Category Archives: Old Fruit

Old Fruit

Old Fruit 20th February 2026

Jake Thackray – Lah Di Dah

This week’s voyage into the archives is focusing on a niche collection of song writer’s who can bring a smile and a laugh to their audiences faces without specifically being a comedy act. Instead they are both observant and delightfully mischievous in their portraiture of the everyday life around them. They have an eye for the ridiculous, the pretentious and the grandeur that folk shield themselves in but have a lightness of touch when translating these details into song. They can play it for laughs in tandem with composing a beautiful, memorable song without resorting to being straight gag merchants or comic impressionists. Some of the selections this week, the first two in particular, are naturals in front of the TV camera as they have the gift of audience communication and can command a television studio as much as a concert stage. Jake was a UK TV regular some fifty years ago and does in fact preface his song about upper class aspirational types with some gentle jokes. The songs are his strength though and there are many more like this, I strongly recommend this 1967 – 1976 retrospective as a place to start https://amzn.to/4cK5o6e

Loudon Wainwright III – The Doctor

Loudon was one of the many singer songwriter’s labelled as a ‘new Dylan’ in the early seventies but the reality of his act has always been a long shot away from the Bob turf. For starters, Loudon has always been transparent when writing about his personal life, sometimes to the apparent annoyance of his children, in a way that Dylan generally avoids or disguises. Secondly, he has always been comfortable with playing it for laughs in the same moments he is punching you in the face with a hard truth. Finally, Wainwright will think nothing of setting up a song in concert or on a radio session with a long spoken, explanatory, introduction; something the monosyllabic onstage Bob will rarely do these days. Loudon’s career is long and distinguished at this point, here he is in the early 1990s with a song from that years ‘History’ album, which can be purchased here: https://www.discogs.com/release/2986342-Loudon-Wainwright-III-History

Tom Lehrer – We Will All Go Together When We Go

Here is a master satirist from the fifties who only got his hands dirty in music for a relatively short period, regarding himself as a mathematician first and a performer almost by accident. As the political events of the sixties unfolded he claimed to find them hard to satirize, sensing that he would merely be stating the obvious. That said, of the artists featured so far he is definitely the most overtly comedic and his wit could be as razor sharp as his wordplay could be biting. You can sample his recorded output easily enough, this being one of a few CD retrospectives available: https://amzn.to/4qStT4N

Randy Newman – My Life Is Good

Here is one America’s most acclaimed and consistently rewarding song writer’s who has found rich potential for his music in many films and soundtracks. Something that jumps out from this live clip is how musically eloquent he is, the way he dances around the piano firing off little dramatic musical intervals to build the drama around those incredible lyrics is worthy of the musical theatre. Anyone who enjoys the previous artists ability to be both funny and poignant in the same breath will surely find much to love in Newman’s work. Take this as a fantastic example, the singer playfully mocking the financial elite who believe their wealth elevates them above basic humanitarianism. The original recording appeared on his 1983 LP ‘Trouble In Paradise,’ an album that recently enjoyed the expanded deluxe edition treatment: https://amzn.to/4aschb5

Jonathan Richman – Vampire Girl

Not an act who is intentionally soliciting for laughs in the slightest, at least not that he would ever admit. Jonathan’s whole schtick has been built around playing on his wide eyed innocence, then following through with that in both writing and performance thus unlocking a career of a wholly unique stripe. He favours the stripped back simplicity of early rock ‘n’ roll and sings without a trace of cynicism or irony. The humour in his work is warm and gentle whilst his live sets are a primitive delight that cannot fail to entertain. ‘Vampire Girl’ is available on this 2002 ‘best of’ compilation which can be purchased via the link: https://amzn.to/4aFeVsL

Half Man Half Biscuit – 24 Hour Garage People

Half Man Half Biscuit are arguably the definitive example of an indie band who could not be described as a comedy act but are routinely hilarious in their writing nevertheless. The band have always been a vehicle for the writing of Nigel Blackwell, a musician whose work is keenly observed and littered with UK specific pop culture, indie rock and football references. The music always packs a primitive guitar band punch forming a canvas for Nigel to spray paint his observations, take downs and dry social send ups on. The song in this live clip tells of a hilariously dour encounter with a late night petrol station attendant which the singer extends brilliantly with a freeform riff in the middle. It originally appeared on the album ‘Trouble Over Bridgewater’ which can be purchased here: https://amzn.to/3Oqcnay

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Old Fruit

Old Fruit 13th February 2026

Leonard Cohen & Sonny Rollins – Who By Fire

This week’s journey through some vintage musical selections has a theme of unlikely or, as is the case with all six choices, very welcome collaborations. It was spurred by my chance encounter with our opening offering, a 1989 TV collaboration between a song writing icon and a free jazz legend. The programme which brought this pairing about was called ‘Night Music,’ hosted by David Sanborn and Jools Holland, a show well known for its matching of bright lights from seemingly opposite ends of the musical spectrum. This was an especially inspired pairing, as Rollins in tandem with Cohen’s backing singers and the Was (Not Was) band transformed the poets meditation on the fragility of life into a spiritual prayer of some considerable, freeform and exuberant, force. Best of all, behind that solemn face, you can easily detect Leonard’s delight in this transformative interpretation of one of his strongest works.

