side ‘Rain’ as well. There is no suggestion of narrative or concept, this is nothing more than the fab four looking cool in the picturesque surroundings of Chiswick House and Gardens while half heartedly miming to the recording (sometimes, sometimes not). Still, at a time when the twin pressures of demand and volume of work made it impossible for them to reach or be seen by their whole worldwide audience at any one time, a short video to go with the latest records felt like a perfect solution.

Bob Dylan – Subterranean Homesick Blues

An artist less likely to be remembered as a music video pioneer than Bob Dylan you probably could not find. Admittedly, in later life he has caught everyone by surprise and appeared to fully embrace the medium, there is the ‘Must Be Santa’ video for starters with its inexplicable long wig and dancing but then, after Bob made a Christmas album anything became possible. That does not change the fact that for the longest part of his career he had no interest in videos. There is an interview in Q magazine from 1989 when the journalist reports on his record company trying to cajole Bob into making a video, only to get the response “can’t they use a photo?” Maybe he felt he had already mastered the form with this iconic piece shot in 1965? It certainly is a classic and best of all, if you are ever near the Savoy Hotel in London just go around the back and there, minus the scaffolding, is the exact same unchanged location that this film was shot.

Pink Floyd – Point Me At The Sky

Here is a band at the other end of the spectrum in as much as they would go on to invest creativity into the visual side of their music every bit as much as the audio and songs. Here though, there is precious little evidence that they will go in that direction. As friend of the band Aubrey Powell told Uncut magazine about this film: “When it came out, they asked Storm and I to make a film. We went to Biggin Hill and rented a couple of Tiger Moths. Everybody took turns to fly in them while we were shooting with a couple of old Bolexes and an Arriflex 16mm camera. It was all Biggles and jolly hockey sticks. That’s a very middle class, public schoolboys fun day out. Five Go Mad At Biggin Hill.”

Small Faces – Lazy Sunday

As much of a laugh as the Floyd boys may have had shooting their film, it was positively mapped out and storyboarded compared to this Small Faces effort. The whole essence of the film seems to be just turn the camera on and we will do something off the top of our heads. Crack a joke, run from left to right, shoot Steve as he goes into the outside toilet round the back of the house. It’s a lazy sunday, that will do won’t it? There is the one shot of Marriott taking a nap on the grass but it feels like they set up the shots of giant speakers magically appearing at the start, realised that had taken too long to set up, then captured the disgruntled elderly neighbour scene and thought, well that will probably do. The thing is, this is the Small Faces and ‘Lazy Sunday’ is one of the many delights on their classic ‘Ogdens’ album so yes, they can do as they please, the music does more than enough on its own!

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Old Fruit

Old Fruit 16th January 2026

David Bowie – Boys Keep Swinging

For the first edition of Old Fruit of the new year I have turned to the artist whose music has been receiving a very pleasing amount of attention around the tenth anniversary of his death. Bowie’s catalogue is an immersive maze once you get into it and I sense that the deep diving of his audio creations has only just begun. I did not see any credibility in a Guardian article claiming his influence is on the decline, you cannot measure the value of an artist like this on Spotify streams alone. Besides, skim away the pop hits of his 1983-86 period and you have to accept he was mostly an act outside of the mainstream, spearheading trends rather than following them. But, Bowie was also a master at infiltrating the popular arena even when the sound was edgy or abrasive. A rare trick aided by his willingness to appear in comedic TV skits such as this one, on the Kenny Everett Television Show.

David Bowie – White Light White Heat

Ask any serious David Bowie fan what they thought of the 1987 Glass Spider tour and chances are the feedback will not be that positive. Perhaps, more than any other time in his career, this was the moment when he was creatively drinking from an empty cup, with that years ‘Never Let Me Down’ album offering little to inspire. So, he presented a show high on scenery, props and choreography with a slick band at a time when appetite for eighties excess and tinny synths had all but dried up, especially in the underground and alternative scenes close to Bowie’s heart. Certainly, concert recordings from that year do have a little of the Spinal Tap doing ‘Stonehenge’ about them, especially the spoken dialogue that introduces ‘Glass Spider’ itself. That said, with a guitar line up on some dates that included the double kick of Peter Frampton and future Bob Dylan mainstay Charlie Sexton, the shows had their moments, like this energised scrub down of a Velvet Underground classic.

