The holidays are almost upon us, and The Second Disc will soon be launching our annual Holiday Gift Guide! As part of the festivities, we will also be offering long-form reviews over the next month about certain titles deserving of an extra spotlight. Today, Sam's taking a look at a handful of recent releases from Cherry Red!

Few labels can claim as diverse a roster as the Cherry Red group. Between their wealth of sub-divisions, there's bound to be something special in store for everyone. As the temperatures drop and the holidays grow near, we thought we'd take a look at some perfect stocking-stuffers for your worldly, music-loving friends and family this season. From Canterbury to the Caribbean, from avant-garde rock operas to outer-space fantasies from another galaxy, Cherry Red's recent sets are sure to delight them, but we won't tell anyone if you keep them for yourself, either.

First up is Independence Jump Up Calypso, a fantastic compilation from the Doctor Bird imprint that brings together a staggering 46 ska and rock-steady tracks bearing the sonic fingerprint of legendary Jamaican producer Duke Reid. Originally realeased back in the summer of 1966, Indepedece Jump Up Calypso was an overlooked but essential compendium of ten tracks from Reid's Treasure Isle label. The Kingston-based producer had set up the imprint to showcase the unique music indigenous to Jamaica. Over the years, he's been recognized as a leader in the development of ska, rocksteady, and reggae through his work with Alton Ellis, Justin Hinds, Tommy McCook an the Supersonics, The Silvertones, and more. But Independence Jump Up Calypso was neither a roundup of rocksteady nor a survey of ska. Here, Reid put the spotlight on an earlier Jamaican musical form: mento. Mento is a forebearer of ska and reggae that originally featured banjo, acoustic guitar, and hand drums, not unlike the Trinidadian calypso tradition. Mento musicians infused their lyrics with humor and topical commentary, and rhythms that would inform Jamaican music to come.

The ten-track original album showcased two of the island's pioneering musicians. Five of the original songs feature Count Lasher, a mento legend who'd first recorded with pioneering producer Stanley Motta in 1953. A further three are recordings by Count Albert, whose distinctive voice graced recordings by Jamaican record impresario Ivan Chin. A pair of instrumentals by Trinidadian rocksteady pioneer Lynn Taitt and The Baba Brooks Band round out the core album. The ten tracks are impressive on their own with thrilling instrumentals, ever-danceable rhythms, and grooves that continue to captivate listeners ("Bam Bam," as reinterpreted by Sister Nancy in 1982 forms the backing track of Lizzo's recent breakthrough hit "Truth Hurts.")

But Cherry Red's Doctor Bird imprint has expanded the album with a staggering 46 bonus tracks (!) all produced by Duke Reid in 1966, as Jamaican music was evolving from ska to rocksteady. Many of these tracks are previously unreleased or are making their debut outside of Jamaica. From toe-tappers like "The Teaser" by Herman Marquis, the unique ska-inflected take on "Spanish Flea," and the hypnotic soul-jazz of "Windfall" to the breezy layered woodwinds on "Pink Champagne" and the yearning vocals in Gloria Crawford's teen heartbreak song "Sad Movies," there's no shortage of great tracks here. And that's just Disc One! Disc Two features even more hard-to-find sides from the Treasure Isle, Doctor Bird, and Island vaults, all produced by Duke Reid in the months leading up to the original release of Independence Jump Up Calypso. Fifty-three years on, Cherry Red has given this landmark compilation the treatment it deserves; not only does the music sound good together (mastered by Andy Pearce), but the art and design is beautiful, as well. Add to it in-depth liner notes from Tony Rounce, an authority on reggae, and you have a collection that's sure to please!

If it's Canterbury prog that send the music lover on your list, then Cherry Red's Esoteric label has you covered. This summer, they released a 3-CD clamshell box set of three classic albums by Soft Machine. Entitled The Harvest Albums 1975-1978, the box bundles all three albums recorded for the label - Bundles, Softs and Alive and Well, Recorded in Paris - all in miniature replicas of the original LP sleeves.

