When Cherry Red Records launched their Strawberry Records subsidiary in 2020, they knew they’d need something impressive to kick start what would technically be a successor to the excellent RPM label. Their inaugural release ‘Halcyon Days’ tapped into an accessible selection of mod and soul cuts, very much in the spirit of RPM’s ‘Looking Back’ series. Needless to say, fans of the style – and of that series of RPM box sets – were thrilled with the result. A second box of mod and soul cuts from Strawberry – 2021’s ‘I Love To See You Strut’ – was pretty much as solid, and at other times, the label’s well curated products – box sets celebrating “the music of Black Britain”, 60s and 70s club soul classics, and even dipping their toes into the world of psychedelic folk (normally the remit of sister label, Grapefruit) – have also been considered very welcome fare.
Tag Archives: strawberry records
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Middle Earth: The Soundtrack of London’s Legendary Psychedelic Club 1967-1969
Whenever psychedelic and swinging London appears in documentary footage, there’s always a tendency to suggest, to those of later generations, that Joe Boyd’s short-lived UFO club was where everybody hung out. This is largely to do with an easily available and well circulated clip of Syd Barrett and The Pink Floyd hammering through ‘Astronomy Domine’ against a home made light show. The late 60s saw lots of other underground activity, not least of all at UFO’s successor, Middle Earth.
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Deep In The Woods: Pastoral Psychedelia & Funky Folk 1968-1975
Subtitled ‘Pastoral Psychedelia & Funky Folk’, this three disc anthology from Strawberry Records delves deeply into an era where folk music adopted a more progressive approach, and prog/psych bands weren’t afraid to get whimsical. Although the music within isn’t always easily pigeonholed, the bands and artists featured cross genres and moods freely, in a way that captures a period like no other, mixing folk narratives and very English tones with the worldly haze of a prog rock experimentation and a love of jazz. Without these genre-bending pioneers, John Martyn’s ‘Solid Air’ mightn’t be the much loved masterpiece that it is, and Al Stewart might’ve been forever stuck in a Dylan-esque narrative rut. And that’s just scratching the surface.
VARIOUS ARTISTS – Halcyon Days: 60s Mod, R&B, Brit Soul & Freakbeat Nuggets
The inaugural release from Strawberry Records, ‘Halcyon Days’ aims high in terms of 60s entertainment. Bringing together a great selection of mod, soul and freakbeat sides, it presents famous names alongside forgotten heroes; places cult floor fillers, deep cuts and a few genuine rarities among fantastic (and sometimes very interesting) covers of well known tunes. Across nearly 90 tracks, it sets itself up as a varied and comprehensive listen. It’s very much the kind of set tailor made for those who’ve worn out the more bog-standard mod comps and are looking for a world beyond The Action, The Creation and those much-loved Spencer Davis Group hits.