David Bowie – 5.15 The Angels Have Gone

The late careers of many a 20th century music icon have much in the way of undiscovered treasure, it seems that the bigger the impact of the early years the more likely it is that quality later work will be overlooked or underappreciated. I include Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Leonard Cohen in this list but it does absolutely apply to David Bowie. If you look at the final twenty years of his life, bearing in mind he took eight of those away from music, then the final seven albums in the catalogue present some of the best produced, most engaged, switched on and ultimately exciting music of his career. Starting with ‘Earthling’ all the way up to ‘Blackstar’, and I am including, unreleased at the time, ‘Toy’ in this because it is so good, and these alone represent a body of timeless work to match the best of all but the upper echelons of music artists in our time.

David Bowie & Cher – Young Americans Medley

The prime time TV studio medley of hits type performance might be the domain of far smoother operators than Bowie, it is the kind of thing you would expect from Neil Diamond or Tom Jones rather than the man who made music with Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Trent Reznor. But he wasn’t labelled a chameleon for nothing and the brilliant thing about this performance, rather than the medley itself which has so many rough joins it should be sent back to carpentry school, is the way David plays it totally straight without a hint of irony or detached cool. Just like Cher, he throws himself into it and in doing so delivers an improbable moment of music TV gold dust.

Tin Machine – Heaven’s In Here

Whilst the new documentary about Bowie’s later years, ‘The Final Act,’ has a lot to recommend it, I did feel it miscast the Tin Machine era of 1989-91 somewhat. It is very true that the UK music press especially ripped them apart and mocked Bowie’s attempts at fading into the background as a band member. It was like they felt he was being dishonest, just wanting him to be who he is rather than dictate that writers had to accept this new framework. It is a mystery that the more clued up journalists did not see that he was just feeling the times in an era when baggy and grunge alternative culture were rebelling against the pop star trappings and trying to reprioritise music. I feel that the documentary should have reflected more how Tin Machine were a fairly well executed idea, and a vital shake down for the fringes of Bowie’s audience that he probably rightly feared would hold him back creatively. And as this clip proves, the band did indeed have some very good moments wherein Tin Machine’s David adopted the front man role with real engaged commitment.

David Bowie – Let Me Sleep Beside You

We close this edition with a little sixties London pop gem from the future space cadets early years. This is exactly what I mean about the appreciation of his life’s work still being in its early days. Before he first troubled the charts in 1969 with ‘Space Oddity’ David made a lot of great records, of their time but without ageing badly, including a Deram album, that did not register commercially at all. Today, time has levelled things out to the extent that tracks like this sound like a whimsical, British psych era, colourful pop nugget. It matters little that hardly anyone heard it in 1967, it has risen over the years, just as several others from this period have, to a place of belonging in the vast, varied and vital David Bowie catalogue.

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Old Fruit

Old Fruit 31st October 2025

Kate Bush – Hammer Horror

Recognising that it is Halloween, this week’s retro music selection is a gathering of spooky, ghostly, blood, gore and horror music that are all hauntingly superb in their own way. We begin with the lead track from Kate Bush’s 1978 second album ‘Lionheart’ and it is a song that deliberately summons images of the cultish British Hammer films. The production especially gives a nod to atypical tropes heard in seventies scary drama incidental music, but in Kate’s hands it is also deliciously camp and extravagant. It is worth noting that the lyrics actually tell the tale of an actor haunted by the ghost of the man he replaced following that performers death in a tragic set accident.

Tom Waits – What’s He Building In There?

This is one of several stand out tracks from the Tom Waits 1999 album ‘Mule Variations’. Far more than a song, this is a sound collage and spoken word atmosphere piece that deals in the realms of suspicion and over-imagination. It hears Waits narrating the thoughts of a paranoid neighbour, allowing the unexplained private activities of another household to overwhelm him with suspicion, fantastical theorising and a haphazard joining of the dots in which two and two add up to five. The track brilliantly paints the paranoid mind state caused when a little knowledge becomes a dangerous thing. He works himself into such a state about these unknown activities that by the end Tom’s character has decided “we have a right to know” what they are.

The Tiger Lillies – The Crack Of Doom

If there is one act on the live scene today who fit a Halloween themed music selection like a glove, it has to be these fine purveyors of pre-war Berlin infused cabaret and macabre gypsy tinged dark bonhomie, The Tiger Lillies. In a long career and an impressively deep back catalogue, even their songs adopting a lighter, jauntier hue, are rendered unsettling by the falsetto pitched Martyn Jacques vocal delivery and that terrified white face stage make up they adopt; not so much a horror clown as a horrified manifestation of our worst nightmares. This song, one of their greatest, delights in the levelling effect death brings to all walks of society from top to bottom, highlighting that all human endeavours, both good and bad, high or low, turn to dust in the end. Cheers.