Following their successful five-album run on Columbia that saw the band blending jazz, rock, psychedelic, and experimental inclinations (including tape collages, loops, and time compression and expansion techniques), the band shifted gears, added new members, and signed to a new label, EMI's prog-leaning Harvest imprint. Bundles was the band's first album on Harvest. It featured Mike Ratledge on keys, Roy Babbington on bass, John Marshall on drums, plus two members from prog rockers Nucleus, Allan Holdsworth on guitar and Karl Jenkins on woodwinds and oboe. Bundles proved more accessible than Soft Machine's earlier work and was acclaimed by critics at the time of its release. Its "Hazard Profile" suite - based on Nucleus' "Song of the Bearded Lady" - expertly married jazz-infused guitar rock with lighter acoustic fare, and hyper-active synthesizer workouts, while other standouts like "The Floating World" and "The Man Who Waved at Trains" were studies in hypnotic and atmospheric prog.

By the time their follow-up, Softs was recorded, the lineup would shift once more. Ratledge would be featured (uncredited) on only two tracks, while Holdsworth was out altogether. In came guitarist John Etheridge and saxophonist Alan Wakeman (cousin of Yes's Rick), who together delivered another collection of atmospheric beauty, jazzy synth runs, lightning-fast guitar passages against esoteric time signatures, and a few lengthy epics, not to mention the frenetic drum solo "Kayoo." And while some of the material is out-there, it's somehow equally accessible.

Over the course of the following year, Soft Machine's revolving door continued to turn as members exited and new additions arrived, leaving no original members left in the band. Steve Cook replaced Babbington on bass, while Ric Sanders joined on violin. Alive and Well: Recorded in Paris is the lone original document of this line-up: a blend of July 1977 concert recordings and studio clean-ups ("Soft Space" was completely re-recorded in-studio) that features red-hot solos, ample synth excursions from Jenkins (author of a majority of the material), and even a dancefloor-ready, Moroder-esque piece called "Soft Space."

While super-fans may want to seek out earlier Esoteric reissues that provide a wealth of bonus tracks and informative notes, this bare-bones collection (three flimsy cardsleeves and a double-sided poster with credits) is enough for those dipping their toes into this era of the Machine, and the price point - three albums newly remastered in a clamshell box, all at a hair over $20 direct from the label - is unbeatable.

With the prog textures of Soft Machine sure to have whetted the appetite for synth explorations, you may want to consider a new collection of sounds from another galaxy, featuring synthesizer pieces circa 1960. I Hear A New World: An Outer Space Music Fantasy was a stereophonic experiment by maverick producer Joe Meek. Though he'd go on to work with pop royalty like Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Petula Clark, and more as a record producer, in 1960 the sound engineer was working on a pet-project concept album that gave him an opportunity to showcase not only emerging recording techniques, but also a wealth of sound effects created through such DIY methods as blowing bubbles into water, draining a sink, and hitting bottles. Add to the mix the skiffle-rock sounds of The Blue Men, and you've got a musical combination that's truly out of this world.

With his intuitive genius, embrace of stereo sound, and a fascination for space exploration, Meek created a unique piece of almost outsider music that anticipated the embrace of electronic gadgetry that would soon take over the pop world. But this album was never realized during Meek's lifetime. An EP of highlights was released on the Triumph label in 1960 with a follow-up disc and a full-length album promised, but neither materialized. In 1991, RPM released a reconstruction of the album, which is featured as part of the new edition released last month of Cherry Red's El imprint alongside a direct transfer of a pre-release copy of the LP from Triumph.

In addition to the reconstructed LP-length space fantasy, El has chosen to include a wealth of bonus recordings from other early proponents of electronic music that place Meek's piece in a broader context, including contributors to the BBC Radiophonic Workshop like Maddalena Fagandini, Daphne Oram, Delia Derbyshire, Phil Young, and one George Martin (performing with Fagandini as "Ray Cathode"). Discs Two and Three further explore the roots of electronic music and the impact of magnetic tape on composition, showcasing the pioneering work of modern classical composers in the musique concrete camp, like Karlheinz Stockhausen, Edgard Varese, Pierre Schaffer, Darius Milhaud, Luciano Berrio, John Cage, and more. Together, these pieces (and the hefty liner notes booklet) tell a greater story of the monumental changes that took place not only in pop, but in concert music of the Western classical tradition as both camps began to embrace emerging technologies. Sure, it may not include Alvin and The Chipmunks' studio-manipulated Christmas ditties, but hardcore fans of electronic music will no doubt rejoice to find this indispensable collection beneath the tree.

