Apples & Grapefruit: Happy Birthday to Apple Records
Remembering a psychedelic pop band called Grapefruit, produced by Lennon/McCartney
THE THURSDAY TIME TRAVELER—On this date in 1968 Apple Records was officially launched.
The build-up started a year prior when The Beatles formed Apple Corporation, a multi-faceted boutique company.
Today the Time Machine lands on summer 1967 with the track “Lullaby” by the band Grapefruit, an Apple project guided by John Lennon & Paul McCartney. The band was named by John Lennon after “Grapefruit”—a book created by future wife Yoko Ono. Grapefruit were signed to Apple by manager Terry Doran (friend of Brian Epstein). In January 1968 The Beatles introduced Grapefruit to the media with luminaries in attendance, and Grapefruit lead guitarist John Perry was invited to sing harmonies on “Hey Jude.”
Lennon/McCartney were involved in Grapefruit’s studio efforts with anticipation for their proto-psychedelic single “Lullaby.”
Most of Grapefruit’s music was written by bassist George Alexander Young (of the “Friday on my Mind”/Easybeats family clan) and their Apple contract centered on publishing rights to their songs—George Harrison even pitched Grapefruit songs to other artists (notably Tommy James). Shockingly, Apple neglected to schedule the band’s recordings. Then The Beatles went to India and no one could lay hands on the master for the Lennon/McCartney produced “Lullaby.” So Doran leased Grapefruit recordings to Equinox Records (wing of RCA Victor), a new American label run by the legendary Terry Melcher (Beach Boys, Byrds, etc.). Melcher remixed or re-recorded Grapefruit’s tracks, taking them into a more “sunshine pop” sound. Grapefruit released a string of LPs and chart singles before disbanding in 1971. Band members moved on to varied corners of the British music scene, and guitarist Pete Swettenham became a songwriting partner with Chris Andrews, shown here with Clem Curtis (The Foundations) and Apple artist Jackie Lomax
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In 2016, Grapefruit’s Apple recordings were finally released. Here’s the original Lennon/McCartney production (recorded at fabled Advision Studios) with earmarks typical of that era:
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