The Rattles – The Witch

I do not need too much of an excuse to move the sound in a psych-rock direction. Still, this does at least fit the bill in terms of subject matter and frenzied, spooked-out delivery. The fact that it is also a buzzing pop juggernaut with an over-abundance of hooks and riffage is just the icing on the blood red cake. Becoming a massive hit in 1970, this German band spent time in the sixties treading the same Hamburg boards as The Beatles, it was actually a re-recording of a track originally put out in 1968. This one, the famous version for sure, features a startling and startled vocal performance from Edna Bejarano, who was only with this long running band for three years.

Dusty Springfield – Spooky

I actually discovered over the past month a brilliant instrumental version of this song by Lack Of Afro (it will feature on next months playlist) but I thought for this feature, it has to be the classic 1970 Dusty version. However, this was not the original as the song was first written as an instrumental, in part by saxophonist Mike Shapiro who performed it in 1967 under the name Mike Sharpe. Lyrics were then added later that year by guitarist James Cobb and producer Buddy Buie for a recording by Classics IV. The soulful Springfield version however, is rightly regarded as a classic and it enjoyed a second wave of popularity after 1998 when featured in the film ‘Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels’.

R. Dean Taylor – There’s A Ghost In My House

I am closing the feature this week on a high by including a song that, whether with my DJ hat on, or just sitting at home playing records, in fact wherever I may find myself controlling the music on October 31st in any year, I just cannot leave out. This northern soul stomper, originally from 1967, had a major revival and re-release in 1974 thanks to the thriving dance scene in northern England driven by the Wigan Casino. R. Dean Taylor himself was a Canadian singer, songwriter and producer working for Motown records, which is how he came to release a couple of breakout hit singles on the label. The most notable one at the time was ‘Gotta See Jane’ but ‘There’s A Ghost In My House’ is the undisputed classic. Just slide away to that descending guitar riff, crank up the volume to the spirits drowning max and give those kids knocking on your door a treat of a more musical nature.

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Old Fruit

Old Fruit 24th October 2025

Phil Ochs – I Ain’t Marching Anymore

This week’s selection of older music recommendations is a feature inspired by the soon-to-land new Bob Dylan Bootleg Series Volume 18 box set. It offers a deep dive into the early Dylan period when he arrived in New York, soaked up the culture, history and political positioning of the folk scene around Greenwich Village and very soon became the most famous songwriter at the forefront of the protest movement. To compliment that, here are six tracks from some of the other musicians and songwriters Bob would have been rubbing shoulders with during this era. Many would influence Bob directly, some would collaborate with him whilst others, with Phil Ochs being the prime example, would motivate Bob more as artists he viewed as rivals within the topical song explosion. Dylan and Ochs had flashpoints in the mid-sixties (Dylan once booted Ochs out of a cab with the words “you’re just a journalist” ringing in his ears, his crime nothing more than, correctly, ascertaining that ‘Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window’ was not as good as Dylan’s previous release) but a mutually respectful connection did survive with Ochs often publicly defending against criticism of Bob’s adopting a folk-rock sound. Ochs tale is a sad one of mental health decline and a terminal downward spiral in the early seventies that he could not lift himself from. But, despite his lack of commercial success, Phil’s reputation must have held among peers. It is fascinating to hear on the new John Lennon set, focusing on Lennon’s own dalliance with protest music around 1971-72, how he jammed with Phil upon arriving in America, trying to find inspiration from the man clearly still regarded as one of the more effective, credible writers of this kind. One of the songs Phil played John that night was this, a pacifist classic from the mid sixties about turning away from military combat in search of another way, an idea that definitely chimed with Lennon’s own ‘War Is Over’ publicity campaign.

Carolyn Hester – Dink’s Song

Carolyn’s bit-part in the Bob Dylan story is quite a pivotal one actually. Her self titled album released in 1962 for Columbia featured Bob as an instrumentalist, playing the harmonica on some of the tracks such as ‘Swing And Turn Jubilee’ and ‘I’ll Fly Away’. Other than it being Bob’s first recording of any kind on a major label, it is also highly likely that it was this session that brought Bob to the attention of John Hammond, soon to be the man opening the doors to Columbia for Dylan to sign a first solo recording contract and make his own self titled debut LP. As can be heard on this selection, Carolyn had a fine voice and style of her own and with Davy Graham backing her on guitar, it is clear Dylan was only one of many folk legends she would work alongside.