If you're after more out-there music, might we suggest the latest volume in Cherry Red's pREServed Series celebrating the work of outsider art collective The Residents? Since the '70s, The Residents have charted an entirely unique artistic path ranging from experimental music, multimedia art projects, and innovative concept albums. In collaboration with the group and their label, Cherry Red has been issuing remastered and expanded versions of all their work, supplemented with unreleased recordings, new essays, and stunning packaging.

The latest installment is a 3-CD reissue of The Residents' project God in Three Persons - a narrative piece that, best put in the press release, "explores the obsessive, toxic, but ultimately loving relationship between the narrator, Mr. X, and a pair of conjoined twins." The group designed the narrative especially for CD medium, using the new format's length as a canvas for an epic poem in the classical tradition that saw them using new compositional approaches informed by the length of the new format. In a career of turning points, this technological shift created a new and exciting challenge that informed their career to come. Gone were the fifteen-minute side-long pieces, and their plans for their American Composer Series that depended on the length of vinyl to tell the story were quickly put on hold. Instead, we have a recited theatrical piece told in trochaic octameter (that same scheme that's used in Poe's "The Raven") which is simultaneously humorous, melancholy, secular and worldly (incorporating themes from rock and roll - "Double Shot of My Baby's Love" - and the church - "Holy, Holy, Holy" - to tell the story.)

In addition to the album, this pREServed edition includes a wealth of bonus material. There's "Knot In A Million Years," a long-lost soundtrack to a 1987 art show composed all in MIDI, an instrumental soundtrack version of God in Three Persons that allows The Residents' music to shine, plus seven demo versions, two singles ("G3P" and "Double Shot"), a 16-minute single version of "Holy Kiss of Flesh," a studio re-cut of a live medley of "Double Shot" and "Land of 1,000 Dances," alongside live material from 2005 and 2015. Add to it the detailed liner notes book, the excellent packaging (a thick quadruple-fold sleeve that recalls the 2014 reissue of George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, inner sleeves for each bonus disc, a snug inner pocket for the booklet...), and you have one fantastic reissue that's up there as one of the best of the pREServed series. If that special someon on your list is a Residents fan, this one's a must.

Whether you're shopping for a loved one or yourself, Cherry Red has some amazing treats to choose from this season. Experimental electronic music, Canterbury prog, an epic piece from outsider heroes, and essential mid-'60s rocksteady and ska. It's all available now from Cherry Red and their many imprints!

You can find order links and track listings for all these titles below - and look out for more Holiday Gift Guide installments throughout the month!

Various Artists, Independence Jump Up Calypso (originally Treasure Isle LP DR-1001-1, 1966 -- reissued Cherry Red/Doctor Bird, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1:
1. Jump Independently - Count Lasher
2. The Weed - Count Lasher
3. Old Man's Drive - Count Alert
4. Hooligans - Count Lasher
5. Dog War Jump Up - Lynn Taitt & the Baba Brooks Band
6. Bam Bam - Count Lasher & Williams
7. Mufridite - Count Lasher & Williams
8. In the Park - Count Alert
9. Hard Times - Count Alert
10. Seven Guns Alive - Lynn Taitt & the Baba Brooks Band

Bonus Tracks:
11. I Want to Know - The Silvertones
12. The Teaser - Herman Marquis
13. I Want to Take a Chance - The Slickers
14. Ska Flea - Tommy McCook & the Supersonics
15. Get Your Feet Moving - Eric Morris
16. Windfall - Tommy McCook & the Supersonics
17. Whoo Baby - The Silvertones
18. Pink Champagne - Tommy McCook & Supersonics
19. No Good Rudy - Justin Hinds & the Dominoes
20. Sad Movies - Gloria Crawford
21. Mr. Solo - Tommy McCook & the Supersonics
22. I Don't Want to Cry - Tony & Dennis
23. You Promised Love - Joey & Butch
24. Superman - Tommy McCook & the Supersonics
25. If I Didn't Love You - Eric 'Monty' Morris
26. Jezebel - Lloyd & Glen
27. Dog War Jump Up (Take 3) - Baba Brooks & the Lynn Taitt Band