Nick Cave (with Toots Thielemans & Charlie Haden) – Hey Joe

‘Night Music’ was a new discovery to me and it turns out that pulling together unusual, first time, collaborators for live performances was one of its specialities. It was curated by Hal Willner and other intriguing sounding pairings included Conway Twitty with the Residents, Lou Reed & John Cale alongside Harry Connick Jr and Miles Davis (more on him in a bit) playing with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. For my other ‘Night Music’ pick today I have gone for this Nick Cave rendition of the sixties classic ‘Hey Joe’ because, once again, it speaks to oceans of untapped potential in the marrying up of deep singer-songwriters and the cutting edge of the bebop jazz world. Charlie Haden is a celebrated double bassist and composer who, among many other landmark appearances, had played on the 1959 ground breaker by Ornette Coleman, ‘The Shape Of Jazz To Come.’ And if that were not enough it also features the man routinely titled ‘the best harmonica player in the world’ Toots Thielemans and a very early televised sighting of Nick Cave playing with his long time band mate Mick Harvey.

Amy Winehouse & Paul Weller – Don’t Go To Strangers

This one is from the days when Jools Holland’s ‘Hootenanny’ on New Years Eve still had the capacity to delightedly overwhelm with its musical guests and match ups. Taken from the 2006 edition and capturing Amy at the end of a year that regrettably would prove to be the peak of her powers before they were tragically cut short. Together these two real-deal performers covered ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ in addition to this sympathetic rendition of a song originally heard in 1954 by The Orioles. It gave Amy a chance to once again flex the jazz stylings she had been known for when breaking through only a few years before and Paul an opportunity to prove what a jazz-soul connoisseur he is at heart. It is wholly understandable when watching back that this should be one of the all-time great appearances on the long running show and one that many frequently refer back to.

Anne Briggs & Bert Jansch – Go Your Way My Love

I include this one simply because any filmed appearance by the reclusive, legendary folk singer Anne Briggs is a super rare thing and to be treasured. She recorded a pair of albums during her time as an active artist in the sixties and early seventies, both highly regarded and influential to all leading names in folk these past fifty years and beyond, even bands like Led Zeppelin were indebted to her. But she retreated from public view permanently in the early seventies never to re-appear, save for this short, soon to be terminated, moment at the start of the nineties when she briefly indulged requests with an occasional appearance. One of those is here where she was filmed with guitar legend Bert Jansch at the old ‘Howff’ Folk Club on The Royal Mile, Edinburgh, for the 1992 BAFTA nominated music film documentary ‘Acoustic Routes.’

Miles Davis & John Coltrane – So What

Not strictly a double billing because John Coltrane was a part of Miles Davis first famous quintet from 1955 onwards and then, by the time Miles was laying down his ‘Kind Of Blue’ masterpiece in 1959, Coltrane was a long established and vital member of the group that, by then, was a sextet. This is of course the opening track from that classic album which also boasted a jazz heavyweight line up in the other players, featuring Cannonball Adderley on alto sax, Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums. In any other genre more would be made of two legends in the form appearing side by side like this on a record that, still today, is regarded as one of the greatest in the music’s history. Jazz can be more about respecting the music as much as the stars but still, for anyone that finds it an impenetrable genre I would point them to ‘So What’ and say just go from there. If something as timeless and wonderful as this does not pull you in, then get yourself another interest, music is not for you!

David Bowie & David Gilmour – Comfortably Numb

From a 2006 show at the Royal Albert Hall when David Gilmour was touring in support of his recent superb return to form solo album, ‘On An Island.’ Bowie had been out of the spotlight for a couple of years by this point following a health scare that prematurely terminated his ‘Reality’ tour. Little did we know at the time that his gentle return to public view in 2006 was not a step back into full time activity but instead the prelude to a final decade spent entirely out of the spotlight (save for the two late album releases prior to his death). It is of course understandable after the onstage trauma he had been through if he was reluctant to put himself in that situation again so, therefore, we are fortunate that this occasion was captured on film. If nothing else it shows the power of the man that he could, as near as possible, turn arguably David Gilmour’s signature Pink Floyd contribution into a David Bowie song for one night. Not that Gilmour did not step up and stamp his mark on it by the end too, both were on dazzling top form for sure.