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott – San Francisco Bay Blues

There is a funny detail within the pages of the new book that accompanies the latest edition of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series. It tells of the hilarity in Bob’s reaction to finding out the news that Ramblin’ Jack Elliott’s real name is Elliott Charles Adnopoz. Apparently the former Mr. Zimmerman, whose own backstory and its legitimacy, or lack of, would come into question soon enough could not help but fall about laughing. Ramblin’ Jack would be a key figure in Bob’s early development, with this own absorbing of the sound, manner and music of Woody Guthrie believed to be largely learned from Elliott. He was after all a man of whom Woody Guthrie himself said around this time “he sounds more like me than I do”.

Fred Neil – Dolphins

One of the real buried treasures of the Greenwich Village sixties scene was Fred Neil. A singer songwriter who seemed to have no commercial instinct whatsoever and displayed absolutely no interest in finding one. He is mentioned by Dylan in ‘Chronicles’ as being one of the first connections Bob would make upon his arrival in New York and he soon found himself backing Fred on harmonica. As a writer and performer this enigmatic singer really did have some gorgeous music up his sleeve, all delivered with that laid back bottomless baritone of a vocal. It was Fred Neil who wrote and recorded ‘Everybody’s Talkin”, a soon to be classic that rose to the top when sung on the ‘Midnight Cowboy’ soundtrack by Harry Nilsson. However, this deep floating ode to escapism and a simpler life swimming with dolphins is the song that Fred should be remembered for, it is a mid-sixties folk masterpiece with a grace and beauty that remains timeless.

Karen Dalton – It Hurts Me Too

There is a photograph of Bob Dylan playing harmonica with Fred Neil, as described in the intro to the previous song, which I shall feature at the end of this article. The female figure in between them is Karen Dalton, another artist who similar to Fred made some indelible, enduring records at the time but never gained much recognition and faded from view all too soon. Dylan once called her his favourite singer in the village and her mournful vocal style was often compared to Billie Holiday. Despite the appreciation of her peers, Karen was a reluctant performer and even more disinclined to play the kind of music industry games that were standard at the time in order to promote your work. Her two albums were released quietly in 1969 and 1971, in fact one is said to have been recorded in a single night session as if by accident, and a justifiably acclaimed reputation today has mainly arisen since her death in 1993 at the age of 55.

Malvina Reynolds – No Hole In My Head

With an image that suggested a safer, approachable grandmotherly figure, Malvina Reynolds presents as one of the more unusual and unique singer-songwriters of the period. Far from middle-of-the-road, her wonderful songs had a healthy bite and cynicism in their veins. One of her songs positioned Malvina as a happy failure in the world, comfortable with her status because “those that succeed are the sons of bitches”. She actually did not start writing music until her late 40s and made serious inroads in the folk scene thanks to the political punch in her lyrics and easy way with satirical, engaging storytelling lyrics. Her most famous composition was probably ‘Little Boxes’ sung by Pete Seeger but other artists covering Reynolds songs included Joan Baez, The Seekers and Harry Belafonte. Later on she also contributed compositions to the children’s show ‘Sesame Street’.

Bob Dylan alongside Karen Dalton backing Fred Neil in the early sixties

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Old Fruit

Old Fruit 17th October 2025

Deradoorian – A Beautiful Woman

This week’s vintage selection of tunes jumps back exactly ten years this month and re-investigates some of the new music Fruit Tree Records was getting excited about in October 2015. Top of the pile back then was this debut release by a former member of the Dirty Projectors. Working under the solo name Deradoorian, this genre surfing experimental art-rock artist had released her first album ‘The Expanding Flower Planet’ and, just as that title was a self-proclaimed attempt to represent “the expansion of consciousness”, so too did the music display a bold visionary leap into the realms of multi-layered exploration and spiritual open minded release. The hypnotising opening track is performed live here in a stunning video highlighting the artists sense of sonic purpose and clever mix of technology and soul.

John Howard & The Night Mail – Intact & Smiling

It wasn’t all just young sonic space cadets making the most musically satisfying sounds this month a decade ago. I was also thrilled by a new release from the legendary Pretty Things as well as this slice of late (two decades late) period Britpop from John Howard. His career had begun in the seventies with the debut album ‘Kid In A Big World’ on CBS being regarded as a bit of a cult classic. This track from the then new album with the Night Mail was released on Tapete Records and it sat well in the catalogue of a label known for its support of artists crafting intelligent pop and song writing. Having at one time retired from performing, the album was a key part of his second act and he continues to release new music to this day.

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – S.O.B.

The opening pair of tunes this week were top drawer musically but they remained decidedly underground in 2015. This one on the other hand was a major breakthrough for the artist and enjoyed some major exposure on mainstream TV (as seen in this Jools Holland clip here but the big one for Nathaniel in 2015 was probably his Jimmy Fallon performance of the song) as well as numerous commercials and TV shows including ‘Fargo’, ‘Brockmire’ and ‘Two Doors Down’. It also represented a significant shift stylistically for Nathaniel whose previous work had leaned into more of a folk style but here, on his bands full length debut, they grabbed this gospel referencing soulful groove with both hands and ran with it to memorable, shoe-shuffling effect.

