Strawberry Alarm Clock was always much more than their image would suggest. Their first album Incense And Peppermints is a true psych classic, one of the premier releases of 1967.
Incense And Peppermints was of course named after the song “Incense And Peppermints” that had already become a huge hit. Both were released in 1967.
Shortly after the band changed its name to Strawberry Alarm Clock from Thee Sixpence, they recorded and released the song “Incense And Peppermints”. It was, as with most Thee Sixpence songs, on the All American label. Shortly after this, the Uni label noticed and signed the band, re-releasing the single. It was in this guise that “Incense And Peppermints” became a worldwide #1 hit, which led to the recording of Incense And Peppermints.
Curiously, the hit song that would nominally be the centerpiece of the album was slotted in as the second-to-last song on Side 2. Otherwise, Incense And Peppermints is an impressive and varied showcase for the inspired lunacy and stately psychedelia of an unfairly-maligned band.
Incense And Peppermints‘ dark cloud
One of the most striking characteristics of Incense And Peppermints is its frequently dark (some might say pessimistic) lyrics. The fact that “Incense And Peppermints” (the song) is sometimes seen as a dated 1960s nugget, best appreciated by nostalgic hippies who haven’t moved on, is unfortunate. And it’s a slander against the song and this album.
Because what this position overlooks is the band’s overt weirdness, and the songs’ acknowledgment of the more negative aspects of modern society. Much of the raging chaos and unexpected jaggedness of Incense And Peppermints stem from a lysergic disintegration and a restless paranoia.
The discomfort is never really explained, but remains unnerving even to today’s listeners. The obvious darkness and unorthodox structure of “Incense And Peppermints” are more fully explored on the album’s ten songs.
Examples of this include the famous opening track, the eight-plus minute “The World’s On Fire”, which (true to its title) has the apocalyptic feeling of an unstoppable global conflagration, from the point of view of a curiously disinterested (or numb) observer. “Lose To Live”, which on the surface is an ode to experience being the best teacher, veers towards a deeper existential dilemma. Even “Hummin’ Happy” depicts a series of misfortunes befalling its cast of unrelated characters to a jarringly jaunty tune.
Incense And Peppermints‘ silver lining
All that said, there is plenty of uplifting and lilting music on Incense And Peppermints. Strawberry Alarm Clock’s lush vocal harmonies, straight out of the earnest early-60s collegiate quartets, are firmly in place. They lend an air of professionalism, commanding respect in a way that other “sunshine psych” bands like The Lemon Pipers are not usually afforded.
Instrumentally, there are as many flutes and xylophones as fuzzy guitars. For every twisted, fragmentary jumble of a song there is a lovely, often genuinely psychedelic, piece of California pastoralism in no-frills 4/4 time. Examples of the band’s softer, more conventional side include “Strawberries Mean Love”, “Birds In My Tree”, and my favorite, “Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow”.
All in all, Incense And Peppermints is absolutely recommended to fans of psychedelic music. Note that it is an unfortunately short experience, at just over 30 minutes. But the journey is worth it. Poppy when it has to be and adventurous throughout, the album captures the best side of the original California psych era. Its buzzing guitar runs, youthful flights of fancy, outrageous arrangements, soft edges, and gutpunch cynicism elevate it beyond the merely “pop”.
And if you like this album you’ll love the band’s next album, Wake Up… It’s Tomorrow, which manages to increase both the experimental weirdness level and the poppy lushness at the same time.
Track listing
Side 1
- “The World’s On Fire”
- “Birds In My Tree”
- “Lose To Live”
- “Strawberries Mean Love”
Side 2
- “Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow”
- “Paxton’s Back Street Carnival”
- “Hummin’ Happy”
- “Pass Time With The SAC”
- “Incense And Peppermints”
- “Unwind With The Clock”
The compilation that shall not be named
In 1990 MCA released a Strawberry Alarm Clock compilation album, maddeningly called Incense & Peppermints, which became inextricably confused with the great 1967 album. This compilation shows an ampersand on the front in the title while the 1967 LP is And. But that’s a small difference, and many buyers and sellers of SAC media have been confused ever since.
The compilation isn’t bad per se but it should never have recycled the album title. And it certainly shouldn’t have also used the same front cover photograph. Fortunately, the compilation has fallen out of favor and you’re more likely to find the 1967 original, or recent reissues of it, than this 1990 collection.
I’ve arrived a little late to this party, but I have to say that the above comments about the first album are dead on. The underlying humor and cynical bite that runs through this and the second album might be missed if not listened to, in their entireties, thoughtfully with an open mind. That’s what is lost in the 1990 compilation. Like a lot of folks, I mistakenly thought that the compilation was, in fact, the first album, which was, actually, out of print at the time I picked it up. If all one hears is that compilation, one might get the mistaken impression that SAC was a hippier, trippier version of The Association. Soooo wrong!