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Old Fruit

Old Fruit 6th February 2026

Teleman – Dusseldorf

This week’s selection of older tunes focuses on the theme of wonderful bands and artists who do not get the kind of exposure on mainstream television that their music and talent warrant. It was inspired by a recent episode of TV comedy quiz show ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks,’ in which Teleman’s main man Thomas Sanders (also of the band Pete And The Pirates) appeared in the mystery person line up. It reminded me a bit of the days when a national TV appearance from a favourite indie band member was a rare and exciting thing, a little moment of infiltration and victory for the kind of musicians normally hidden from view. This felt just like that, almost like Thomas would never have been in contention for landing a slot as one of the main contestants on the show but he got in through the back door anyway and both of his excellent bands got a mention. So here is some Teleman with a track from their 2016 album ‘Brilliant Sanity,’ followed by five other tracks from artists similarly deserving of the more widespread recognition so often afforded to far less (for me) worthy recipients.

Peggy Sue – Always Going

Even though I still found a few things to enjoy in the 2025 series of ‘Later With Jools Holland,’ there was often a sense of frustration at booking opportunities missed and unnecessary chat time offered to guests with little of interest to say. But maybe one of the biggest ‘so near yet so far’ moments came when the main front duo from a favourite band of mine, Peggy Sue, appeared on the show as one of the headliners (I should add as a side note, they were not credited but I am certain it was them) but not under their own name or playing their own material. No, they were part of the dance troupe performing with Self Esteem. Obviously I cannot fault Rosa Slade or Katy Young for taking the work, whatever pays the bills I guess and besides, I am sure if Self Esteem offered me enough money to pull some shapes I would quite speedily suspend any critical issues I might have with the music. But all the same, Peggy Sue are a wonderful band in their own right and to see them appearing, playing Peggy Sue songs, on any national TV show would be a massive win for music. Here they are performing a number from their 2014 album ‘Choir Of Echoes.’

Andrew Bird – Lazy Projector

Andrew Bird was actually an artist I discovered via a TV programme, probably a good fifteen years ago now, possibly more. My next door neighbour at the time had been raving about this amazing musician that I had to see, which elicited the usual “I think I will be the judge of that” private scepticism from me because, like all music obsessives, nothing seems quite as exciting and revelatory as the thing you discover for yourself as opposed to that which someone else puts your way. I thought the sound of him was a bit gimmicky, as the USP put to me was that Andrew played all his own instruments simultaneously and built up the sound using loops and pedals. But then I did stumble across him playing on a live music show called ‘From The Basement’ and sure enough, he was as incredible as had been described. The thing about him for me is, aside from the multi-faceted facilities on various instruments, is that he can write a rather fine song, like the classic presented here.

Inspiral Carpets & Mark E Smith – I Want You

Mark E Smith’s band The Fall were potentially the number one cult UK act in 1994, beloved by John Peel as well as clued up sections of the music press and record buying public but seemingly forever destined to miss out on the kind of wider recognition their believers anticipated. All the same Mark was a relentlessly quotable presence in the weekly music press and the news that he was finally going to be appearing on the BBC’s long running chart show ‘Top Of The Pops’ promised to be much watch TV. He did not disappoint, prowling around the stage with a live microphone to recreate his ad-hoc additions to this brilliant Inspirals tune, you can sense the nervousness around at the unpredictable presence. He walks those boards like he wants to follow a feckless punter around a pub bar intent on picking a fight. There is even a story in circulation that he threatened to pull a knife on a member of the ‘Eastenders’ cast in the BBC canteen. If that is true it has to be a candidate for the most unusual route taken to national treasure status by anyone, such was the warmth that eventually grew around Mark E Smith’s unfiltered personality that the BBC even let him read out the Saturday afternoon football scores on one memorable occasion.

Spoon – Hot Thoughts

If it felt like I was giving ‘Later With Jools Holland’ a bit of an undeserved bashing in my text for the Peggy Sue song, it was only because I genuinely felt there were too many missed opportunities in the 2025 series and a wave of acts that I felt worth a national television leg-up not appearing whilst some far less essential, predictable names with major label clout pushing them forward, ate up too many broadcast minutes. That and the shorter length format, not to mention a dismal Hootenanny, gave the impression, for me, of a show running out of steam. But I do not want to lose sight of what essential viewing the show has been since its 1992 launch, with a winning eclectic music focused formula. It has frequently been the only place where acts of a certain stripe would be seen on the box. Spoon are one such example, one of my favourite bands for the whole of the 21st century but equally one that I do not recall seeing on British TV other than here, on ‘Jools’ in 2017.

Ween – Exactly Where I’m At

An uncategorisable oeuvre or a love of the absurd and the unpredictable might be enviable facets in the story of a band, but they are not qualities readily appreciated by TV producers and bookers. Ween have never been an act with an easy answer to the question “what do you do?” They are essentially a deeply skilled band who can get a hold of the essence in any genre or style, be it heavy metal or country, folk songs or the avant-garde, then put it through their own Ween blender and produce something that is impossibly, sometimes hilariously, wonderful. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they have had a few TV appearances in the US and, although I would like to direct readers to the eccentric charms of ‘Mister Can You Please Help My Pony?’ I could not find a television version of that one, so I present this superb rendition of the opening track from 2000’s ‘White Pepper’ album, arguably one of the bands more easily accessible efforts.

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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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