Widowspeak – All Yours

This dreamy dose of Americana sounds like a cross between Mazzy Star and The Cranberries which is no bad thing. Widowspeak are a duo comprising Molly Hamilton and Robert Earl Thomas and this was a tune featured on their third album ‘Captured Tracks’ released in 2015 representing a shift in their creative process towards a more organic style of writing and playing. They managed to exude both an intimacy and a grand expressiveness with their sound; the former is clear enough in the emotive manner Molly brings to the reflective lyric but the latter is evident too in the depth of the sound and those echoes of vintage rock ‘n’ roll heard in the sumptuously twanging guitar.

La Luz – You Disappear

It is no surprise upon returning to this track to recognise that La Luz and their main woman Shana Cleveland have become firm Fruit Tree Records favourites over the last ten years. Everything I rate about the bands sound was already on display here, those heavy sunset sonics in the keys and melodies combined with the organic rough edges of their garage band aesthetic. They were also writing some damn fine pop songs which appeared on the second La Luz album ‘Weirdo Shrine’ that year, a record that undoubtedly found the right producer in the shape of 21st century garage rock king Ty Segall. If you haven’t woken up to them already, then just ride the waves of those surf-sounding guitars and let this sensational band take you there.

Timo Lassy – Hip Or Not

It was not just acts with garage band sensibilities summoning up the echoes of sixties vintage music in 2015. This track has all the elements of a funk-infused sixties Blue Note jazz classic waiting to be heard in its grooves. ‘Hip Or Not’ is from the album ‘Love Bullet’ released by the Finnish saxophonist Timo Lassy and whilst it does conjure thoughts of a golden era, it can also claim to possess a timelessness and true class in the production. This was Lassy’s fifth studio album and it was to be a record he regarded as a reaction to a few colourful years of his life, which maybe accounts for the inviting intimacy of the music in tandem with its infectious warm grooving. This one, as have the other selections this week, has been a welcome resurrection and is ripe for rediscovery, so dig in.

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Old Fruit

Old Fruit 10th October 2025

John Lennon – Come Together

It would have been John Lennon’s 85th birthday yesterday and so in honour of his enduring legacy, alongside the newly remastered release of his 1972 Madison Square Gardens concert which accompanies the restored footage that appeared in the film ‘One To One: John & Yoko’ released earlier this year, this weeks selection of older music clips is a John Lennon special. We begin with one of the few occasions he revisited his Beatles catalogue on a concert stage (the one other notable example was during his guest appearance with Elton John in 1974) and the revitalised footage certainly unleashes the rocking power of the performance. This is from that 1972 concert, tragically the only time John would ever play a full solo show based around his own songs. Other occasions were either of an avant garde nature with Yoko or with the ad-hoc Plastic Ono bands he would occasionally show up with mainly doing rock ‘n’ roll covers. So, for rarity alone but also for its conviction, this is a special moment.

The Beatles – You Can’t Do That

The first years of The Beatles worldwide invasion were largely propelled by the raw attack of John Lennon’s thick Liverpudlian rock ‘n’ roll voice. Of course, over the years, the musicality of McCartney has been evaluated to properly acknowledge the genius that he is to this day, but the primal force of John Lennon remains undeniable and probably still the element that gets people into The Beatles in the first place. That is on display here on a lesser celebrated number but no less wonderful for that.

John Lennon & The Dirty Mac – Yer Blues

The Dirty Mac were a one off supergroup formed for the 1968 Rolling Stones picture ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus’. The film would sit in the vaults for years because the Stones were unhappy with some aspects of it (possibly that they were outshone by the other acts invited to appear) but this four piece featuring Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Mitch Mitchell and John earned their place in music folklore thanks to the status, if nothing else, of providing a mega-rare filmed live performance of a Beatle performing a track from ‘The White Album’ in the year it was released.

The Beatles – I Am The Walrus

John Lennon was the Beatle that embraced English psychedelia to the full and with this track, ‘A Day In The Life’ and ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ in particular, wrote some of the movements most enduring pieces of work. Not only that, but this track and accompanying film sequence alone rescue the Beatles much maligned ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ film from the realms of the inessential.

