Bizarre Fruit

For the chimeric plant, see Bizzarria.

1994 studio album by M People

Bizarre Fruit

Studio album by

M People

Released| 14 November 1994
Recorded| April – August 1994
Studio| Strongroom Studios (London)
Genre| House, pop
Length| 57:45
Label| Deconstruction
Producer| M People
M People chronology
| Elegant Slumming
(1993)  | Bizarre Fruit
(1994)  | Bizarre Fruit II
(1995)

|
|

Alternative cover

North American cover

Singles from  Bizarre Fruit

1. "Sight for Sore Eyes"
Released: 7 November 1994
2. "Open Your Heart"
Released: 23 January 1995
3. "Search for the Hero"
Released: 12 June 1995
4. "Love Rendezvous"
Released: 2 October 1995

Professional ratingsInitial reviews (in 1995)

Review scores
Source| Rating
Cash Box| (favorable)[1]
Robert Christgau| A−[2]
Entertainment Weekly| A−[3]
The Guardian| (favorable)[4]
Los Angeles Times| [5]
Music & Media| (favorable)[6]
NME| 8/10[7]
Select| [8]
Smash Hits| 3/5[9]
Spin| 7/10[10]
Professional ratingsRetrospective reviews (after 1995)

Review scores
Source| Rating
AllMusic| [11]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music| [12]

Bizarre Fruit is the third album by British dance band M People. It was released on 14 November 1994 and charted and peaked at No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart, spending one year on the chart before an expanded version of the album, Bizarre Fruit II, was released a year later. In 1996 it was announced that Bizarre Fruit had reached 1.1 million copies sold worldwide.[13] The albums Bizarre Fruit and Bizarre Fruit II were certified 5× platinum in the UK for sales of 1.5 million.[14]

The album's two most popular singles were "Sight for Sore Eyes", which reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart and "Search for the Hero", which peaked at No. 9 on the same chart. Other singles released from this album were "Open Your Heart" (No. 9), "Love Rendezvous" (No. 32) and "Itchycoo Park" (No. 11) from the re-released album. In the US, remixes for the song "Padlock" were supplied to club DJs and appeared as the B-side to the CD maxi single of "Search for the Hero". The track reached No. 13 on the Billboard Dance chart.[15]

## Critical reception

[edit]

AllMusic editor William Cooper stated that Bizarre Fruit is "chock-full of funky house grooves", and Heather Small's "deep, soulful vocals add just the right touch to the mix". He highlighted songs like "Open Your Heart", "Sight for Sore Eyes", "Search for the Hero" and "Precious Pearl".[11] Peter Galvin from Entertainment Weekly viewed the album as a "irrepressible" follow-up to Elegant Slumming, concluding that it "has more than its share of house-quaking grooves."[3]

Johnny Dee from NME praised it as "a consistently faultless and pleasing third album — it's obvious the M in their name now stands for 'Maturity'." He added, "It's impossible to see tracks as catchy as "Open Your Heart" and "Padlock" occupying any chart position other than Number One."[7] Mark Sutherland from Smash Hits wrote, "Bizarre Fruit is crammed full of "classy", "soulful" workouts like "Sight for Sore Eyes" and "Drive Time" (wonder when that'll be played on the radio?) that are pleasant in the extreme. But there's no sign of the glorious handbag house stompalongs that made the last album such an event."[9]

## Track listing

[edit]

No.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

1.| "Sight for Sore Eyes"| Pickering, Heard, Small| 6:12
2.| "Search for the Hero"| Pickering, Heard| 6:11
3.| "Open Your Heart"| Pickering, Heard| 5:42
4.| "Love Rendezvous"| Pickering, Heard| 5:24
5.| "Precious Pearl"| Pickering, Heard| 6:04
6.| "Sugar Town"| Pickering, Heard| 5:41
7.| "Walk Away"| Pickering, Heard| 5:48
8.| "Drive Time"| Pickering, Heard| 5:30
9.| "Padlock"| Tamy Smith| 6:12
10.| "And Finally..."| Pickering, Heard, Small| 5:04
Total length:| 57:45

2005 re-release bonus tracksNo.| Title| Writer(s)| Length

|
|
|

11.| "Itchycoo Park"| Marriott, Lane| 6:42
12.| "Itchycoo Park" (Morales Classic Club Mix)| Marriott, Lane| 7:53

North American bonus trackNo.| Title| Length

|
|

11.| "Renaissance" (M People Master Mix)| 6:30

## Charts

[edit]

