Fool's Garden – Dish of the Day (1995)

Fool's Garden is very much a one hit wonder band. In fact, so much so that not many people even know this is the band behind the 90s hit Lemon Tree. That song was a massive hit, but other than that, no-one really seems to know any other songs from this album. There are a few other good songs on this album though. I never bought this CD myself. My sister had it when we were teenagers. When she moved away from home, she left a bunch of CDs behind that I gladly gave a new home for. This is one of those CDs. I haven't listened to this album that much, but I really do enjoy a few songs on it and I've been glad to have them in my shuffle lists for years now. It would be interesting to know whether younger generations have any recollection of this band or album. It might just be one of those bands that were only important to one generation.



Fool's Garden is a German band. I find it slightly strange, since I don't really know many other bands that sound like this from Germany. I guess they were influenced by the Britpop movement in the UK, since the sounds are fairly similar to what was going on in the UK at the time of this album's release. The vocals sound very English on this album, so at least they don't suffer from having a strange accent.

The album starts with a song Ordinary Man that sounds incredibly lot like The Beatles. That's what mellotron does, I guess. They've also added some vinyl scratching sounds to the beginning. The song evolves into very 90s style sounds though, so The Beatles vibes don't continue for long. Meanwhile has very early 90s sounds and there are still shadows of 80s rock in the echoes and the drum sounds. The chorus is quite cheesy. Not really the best songwriting on this album. Third up, is the world-famous hit Lemon Tree. I remember many people being really sick of this song back in the day because it was playing everywhere all the time. I always really liked this song and therefore I never got sick of it. Also, I have never really listened to the radio that much which might make me a bit more immune to these kinds of invasive hit overplays. Pieces is another remarkably 90s style pop rock song. It's a bit boring. Take Me is quite a typical 80s pop rock song with power chords and cheesy synth wall in the background. There's even a hero-style guitar solo in the middle. Wild Days has the kind of groovy baroque pop rhythm that was used in 60s pop a lot by bands like The Kinks, The Zombies or Beach Boys. The song is not the most interesting song, but it's pleasant enough to listen to. The Seal has a strange electronic sounding guitar loop in the background that makes it sound very much like late 80s alternative rock song. The chorus is really upbeat and there are even some quite big sounding overdriven guitars in the song. Autumn is another kind of boring pop rock song that doesn't really raise any kinds of emotions in me. The Tocsin is the main surprising song on the album. This beautiful ballad is probably the best song on the album. I remember listening to this album when I first got it and this song completely blew my mind. I still think this should've probably been a big hit back in the day. The sounds are a bit cheesy here and there, but the songwriting is terrific. This is then mirrored with the song Finally, which is one of the worst songs on the album. Not because of songwriting, but because of the sounds that are very cheesy and cheap. The album ends with folky song One Fine Day. It grows into a full-blown rock song after a couple of verses.

I have completely forgotten the music video for Lemon Tree when I'm writing this, but as I tune into youtube it all comes back to me. It was, after all, playing on MTV all the time. The video features the training space of the band zooming around dark space and dark streets of the city while the lead singer sings the song on the sofa inside the room. He has a very 90s German style outfit. Most of the chorus sequences are showed in black and white with the band looking like 60s pop bands.

It's probably deserved fate for the band to be a one hit wonder, because as a whole album this isn't very remarkable. There are some nice songs, only a couple of good ones and some very boring ones. Still, because of Lemon Tree and The Tocsin, this album is somewhat important to my personal life history and that's why I'm glad to own the CD.

Listen to the album on Spotify.