John Lennon – Instant Karma

One thing that gets repeated by many who worked with him about John Lennon, is that he was lacking in patience and he loved the thrill of the instant hit and spontaneity. ‘Instant Karma’ was a non-album single from 1970 that epitomised this working approach and even this ‘Top Of The Pops’ appearance, after the single had charted, clearly shows John buzzing off the energy of having written, recorded and released a track in the space of two weeks. In fact he said of it that they “wrote it for breakfast, recorded it for lunch, and we’re putting it out for dinner”

John Lennon – Imagine

And we end back at that 1972 concert with a heartfelt rendition of the classic and then still only recently released title track from John’s second solo album. This is the latest of many restored and dynamically revived pieces of film footage we have enjoyed relating to John and the Beatles in recent years and once again, despite being relatively well known amongst Lennon fans, it does have the glossy sheen of something new.

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Old Fruit 3rd October 2025

Tim Buckley – Happy Time

Last week the sad news broke of the passing of double bass legend Danny Thompson. As a tribute to the man and his immense fingerprint left on the landscape of 20th century music this weeks edition of Old Fruit pulls six archive performances enhanced by Danny’s involvement holding down that bottom end. First up, a rare piece of film capturing the week in October 1968 when Tim Buckley visited the UK to play the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London. Danny was part of his pick up band upon arrival in the UK, rising to the unenviable challenge of following Tim’s music and bringing an appreciative backing to proceedings. It is evidence of Danny’s standing in the sixties as a go-to session man, a reputation that would see his name appear on many credits from the time, most notable on records by Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, John McLaughlin Trio and Nick Drake.

Pentangle – Light Flight

Danny’s presence on the double bass in Pentangle undoubtedly elevated the bands fusion of folk, jazz and free-form acoustic psychedelics to heights they would not have attained with a mere four string plunker. He could bring both percussive energy and improvisational alertness and as such, the band felt like the ideal environment for his eloquences to thrive and evolve. For a time they did too, although Danny was never likely to be limited to just one combination of players during a career when so many would seek out his sound, his ear and his magic touch. Here he is performing arguably Pentangle’s most well known number at the start of 1971, a song that was originally both a 45 and a stand out number from the bands ‘Basket Of Light’ album.

John Martyn – Couldn’t Love You More

John Martyn’s deep folk-jazz fusion benefited from the Danny Thompson touch in a collaboration that would last more than three decades. They first came together for Martyn’s 1973 classic ‘Solid Air’ and it would be a union that endured through not just studio work, but mouth watering live concert sessions too, as is witnessed here from a vintage ‘Old Grey Whistle Test’ clip. Their last known shows together were in the early 2000’s by which time Danny almost sounded like the essential component in John Martyn’s soulful, probing musical quest.

Richard Thompson – Put It There Pal

Similarly on a wavelength were the musical interactions between folk-rock maestro Richard Thompson and Danny. It has long been impossible for the pair to be written about without first explaining that they were not brothers, but with the kind of intuitive understanding they often displayed in live performance it was hard not to think there must be some higher degree of communication going on. Their highlights are worth digging into across a multitude of live recordings over the years but they did also share joint billing on an under-the-radar 1997 studio album called ‘Industry’.

Martin Simpson – Heartbreak Hotel

There is a temptation in compiling this selection to dip into some of the more mainstream cameos to be found of Danny’s work over the years. Top of that list is his bass credit on Everything But The Girl’s nineties melancholy dance classic ‘Missing’, of which there are TV appearances featuring Danny to be found should you care to dig them out, but really all he is doing on that track is holding down a very basic, beat accompanying low end. His playing always shines with brighter colours and variation when heard alongside an instrumentalist of similar dexterity. That is what we find here, playing in tandem with folk guitar legend Martin Simpson on a live bluesy version of a fifties rock ‘n’ roll classic.

Danny Thompson – Idle Monday

We finish with one of the all too scarce examples of Danny taking the lead on a performance of a tune from his first solo album. ‘Whatever’ was released in 1987 to a favourable critical reception in the jazz world, it gave Thompson a platform to express his love of folk and jazz in a deep instrumental showcase that did open the door for future solo projects in a similar vein. Danny himself said “I just wanted Kate Bush to like it. I wanted the jazzers to like it. I wanted the folk side to like it”. Returning to the album after news of his death broke, this work does stand the test of time and represents a grain of the mans music that is ripe for rediscovery amongst the many higher profile recordings on which his genius, expressive playing can be heard. We have lost a good one here, RIP Danny Thompson.

