Genesis – The Musical Box

As a new feature for this website and as a companion piece for the half a dozen Fresh Juice offerings of new music, Old Fruit is a selection of half a dozen older music clips presented here because they either have some current relevance, they are newly discovered archive material or simply that I just like them a lot and want to share. As is the case with this super high quality picture of Genesis in 1974, performing their epic ‘Musical Box’ number for the TV cameras, capturing Peter Gabriel in a moment where his theatrical stage craft was perfectly pitched. It is fair to say that by the end of 1974 his ideas were over stretching a little and fellow band members would complain that costumes and the focus on visuals were over shadowing the music. But equally, they probably would not have won the attention they enjoyed in the early part of the seventies without Gabriel’s weird aura but whatever, it retains a curious eccentric English charm on show to full effect here…

Crowded House – Distant Sun

There have been many songwriters who benefit from comparisons to either Lennon or McCartney but its the ones that get favourable mentions in the same breath as Lennon & McCartney that are the ones to pay special attention to. Neil Finn of Crowded House is one such performer and he has written many hit singles, some like ‘Weather With You’ or ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ shine brightly but ‘Distant Sun’ is truly one of the best even though it slides a little under the radar by comparison. The way it pulls in a spoonful of McCartney melodicism and sprinkles a pinch of Lennon angst is really quite powerful…

The Roches – Mr. Sellack

This three sibling combo were, especially during the eighties, one of the most vital acts on the folk scene. They released albums, some of which (including the 1979 self-titled release that this song is taken from) were produced by Robert Fripp, that would almost unanimously get healthy critical receptions but underwhelm in terms of sales. A travesty really for, as this clip so vividly demonstrates, they were capable of hitting spectacular three part ranges vocally and their songs had a natural lyrical flare, wit and bite. The Roches were a folkin’ phenomenon alright…

Question Mark & The Mysterians – 96 Tears

Question Mark was the stage alter ego of Rudy Martinez and his band, also named after a 1957 Japanese science fiction film of the same name, scored a US number one hit with this their debut single released on the Pa-Go-Go Records label. It has equally been identified as an early influence on the punk scene as much as it has been associated with the Nuggets driven garage rock scene that, like Northern Soul, would start to catch an identity for its genre only when compilations started putting together similarly styled collections under the ‘garage’ banner in the seventies and beyond. Unlike many records that would become garage and psych collectables, this one was actually pretty popular and well known so it has remained an outlier, never appearing on the ‘Nuggets’ series for example. Whatever, it’s a garage psych classic from 1966 so just dig it!

Link Wray – Rumble

Sadly there is no actual 1958 footage that I can find of Link Wray performing his instrumental classic the year it came out, but this 1974 live clip is still pretty amazing. The thunderous crash that introduced this number originally lays to waste any claim sixties acts like The Kinks or Led Zeppelin can make to having invented Heavy Metal, it was already there in the aggressive playing and amped up grungy sound of Link Wray. And look at this film, witness that gum chewing strut, he knew it too!

Roberta Flack – Compared To What

This was the first track on the debut album by Roberta Flack and talk about a statement of intent. Obviously she would end her career with a pair of classic songs that she’ll forever be associated with but this one, for me, best brings the essence of Roberta. It is a sensational fusion of jazz, funk and soul and where the lyric talks of making it real, well look no further, it is all in this piece of film from 1970. Eyes shut, head swaying, totally lost and transported in the performance and the song, it does not get any more real than this!