### Weekly charts

[edit]

Chart (1994–1996)  | Peak
position

|

Australian Albums (ARIA)[16] | 14
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[17] | 28
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[18] | 30
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[19] | 4
Scottish Albums (OCC)[20] | 3
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[21] | 29
UK Albums (OCC)[22] | 3
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[23] | 17

### Year-end charts

[edit]

Chart (1995)  | Position

|

Australian Albums (ARIA)[24] | 21
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[25] | 47
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[26] | 23
UK Albums (OCC)[27] | 19
Chart (1996)  | Position

|

UK Albums (OCC)[28] | 14

## Certifications

[edit]

Region  | Certification | Certified units/sales

|
|

Australia (ARIA)[29] | Platinum  | 70,000^
Germany (BVMI)[30] | Gold  | 250,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[31] | Platinum  | 15,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[32] | 5× Platinum  | 1,500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

## Release history

[edit]

Region  | Date  | Label  | Format  | Catalogue

|
|
|
|

United Kingdom  | 14 November 1994  | Deconstruction | LP | 74321 24081 1
CD  | 74321 24081 2
Cassette | 74321 24081 4
North America  | 12 May 1995  | Epic | LP  | E 67037
CD  | EK 67037
Cassette  | ET 67037
United Kingdom  | 7 March 2005  | Sony BMG | CD  |

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Robertson IV, Gil L. (27 May 1995). "Urban" (PDF). Cash Box. p. 11. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
2. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Robert Christgau: CG: M People". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
3. ^ a b Galvin, Peter (19 May 1995). "Bizarre Fruit". Entertainment Weekly.
4. ^ Sullivan, Caroline (18 November 1994). "Music: Pop - Your essential guide to the new CDs". The Guardian.
5. ^ Hardy, Ernest (16 July 1995). "In Brief". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
6. ^ "New Releases: Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 11, no. 50\. 10 December 1994. p. 9. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
7. ^ a b Dee, Johnny (19 November 1994). "Long Play". NME. p. 46. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
8. ^ Harrison, Andrew (January 1995). "New Albums". Select. p. 78. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
9. ^ a b Sutherland, Mark (23 November 1994). "New Albums". Smash Hits. p. 65. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
10. ^ Walters, Barry (June 1995). "Spins". Spin. 11 (3): 99. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
11. ^ a b Cooper, William. "AllMusic Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
12. ^ Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press.
13. ^ "Who's Selling Where". Billboard. 17 February 1996. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
14. ^ "BPI Awards". BPI. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
15. ^ "Search for the Hero (4:09)". last.fm. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
16. ^ "Australiancharts.com – M People – Bizarre Fruit". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
17. ^ "Austriancharts.at – M People – Bizarre Fruit" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
18. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – M People – Bizarre Fruit" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 5 November 2020.
19. ^ "Charts.nz – M People – Bizarre Fruit". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
20. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
21. ^ "Swisscharts.com – M People – Bizarre Fruit". Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
22. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
23. ^ "M People Chart History (Heatseekers Albums)". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 3 July 2020.
24. ^ "ARIA Top 100 Albums for 1995". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
25. ^ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 13 August 2018.
26. ^ "Top Selling Albums of 1995". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
27. ^ "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1995". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
28. ^ "End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 1996". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
29. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1995 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
30. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (M People; 'Bizarre Fruit')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
31. ^ "New Zealand album certifications – M People – Bizarre Fruit". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
32. ^ "British album certifications – M People – Bizarre Fruit". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 27 November 2021.

* v
* t
* e

M People

* Heather Small
* Mike Pickering
* Paul Heard
* Shovell

Studio albums|

* Northern Soul
* Elegant Slumming
* Bizarre Fruit
* Bizarre Fruit II
* Fresco

Compilations|

* The Best of M People
* Testify
* Ultimate Collection
* One Night in Heaven: The Best of M People

Remix albums|

* Ultimate Collection: The Remixes

Singles|

* "How Can I Love You More?"
* "Colour My Life"
* "Someday"
* "Excited"
* "One Night in Heaven"
* "Moving On Up"
* "Don't Look Any Further"
* "Renaissance"
* "Sight for Sore Eyes"
* "Open Your Heart"
* "Search for the Hero"
* "Love Rendezvous"
* "Itchycoo Park"
* "Just for You"
* "Fantasy Island"
* "Angel St"
* "Testify"
* "Dreaming"

Related articles|

* Discography
* Deconstruction Records

Authority control databases |

* MusicBrainz release group

|

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