In this column I discuss some of the new upcoming holiday releases I find especially exciting.

Every holiday the major labels release a bunch of great stuff trying to increase their bottom line.

This year is no exception, with a lot of first-rate, classic music from jazz to rock being put before the music lover. I love this time of year!

The first on my list would be the Flaming Lips newest release "Embroyonic."

The double-CD set is supposed to be a departure for the self-styled modern acid-rock band, and that would be a very good thing indeed. The last two outings by the Lips have been mediocre at best, with "At War With the Mystics" and "Christmas on Mars" just too Pro-Tooled for my tastes.

The word is the band is back to what they do best, which is organic, beautiful and mind-bending visions of the weird and wonderful as on the band's previous releases "The Soft Bulletin," "Transmissions From the Satellites" and the absolute masterpiece, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots." You've probably heard snippets from this album, as the song "Do You Realize?" is being used in a - of all things - a Land Rover commercial.

Of course, you never get to hear the lyrics, which includes the immortal line, "Do you realize, that everyone you know, someday will die..."

Those Flaming Lips are slyly subversive, and that's why the band is so good.

"Embroyonic" was released Oct. 13 and includes a special edition with a DVD.

The next would be the debut release of "Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight." Recorded 40 years ago at the legendary Isle of Wight concert - which also featured Jimi Hendrix, Kris Kristopherson and an electrified Miles Davis - this was basically the British Woodstock.

Most of the footage from this DVD/CD combination hasn't seen the light until now and features the legendary band performing early hits including "Bird on a Wire" and "So Long, Marianne."

It will be interesting to see how one of the most introspective of singer-songwriters of the 1960s and '70s deals with the intimate and mature nature of his songs before 600,000 stoned, screaming British teenagers. But like almost all of Cohen's output in his illustrious career, I'm sure it will be superb.

"Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight" was released on Tuesday.

Set to release Nov. 3 is another CD/DVD combination of "Nirvana Live at Reading."

One of the most innovative - and tortured - bands of the 1990s grunge era, Nirvana also was one of the best in concert. This special edition includes 25 blistering performance of Curt Cobain and company tearing through a set of their greatest hits with the ferocity of a freight train. Recorded in 1992, this is a document of a band at the height of its powers full of noise and fury before flaming out with Cobain's suicide two years later.

Nirvana holds a special place in my heart, mainly because I was where the action was in the great Northwest during Nirvana's reign. Hypnotizing, intense and unbelievably powerful, Nirvana's influence still impacts today's rock music scene, with a thousand Cobain wanna-bes springing up every year.

But there was only one original, and "Nirvana Live at Reading" is the way the band should be remembered - melodic pop mixed with blistering guitar avant-noise. It's a glorious sound, and Nirvana's performance at Reading is thought by many critics to be the greatest rock concert ever.

Currently on the turntable in the Miller household:

"Side Steps: John Coltrane" is the third and final edition box set of John Coltrane's wonderful work for the Prestige jazz label in the late 1950s.

This five-CD set spotlights Coltrane's short stint as a sideman for other artists on the Prestige roster, including pianists Mal Waldron and Red Garland, Sonny Rollins and more.

While all the material is top-notch, hard bop at its best, the selections featuring Garland and Coltrane highlight the special relationship these two giant musicians enjoyed with each other in and out of the Miles Davis Quintet. The set also comes with new essays on Coltrane and the music. Highly recommended.

"Where The Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968" is the latest four-CD box set chronicling singles from the rock explosion of the 1960s released by Rhino Records.

This time the Nugget series explores the Los Angles scene and includes rare 45s by bands that maybe had one great single but never broke out of the fertile Los Angeles music scene.

The box also features some interesting and surprising early singles from the Byrds, the Doors, Love, Iron Butterfly and Even Lee Hazelwood. The set comes with a hardback book describing each single and band in detail. A most delicious treat of '60s psychedelia.

Next week: More notable upcoming holiday releases.

(Mark J. Miller is co-editor of Weekender.)