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Old Fruit

Old Fruit 26th September 2025

Billy Bragg – Between The Wars

For this edition of Old Fruit we are jumping back forty years to 1985 and a few tracks that show an often maligned period in popular music had some seeds of hope in the margins away from the thin-synth dominance of the mainstream. I am kicking off with Billy Bragg because I launched this weeks Fresh Juice with another guitar crunching bard from Essex and I felt like indulging in a bit more of the South of England’s London overspill splendour. Bragg’s classic lament drew vivid parallels between the working class struggles felt in England between the world wars and the Britain he drew topical inspiration from in the eighties. Forty years later, the relevant themes insure this song still has a place in the musical culture, even if the idea of the protest song itself now seems awfully idealistic and naïve. Bragg though, always sang, and continues to sing, with feeling and sincerity which is precisely why he has endured.

R.E.M. – Driver 8

In 1985 this tune, heard here in a rare earlier acoustic performance, would be one of the stand out tunes on R.E.M.’s third album ‘Fables Of The Reconstruction’, a record the band would have less than fond memories of recording in a damp English winter with the legendary Joe Boyd in the producers chair. It seems incredible now that while the US was frothing over Madonna and Prince (justifiably so I might add) ploughing away in the margins at the exact same time was one of America’s greatest ever rock bands, quietly refining their craft and slowly finding their identity. Maybe it should stand as a lesson in two things; firstly that there is a lot to be said for not tasting success too early and secondly, that the good stuff really does rise to the surface eventually. Nowadays, all five of those pre-worldwide fame R.E.M. albums are regarded as must hear classics.

The Fall – Spoilt Victorian Child

Whereas the previous band would tangibly move from their cult, outsider status to a place where their genius won the acclaim and success it deserved, the same pathway never opened out for The Fall. That is, I guess, understandable for the confrontational, unpredictable and undiluted delivery of leader Mark E. Smith was clearly never made for mass mainstream consumption. Even when he did break through to occasionally occupy a popular platform (I’m thinking about his Top Of The Pops appearance with the Inspiral Carpets in 1994 or the later time when BBC TV got him to read the Saturday evening football results) the tension that followed Mark around was not unlike that felt when a potentially aggressive thug stumbles into a pub looking for someone to pick an argument with. But maybe that was the thing that gave The Fall their spark? That garage rock energy and post-punk edginess moulded into something wholly unique and real by Smith’s primitive, poetic take on life as a working class man from Northern Britain.

The Waterboys – The Whole Of The Moon

For just a short time in the 1980s The Waterboys featured two of the periods greatest songwriting and producing talents. Band leader Mike Scott, for whom the group were essentially always a solo project with an ever rotating supporting cast of musicians (much like The Fall actually), is the ever present Waterboy but for a couple of albums back then they also had the equally gifted Karl Wallinger. It was undoubtedly a volatile pairing as both men were natural leaders with a strong desire to back their ideas but Karl did later prove himself in his own one-man band with changeable sidemen configuration, World Party. ‘The Whole Of The Moon’ remains the crown jewel from their time together, definitively Mike Scott’s composition but traces of Walllinger across the recording are undeniable and do enhance it with sonic stardust that continues to burn bright to this day.

Camper Van Beethoven – Take The Skinheads Bowling

This was an early underground anthem from a band formed in 1983 in Redlands, California having emerged from garage bands like Sitting Duck and Estonian Gauchos. This track helped bestow a quirky irreverence on them that, along with their facility to eclectically fuse punk, folk, psych and ska influences, insured their status as cult favourites. This one appeared on debut album ‘Telephone Free Landslide Victory’ and two more albums would appear the following year before they signed to Virgin in 1987. They split in 1990 (although would reform by the end of the decade) after their last notable success, a 1989 cover of Status Quo’s ‘Pictures Of Matchstick Men’ which became a number 1 hit on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks in 1989.

‘Til Tuesday – Voices Carry

Elvis Costello once described the eighties as “the decade that taste forgot” and whilst this weeks feature has been tailored to present the case for the defence from the eras middle period, when all the excesses provoking that kind of comment were at a peak, it is true that around 1985 you could find acts like Bob Dylan, Neil Young and even Elvis himself struggling with the digital production evolutions of the time. But this final selection also points to the same issues possibly restricting newer artists who would find their sound a lot more convincingly later in the nineties and beyond. Aimee Mann, one of the next decades most credible and dependable purveyors of a grungy, folk-rock sound, is heard here leading her band ‘Til Tuesday, clearly developing the writing chops that would serve her so well later on, but arguably held back by a flat mid-eighties pop sheen. This isn’t too bad, there is a lot of potential on display, but there was much better to come further down the line. Something I find myself thinking about a lot of music from this era.