Disc 2:
1. It's a Rocking Good Way - The Silvertones
2. Danger Man - 007 - Tommy McCook & the Supersonics
3. Why Should I Worry - Justin Hinds & the Dominoes
4. How Long - Tommy McCook & the Supersonics
5. Why You Have to Walk This Way - The Hamlins
6. The Army Is Searching (Take 2) - Basil Caral & His Group
7. Tom Dooley - Tommy McCook & the Supersonics
8. Mama Let Her Out - The Upsetters
9. Red Gal Ring - Haywood Brice & the Baba Brooks Band
10. Man Going to Eat Mean - The Slickers
11. A Little Bit of Heaven - The Tommy McCook Band
12. Fight for Your Right - Justin Hinds & the Dominoes
13. (I Am) Suffering - Horace Grant & the Playboys
14. What Have I Done - The Miracles
15. Lion of Judah (If I Follow You) - Justin Hinds & the Dominoes
16. Tender Loving Care - Lyn Taitt & the Comets
17. Raindrops - The Silvertones
18. Juvenile Delinquent - The Sensations
19. The Clock - The Baba Brooks Band
20. After a Storm - Justin Hinds & the Dominoes
21. Shake It - The Sensations & Baba Brooks Band
22. My Mama Told Me - Justin Hinds & the Dominoes
23. So Long - Lester Sterling & the Baba Brooks Band
24. It's Real - The Silvertones
25. Try Me - Justin Hinds & the Dominoes
26. Storm Warning - Lyn Tait & the Comets
27. You Should Have Known - The Sensations
28. My True Confession - The Silvertones
29. Thunderball - Tommy McCook & the Supersonics

Soft Machine, The Harvest Albums, 1975-1978 (Cherry Red/Esoteric, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Bundles (originally Harvest LP SHSP 4044, 1975)
1. Hazard Profile Part One
2. Hazard Profile Part Two
3. Hazard Profile Part Three
4. Hazard Profile Part Four
5. Hazard Profile Part Five
6. Gone Sailing
7. Bundles
8. Land of the Bag Snake
9. The Man Who Waved at Trains
10. Peff
11. Four Gongs Two Drums
12. The Floating World

CD 2: Softs (originally Harvest LP SHSP 4056, 1976)
1. Aubade
2. The Tale of Taliesin
3. Ban-Ban Caliban
4. Song of Aeolus
5. Out of Season
6. Second Bundle
7. Kayoo
8. The Camden Tandem
9. Nexus
10. One Over the Eight
11. Etika

CD 3: Alive and Well - Recorded in Paris (originally Harvest LP SHSP 4083, 1978)
1. White Kite
2. Eos
3. Odds Bullets and Blades Part One
4. Odds Bullets and Blades Part Two
5. Song of the Sunbird
6. Puffin'
7. Huffin'
8. Number Three
9. The Nodder
10. Surrounding Silence
11. Soft Space

Joe Meek/Various Artists, I Hear A New World/The Pioneers of Electronic Music (Cherry Red/El, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1: Joe Meek, I Hear a New World (portions originally released as Triumph EP RGX-ST5000, 1960 -- expanded LP released as RPM CD RPM-103, 1991)

The RPM Restoration (1991)
1. I Hear a New World
2. Orbit Around the Moon
3. Entry of the Globbots
4. The Bublight
5. March of the Dribcots
6. Love Dance of the Saroos
7. Glob Waterfall
8. Magnetic Field
9. Valley of the Saroos
10. Dribcots Space Boat
11. Disc Dance of the Globbots
12. Valley of No Return

The Original Unreleased Album (1960)
13. I Hear a New World
14. Glob Waterfall
15. Entry of the Globbots
16. Valley of the Saroos
17. Magnetic Field
18. Orbit Around the Moon
19. The Bublight
20. March of the Dribcots
21. Love Dance of the Saroos
22. Dribcots Space Boat
23. Disc Dance of the Globbots
24. Valley of No Return

