Strawberry Switchblade – a Peel Sessions EP that has never existed.
While a discography aims to document all a band’s releases, in these online times we also have to debunk misinformation. There are numerous references online to various Strawberry Switchblade releases that don’t actually exist.
Having spoken to Jill or Rose about each of these (plus the fact that they never come up on eBay) it’s confirmed that they aren’t real.
One source credits several picture discs that don’t exist:
- Strawberry Switchblade LP picture disc
- Let Her Go 12 inch picture disc KOW39PT
- Jolene 12 inch picture disc KOW42PT (some copies of the strawberry-shaped 7″ picture disc were issued in their uncut format as 12 inch discs, but they only have a 7″ playing surface and have the same catalogue number KOW42P)
Some copies of the strawberry-shaped 7″ picture discs of Let Her Go and Jolene were issued in their uncut format as 12 inch discs, but they only have a 7″ playing surface and have the same catalogue number KOW39P /KOW42P.
Let Her Go picture disc – a few of these do exist, but it’s the shaped 7″ uncut, not a 12″ with a different catalogue number.
Several sources mention a UK or European release of the Strawberry Switchblade album on CD. The album was only issued on LP and cassette in Europe. The only Strawberry Switchblade CDs are the Japanese release and reissues of Strawberry Switchblade, the Canadian reissue of The 12″ Album, and The Platinum Collection.
One source credits a 1984 reissue of Trees and Flowers on Korova [SAM240]. This was not a full reissue, nor was it in 1984. It was a free single given away with initial copies of the album Strawberry Switchblade in 1985. The same source claims the reissue had a limited 500 copies with picture sleeve, but I can’t find anyone, even the band, who’ve ever seen a copy.
A Peel Sessions album is mentioned by several sources, one site even has an image of a cover for a 1986 EP release of the 1982 Peel session (as shown at the top of the page), but they doesn’t exist. Jill confirms that there was talk of releasing some or all of the BBC sessions around 1988, but it didn’t happen.
One source credts Queen bassist John Deacon with production on the Strawberry Switchblade album. Nope.
Tibet, a song from Rose’s post-Strawberry Switchblade recordings known as The Sunflower Demos, was released on the various artists album Final Solstice II (Piski Disk PIX004CD, 1999). Several sources mistakenly say this track is ‘unreleased Strawberry Switchblade recordings’. Rose belatedly released The Sunflower Demos under the name Cut With The Cake Knife in 2004, and reissued it in 2015.
Several sources wrongly credit Affairs Of The Heart’s 1983 single Waterloo Sunset as featuring Rose McDowall on vocals.