Exposé Online

Fruits der Mer Announces Autumn Releases

According an email today from Keith Jones of Fruits de Mer, the next batch of vinyl is scheduled for release on September 22.

by Henry Schneider, Published 2014-07-24

Here is what Keith says;

Simones - 'Majic Ship' Crustacean 50

Something of a trade secret amongst record dealers and collectors, Simones' music is one of the great examples of home recordings from the '90s. Sometimes compared to The Bevis Frond (with whom he once recorded), Al Simones combined his love of 60s and 70s psychedelic rock music with vintage instruments and produced four highly collectable handmade albums in the USA between 1992 and 2009, all released on his own Purple Phrogg label; they are filled with intense psychedelic guitar music that shows his influences - including Jimi Hendrix. All long out-of-print, they appear on ebay occasionally - usually at silly prices. A wonderful box-set that pulled together all of Al's albums was released by Headspin last year - it's a work of art in its own right.

Thanks to a Fruits de Mer fan, Nigel Lane, and Johan Visser at Clear Spot/Headspin, I was able to contact Al and he agreed to let me put out two of his favourite tracks on a 45 rpm 7" - the first time he's ever appeared on a 7" disc!

As FdM ends its first half-century of releases on the Fruits de Mer imprint, it seemed a good time to try to do what Andy Bracken and I set out to do in the first place - put out tracks on 7" singles that really should have been available as singles but never were; the two songs on this FdM 45 are taken from Al's 1999 album, 'Balloon Ride'; Al also came up with a new sleeve design, which i'll be including in the package as a fold-out poster.

The single will be pressed on white vinyl and will retail at £5.50.



7 and 7 is (Crustacean 51-57) a box-set of seven 45s featuring:

The Bevis Frond play Clear Light

The Higher State play 13th Floor Elevators

The Chemistry Set play Love

Sendelica play the United States of America

King Penguin play The Byrds

The Gathering Grey play Moby Grape

Black Tempest/The Seventh Ring Of Saturn play Spirit/Grateful Dead (one track each)

A box-set of 45s from FdM featuring some of our favourite bands on the label reinterpreting songs by some of the best psychedelic rock bands that came out of the USA in the 60s. Woodstock, Monterey and all points East are revisited as The Bevis Frond and The Chemistry Set rub shoulders with Clear Light and Love, Sendelica and The Higher State meet the United States of America and the 13th Floor Elevators....and more.

The bands chose their own bands, all i did was make sure there was no overlapping - which meant i had nothing to do as they all chose different groups for their singles.

The box is designed by Frank Suchomel - another classic by the guy - and the vinyl will come in a fetching mix of whites, blues and reds; the seven singles come in 'standard' black and white Fruits de Mer inner sleeves and the box is a really classy, solid one...oh, and the box designs will be included as a double-sided fold-out poster.

The box-set costs £35 (I am not selling the singles separately - sorry, it's confusing enough for me already!)

you can pre-order now from Nick Leese at Heyday (www.heyday-mo.com) or from Shiny Beast (www.shinybeast.nl)

- and there's a little something extra for anyone prepared to risk ordering early - a compilation CD called Friends of the Fish, which will feature tracks from recent and forthcoming releases from artists that have graced the grooves of FdM over the years but have albums out on other labels (yes, there ARE other labels).

I was going to say that the first 100 international club members who order both the Simones 7" and 7 and 7 is FROM NICK AT HEYDAY ONLY will get a copy of the CD but, as we're in the holiday season and i know some members are away this week, ALL international members who place a firm order with Nick by August 7 will definitely get a copy of the CD, even if that takes me over the 100-mark (I have to order the CDs on August 8).

Who is on the free CD? I've only just started putting it together, but it will include Sendelica, Earthling Society, Soft Hearted Scientists, Sidewalk Society, and Julie's Haircut - and I'm hoping to add a couple of nice surprises that I'll be able to tell you about shortly.

Filed under: New releases

Related artist(s): Earthling Society, Sidewalk Society, Clearlight, Soft Hearted Scientists, Moby Grape, The Bevis Frond, Sendelica, Colin Consterdine

More info
http://www.shinybeast.nl
http://www.heyday-mo.com