BBC Radiophonic Workshop
25. Amphitryon 38 - Daphne Oram
26. The Artist Speaks - Phil Young
27. Science and Industry - Phil Young and Maddalena Fagandini
28. Interval Signal - Maddalena Fagandini
29. Time Beat - Maddalena Fagandini
30. Ideal Home Exhibition - Maddalena Fagandini
31. The Chem Lab Mystery - Maddalena Fagandini
32. Time on Our Hands (Titles and City Music) - Delia Derbyshire
33. Arabic Science and History - Delia Derbyshire
34. Time Beat - Ray Cathode (Maddalena Fagandini - George Martin)
35. Waltz in Orbit - Ray Cathode (Maddalena Fagandini - George Martin)

Disc 2:

1. Dripsody (an Etude for Variable Speed Recorder) - Hugh Le Caine
2. Syncopation (Orbit Aurora) - Tom Dissevelt
3. Whirling (Sonic Re-entry) - Tom Dissevelt
4. Drifting (Moon Maid) - Tom Dissevelt
5. Fantasy in Space - Otto Luening
6. Piece for Tape Recorder - Vladimir Ussachevsky

Pierre Boulez - Deux Études De Musique Concrète for Magnetic Tape
7. Étude 1 Sur Un Son
8. Étude 2 Sur Un Accord De Sept Sons

9. Timbres Durées - Olivier Messiaen
10. Sound in Unlimited Space - Herbert Eimert & Robert Beyer
11. Studie Nr.1 - Karlheinz Stockhausen
12. La Rivière Endormie - Darius Milhaud
13. Interpolation 1 from Déserts - Edgard Varèse
14. Spirale - Pierre Henry
15. Étude Aux Sons Animés - Pierre Schaeffer

Disc 3:

1. Poeme Electronique - Edgard Varèse
2. Scambi - Henri Pousseuri
3. Musica Su Due Dimensioni "dimensioni No. 1" (Version for Flute and Tape) - Bruno Maderna
4. Fontana Mix - John Cage
5. Artikulation for Tape - György Ligeti

Visage V - Luc Ferrari
6. Part One
7. Part Two
8. Part Three

9. Orient Occident La Prisonnière - Iannis Xenakis
10. Momenti, for Magnetic Tape - Luciano Berio
11. Visages (Excerpt) - Luciano Berio
12. The Innocents - Savage Noises (Excerpt) - Daphne Oram
13. Rhythmic Variation 1 from Electronic Sound Patterns - Daphne Oram

The Residents, God in Three Persons (originally released on Ryko Analogue LP RALP-0044-2, 1988 -- reissued New Ralph Too/MVD Audio/Cherry Red CD NRT013, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1: God in Three Persons

1. Main Titles (God in Three Persons)
2. Hard and Tenderly
3. Devotion?
4. The Thing About Them
5. Their Early Years
6. Loss of a Loved One
7. The Touch
8. The Service
9. Confused (By What I Felt Inside)
10. Fine Fat Flies
11. Time
12. Silver, Sharp and Could Not Care
13. Kiss of Flesh
14. Pain and Pleasure
15. Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love) [bonus track]
16. G3P Over [bonus track]

Disc 2: God in Three Persons (OST Recording) (instrumentals)
1. Main Titles (God in Three Persons)
2. Hard & Tenderly
3. The Thing About Them
4. Their Early Years
5. Loss of a Loved One
6. The Touch
7. The Service (Part 1)
8. The Service (Part 2)
9. Confused by What I Felt Inside
10. Kiss of Flesh
11. Pain and Pleasure
12. Knot in a Million Years [bonus track]

Disc 3: G3P Ephemera
1. Main Titles (Demo)
2. Devotion? (Demo)
3. The Thing About Them (Demo)
4. Loss of a Loved One (Demo)
5. The Touch (Demo)
6. The Service (Demo)
7. Confused (By What I Felt Inside) (Demo)
8. Loss of a Loved One (Extended)
9. Holy Kiss of Flesh (Single Mix)
10. Land of 1000 Dances/Double Shot
11. Their Early Years (Live)
12. Hard and Tenderly (Live)