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Old Fruit

Old Fruit 22nd August 2025

Ottilie Patterson & Chris Barber Band – Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean

For this edition of Old Fruit I am looking back at half a dozen vintage jazz selections all of which are cooking, boiling, frothing, fizzing and fantastic. The late fifties and early sixties were overflowing with undeniable jazz music, it is probably fair to assess that this was the last era when jazz sailed close to the mainstream. Not only was it a period of great leaps forward in melodic and structural evolution but it was delivered with such ice-cool style and image. No wonder it all just looks so classic now. So, set alongside some of this bebop, bohemian cutting edge elegance, some of the British trad jazz contingent may have started to look very old fashioned seemingly overnight. But while there may be some truth to that with a combo like the Chris Barber Band, as this clip clearly proves they could still tear it up with the best of them. Mind you, they were instantly pushed into a different league altogether any time the deceptively domestic looking Ottilie Patterson stepped up to the microphone, a singer of such pure vocal power and honesty that she even managed to out-soul Ruth Brown when covering her 1953 R&B classic as the band do here. One look at Ottilie and you know this is the real thing!

Jimmy Giuffre Trio – The Train And The River

As mentioned in the text accompanying the first song, the style and visual presentation of jazz during this period was potentially as crucial to its long term status as the music itself. Nowhere was the indelible late fifties jazz look captured on film better than the 1958 picture ‘Jazz On A Summers Day’, the opening sequence of which are the images that appear with this performance. The Jimmy Giuffre Trio had released this piece the previous year and it won many plaudits for its realisation of Giuffre’s “blues based folk jazz” which merged understated swing with the sensibilities of a chamber referencing musicianship. That this rendition at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival should open the film depicting events and performances at that years festival only serves to cement this hypnotic piece into the fabric of the eras jazz lineage. And just look at the names in those opening credits, if you have not seen this movie get on whatever streaming platform you need to find it and put that right immediately.

Art Blakey & Lee Morgan – I Remember Clifford

Whilst not quite as celebrated as Miles Davis, Lee Morgan has stood the test of time and to this day remains one of the essential players to listen to from this period of jazz history. He had a beautiful tone to his playing, an awareness of melodic motion and an appreciation of the simple truth that sometimes less is more. His music remains a real pleasure to experience and his untimely death in 1972 is still one of the greatest losses to the music world imaginable. Lee had recorded this tune, a 1956 Benny Golson composition written in tribute to trumpeter Clifford Brown who had died in a car crash, on his 1957 Blue Note Records album ‘Lee Morgan Volume 3’. On both the recording and this live footage the composer Golson is present on saxophone and it is said that he regarded it as a symbolic passing of the torch from Brown to Morgan, at the time still very much a young trumpet prodigy from Philadelphia.

Charles Mingus – Better Git It In Your Soul

This was the opening track from Mingus’s legendary 1959 album ‘Mingus Ah Um’. It suits the mans personality, it is a mammoth tune that unfolds with might and momentum and packs a punch with undeniable force. You see it in these images (when they begin, the first three minutes of this one is audio only), even when the brass soloists step forward it is still Charles you cannot take your eyes off, a powerhouse propelling everything forward. The tune was inspired by the gospel singing and preaching heard where Mingus grew up, the shouts, handclaps and sense of anything goes improvisation reaching for, and finding, the spirit of a Southern Black church service. This tune is considered one of the best examples of Mingus’s faculty for bringing complex themes and structures into a soulful and rousing melange of sound.

Bill Evans – Waltz For Debby

This tune first appeared on Bill Evans 1957 debut album ‘New Jazz Conceptions’ on Riverside Records. It was written for his niece, Debby Evans, and is a beautifully lyrical waltz that blends Evans classical sensibilities with jazz harmonies. This was to become Evans most iconic original composition that would also go on to be the title track for a live album recorded at the Village Vanguard in June 1961, this proved to be the final recording for Evans legendary first trio, often hailed as the pinnacle of piano trio interplay. This particular piece of film is from 19th March, 1965 recorded for the London BBC TV series Jazz 625.

Miles Davis – So What

And I simply cannot resist the urge to finish this jazz half dozen with arguably the most iconic piece of film footage from the genre available on YouTube. ‘So What’, with the previous songs leader Bill Evans on piano not to mention John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley on saxes, was recorded and released in 1959 on the landmark Miles Davis album ‘Kind Of Blue’. To this day it remains an all time jazz classic, so wonderful in its simplicity on the one hand and yet a foundation block for all the freedoms and melodic space that would define modal jazz in years to come and prove to be a guiding influence for many a legendary artist, including Coltrane himself as well as people like Herbie Hancock and so much of what was to evolve on the Blue Note label in the sixties, seventies and beyond. On top of that, it just all looks so fantastically cool.

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