Strange Fruit Peel Sessions

Various cover styles.

I've been collecting the old Strange Fruit Peel Sessions EPs for a while now. Ever since I sorted through my records and realised I already had around twenty from back in the day anyway (1986-1994), I set myself the challenge of getting the whole lot. With EBay, it's a lot easier than it would have been a few years ago, but still, some are more common than others; some go for silly prices...so it's taking a while to complete. Luckily, I'm in no hurry. It will happen eventually.

What was lacking when I started collecting these for real was a complete list of the 92 EPs, in order (or if there is one, I haven't seen it). Most are listed on Discogs, but even that isn't complete - and the order is confusing.

So, to cut a long story short, here is what I believe to be the complete list, from 1 to 92, in order. I hope anyone stumbling across this finds it useful. The majority have the matrix number SFPS0** (where ** equates to the number in the list below). However, those that only came out on CD have a different matrix number. See the Discogs list for the relevant details.

I have added the letter L, M or H after each EP. This is an indication of the price you should expect to pay on EBay:

L = £5 or less (including postage, e.g., £1.99 + £3.00 postage = £4.99)
M = £5-£10 (including postage)
H = over £10 (including postage)

This is just a rough guide. Obviously, some EPs which often go for 99p can just as easily sell for £10 if there is a bidding war. Just be patient, the common EPs with few people collecting the band themselves, e.g., the first Inspiral Carpets record, will always come up for 99p eventually; others didn't sell many originally, and now have rabid collectors, e.g., several of the hardcore bands - expect to pay relatively large amounts for the likes of Bolt Thrower! The CDs usually sell for less than the vinyl, so if you're not fussy about the format, you can save money there.

The complete list:

The first 32 came in the classic grey sleeve (see The Undertones, Twa Toots and Girls At Our Best in the picture).

01 New Order L
02 The Damned L
03 The Screaming Blue Messiahs L
04 Stiff Little Fingers L/M
05 Sudden Sway L
06 Wild Swans L/M
07 Madness M
08 Gang of Four M
09 The Wedding Present L
10 Twa Toots L/M
11 The Ruts M
12 Siouxsie & the Banshees L/M
13 Joy Division M
14 The Primevals L/M
15 June Tabor M
16 The Undertones L/M
17 X-Mal Deutchland L
18 The Specials M
19 Stump L
20 The Birthday Party M
21 The Slits L
22 Spizz Oil L/M
23 The June Brides L
24 Culture M
25 The Prefects M
26 Yeah Yeah Noh M
27 Billy Bragg L
28 The Fall M
29 Girls At Our Best! M
30 Redskins M
31 T. Rex L/M
32 Tubeway Army L

33 to 54 came in a gold sleeve (see Intense Degree, The Cure and The Very Things above)

33 Joy Division M
34 The Adverts M
35 Mighty Wah! M
36 The Triffids L
37 Robert Wyatt M/H
38 That Petrol Emotion L
39 New Order L
40 The Damned L
41 Wire M
42 Electro Hippies M
43 Syd Barrett M
44 Buzzcocks M
45 Cud L
46 The Very Things L/M
47 Ultravox L/M
48 Extreme Noise Terror M
49 Napalm Death M
50 The Cure M
51 Bonzo Dog Band M/H
52 The Nightingales M
53 Intense Degree M
54 The Stupids M

55 to 73 came in a silver sleeve (see The Room, Four Brothers and Eton Crop above)

55 The Smiths M
56 Bolt Thrower H
57 Half Man Half Biscuit L
58 The Birthday Party M
59 Lindisfarne M
60 Echo & the Bunnymen M
61 Family M
62 The Room M
63 Eton Crop M
64 Nico M/H
65 Jimi Hendrix Experience M
66 Siouxsie & the Banshees M
67 Amayenge M
68 Ivor Cutler H
69 Unseen Terror M
70 Four Brothers M
71 A Guy Called Gerald L
72 Inspiral Carpets L
73 Carcass M/H

74 to 76 came in a green cover (see The Colorblind James Experience above)

74 The Go-Betweens M/H
75 Associates M
76 The Colorblind James Experience M

From 77 onwards, the sleeves varied in style - only Bratmobile has the "classic" look. A few have graffiti-style sleeves, such as Teenage Fanclub in the photo.

77 Happy Mondays L
78 Prong M
79 Prophecy of Doom M
80 The Jam M/H
81 Teenage Fanclub L/M
82 Tim Buckley M/H
83 Levellers 5 M
84 Happy Mondays L
85 Inspiral Carpets L
86 Headcleaner M/H
87 The Fall (Kimble) M
88 Meat Beat Manifesto M
89 Bratmobile M
90 Uzeda M/H (the lowest seller in the series?)
91 Frank Black & Teenage Fanclub L/M
92 Directional Force L

88, 89 and 90 came out on CD only. The rest all have vinyl versions.

If you think I've got anything wrong, let me know!

The Farmer's Boys and Sulley Muntari

As regular readers may know, I have been obsessed with collecting Panini's World Cup 2010 stickers recently. I spend hours poring over every tiny detail in the collector's album, wheedling out pointless facts that nobody really needs to know, but keep me from going hatstand.

For example, did you know that Honduras is the only country playing in the World Cup that is spelt the same in all eight languages that Panini use in their albums?

I have much more sympathy with the teams who have smiled for the camera when they posed for their photos - Germany in particular seem like such lovely boys. I wonder what the equivalent of "say cheese!" is in German?

Some of the French team are also smiling, but their stickers are spoilt by a nasty marble effect in the background.

My latest obsession (well, since yesterday evening anyway) is to match up players' birthdates with dates of Peel session broadcasts (as found in Ken Garner's excellent The Peel Sessions book). As most of the players were born in the 1980s, and much of my favourite music was made in the 1980s, I wondered who was born on the same day that the first Yeah Yeah Noh session was broadcast, and did it give them any luck in their career?

Well, I haven't found anyone born on 7th August 1984 yet (although I'll let you know when I do!), but I've checked out a few players, and here is what I've found so far:

Yakubu Aiyegbini, who has had a largely successful career in English football, helping the mighty Pompey to promotion eight years ago, before big money moves to puny Middlesbrough and Everton, but who will now be mostly remembered for his unbelievable miss in Nigeria's match with South Korea this week...was born on the same day that the fourth Birthday Party session was broadcast. The session did not include their song Figure Of Fun, which is unfortunately what Yakubu may have become. However, for his performances in Pompey's early Premiership years, he'll always be a hero to me.

Sulley Muntari, another ex-Pompey player, who recently argued with his coach and went off in a strop before being recalled to the Ghana squad, was born the night the final Farmer's Boys session was broadcast. This session included the song Sport For All, and also Walkabout, which seems appropriate for what he did last week. His coach may also have been thinking "whatever is he like?" during their argument (The Farmer's Boys' most well-known song). See if you can spot Sulley hiding in a tree in the illustration above.

David James, yet another Pompey player (if you've been paying attention, you may have spotted a theme with which players I've been checking out first)...was born on the same day that sessions by Fairport Convention and Osibisa were broadcast by the BBC. Hey, weren't Osibisa performing at the World Cup's opening ceremony? Have I inadvertently found an omen here? David James to lift the World Cup trophy in two weeks time? Yes? Yes? No?