'Strange Fruit' at the Produce Stand

It has been an interesting couple of days. Here in the Pacific Northwest, eclipse fever had become an epidemic. Basically, everyone in the Puget Sound area headed south to catch the eclipse in totality. Something like one million visitors descended on the Oregon Coast alone. Mrs. LTL really wanted to go. I didn't want to go at all. We compromised with a quick trip east and a bit south through Snoqualmie Pass and into central Washington. We left on Sunday morning and were rafting down the Yakima River by lunchtime. Sure beat all of that traffic going down I-5. The family, including my mother visiting from Illinois, went ahead and stayed overnight on the east side of the Cascade Mountains.

Early the next morning, we headed a bit further south in search of a nice spot to see the eclipse. We ended up at Manastash Ridge, a mountain with a beautiful viewpoint of the valley at about 2,700 feet. We didn't get a total solar eclipse where we were, but the sun was 95 percent covered and well worth the trip. You'll have to take my word for it. My camera didn't care for the eclipse.

By now you might be asking, what does this have to do with music? I'm getting to that. On the way home, after lunch at a roadside diner worth the trip alone, I was told to pull over at a produce stand that can only be described as in the middle of nowhere. The town was called Thorp, population 240, and Thorp's commerce boiled down to the structure pictured below and a gas station next door. As Mom and Mrs. LTL shopped away, I more or less stood in the corner, hands in pockets, staring at my shoes. After about 15 minutes, I noticed some stairs to a second floor that looked like might be full of antiques. I decided to head up. Among the A&W root-beer mugs, vintage dishes, clothes and toys, I did see a stack of old albums, but I didn't even go straight for them. I wasn't in the mood to look through worn copies of REO Speedwagon and Leo Sayer. From upstairs, I could see my party was about to wrap things up down there. I went to the albums for a quick peek. Wow, this was not your usual '70s schlock.

Gasps turned into giddy laughter as I spotted one tremendous record after another: The Wedding Present on Peel, a Lush EP from 1989, the only SST-era fIREHOSE album I didn't have on vinyl, singles by Kevin Rowland, Propaganda and the Teardrop Explodes. How could this be? How could I get back those 15 wasted minutes downstairs? Before I could get through the rack, it was time to go. Just as well. I didn't have a lot of cash in my pocket anyway. As I descended the stairs in triumph, my mind was racing. Whose records were these? How did an album on Peel's Strange Fruit label get to a fruit stand in the sticks? The person in front of me in line was buying zucchini. Now I'm putting a ZTT 7" on the counter. A surreal moment, to be sure. Great albums don't grow on trees, but maybe they do in Thorp, Washington.

Mom is in the music room for another week. So, no turntable access, but I do have that Peel Session from the Wedding Present on the deluxe edition of 'Tommy' as well. Let's give that a listen. Recorded Feb. 11, 1986 and broadcast 15 days later, this was the first of nine sessions Gedge did for John Peel's show. Listeners would learn early the band knew how to pick a cover. Yep, that's Orange Juice's "Felicity."

The Wedding Present - "Felicity" (Peel Session)
The Wedding Present - "What Becomes Of The Broken-Hearted?" (Peel Session)
The Wedding Present - "You Should Always Keep In Touch With Your Friends" (Peel Session)
The Wedding Present - "This Boy Can Wait" (Peel Session)