When Step By Step was released in 1998, it was a welcome addition to Strawberry Alarm Clock fans’ collections. For Step By Step compiles the 1966-1967 releases by Thee Sixpence, mostly on the All American label. Thee Sixpence is the band that changed its name to Strawberry Alarm Clock, and these early proto-SAC singles are excellent … Read more
The Strawberry Alarm Clock Anthology is an 18-track compilation CD released in 1993. It comprises many of Strawberry Alarm Clock’s more notable songs. The disc was put out by One Way Records. As an overview of the Clock’s musical output 1967-71, The Strawberry Alarm Clock Anthology isn’t exactly comprehensive, but the music is excellent. The … Read more
Strawberries Mean Love is the title of a compilation album originally released as a vinyl LP in 1987. It was later released on CD in 1992 with more tracks. Arguably, Strawberries Mean Love is the best Strawberry Alarm Clock compilation available, especially the CD version. The collection takes its name from the song “Strawberries Mean Love” … Read more
Strawberry Alarm Clock contributed two new songs to the soundtrack of the 1971 Russ Meyers movie Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls. The songs are “Girl From The City” and “I’m Comin’ Home”, both with latter-era vocalist Paul Marshall. (“Incense And Peppermints” is also in the movie, though not on the soundtrack album.) Besides Strawberry … Read more
Good Morning Starshine is Strawberry Alarm Clock’s fourth album, released in 1969. It features new lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Jim Pitman, who helped lead the band away from the lustrous sentimentality of 1968’s The World In A Sea Shell and into more immediate and entertaining blues-rock grunge. Without the crushing influence of boneheaded management decisions … Read more
Strawberry Alarm Clock’s third album was called The World In A Sea Shell and was released in November 1968 on Uni Records. The disc followed Wake Up… It’s Tomorrow, also from 1968, but has a much dreamier and more uniform sound. Compared to the band’s earlier music, The World In A Sea Shell is lush, and … Read more
Wake Up… It’s Tomorrow is Strawberry Alarm Clock’s second album, released in early 1968 and following up their 1967 debut Incense And Peppermints. Many of the musical themes and lyrical concerns of the first album are explored further on Wake Up… It’s Tomorrow, resulting in an album that, impressively, is at turns gentler and weirder. … Read more
The soundtrack LP of the 1968 movie Psych-Out features Strawberry Alarm Clock, the Seeds, Boenzee Cryque, and the Storybook. It’s a great selection of psychedelic pop songs. Strawberry Alarm Clock has no otherwise-unavailable songs here, except for a shorter edit of “The World’s On Fire”. The album is a great collector’s piece, and has been … Read more
Strawberry Alarm Clock music featured prominently in the classic ‘psychsploitation’ movie Psych-Out from 1968.
Incense & Peppermints (note the ampersand in the title – this is not the 1967 album Incense And Peppermints) is a Strawberry Alarm Clock compilation originally released by MCA in 1990. It mostly collects some of the band’s earlier singles and a few assorted album tracks. Most interestingly, it included the rare (at the time … Read more
“Unwind With The Clock” is the final track on the 1967 album Incense And Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clock. Mostly instrumental (until a verse sung towards the end) and similar to the filler track “Pass Time With The SAC”, “Unwind With The Clock” is actually the second-longest song on the album and a very groovy, … Read more
“Incense And Peppermints” is Strawberry Alarm Clock’s most famous song, the band’s only #1 hit, and one of the most well-known classics of the entire 1960s era. It was originally a b-side, was sung by a non-member, and isn’t all that similar to the rest of the band’s music. “Incense And Peppermints” first saw the … Read more
“Pass Time With The SAC” is a short instrumental song and the eighth track on Strawberry Alarm Clock’s 1967 LP Incense And Peppermints. Apparently conceived as and included as filler for the short album, “Pass Time With The SAC” is actually a pretty fiery performance. Ed King’s distorted guitar twists all over the place, as … Read more
“Hummin’ Happy” is the seventh track on Strawberry Alarm Clock’s 1967 LP Incense And Peppermints. A fast rock song with strikingly cynical lyrics, “Hummin’ Happy” is notable as perhaps the most negative of the band’s dark side. This dynamic is also heard on songs like “The World’s On Fire”, “Lose To Live” and “Curse Of … Read more
“Paxton’s Back Street Carnival”, the sixth song from Strawberry Alarm Clock’s 1967 LP Incense And Peppermints, is an aggressive rock song evoking the spirit of California psychedelia’s heyday. The very notion of a street carnival was endemic to that time and place. The swirling images in the song’s lyrics fit the overall mood very well. … Read more
“Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow” is the first song on Side 2 of Strawberry Alarm Clock’s 1967 album Incense And Peppermints. Simultaneously dense and flowing, it is one of the album’s more prominently psychedelic moments – and one of the highlights of SAC’s career. Beginning with a dashing flute, and led throughout by bongos, the lyrics of … Read more
“Strawberries Mean Love” is the fourth song on Strawberry Alarm Clock’s 1967 debut LP Incense And Peppermints. It’s the second track to feature a more placid and conventional pop sound, the first having been “Birds In My Tree”, and follows the chaos of the scrambled “Lose To Live”. “Strawberries Mean Love” is also one of … Read more
“Lose To Live” is the third track on Strawberry Alarm Clock’s 1967 album Incense And Peppermints. Weird and angular, “Lose To Live” is defined by a piercing, harpsichord-like keyboard part, deranged vocals, and constantly changing musical sections. The track follows the shorter and gentler “Birds In My Tree”, and recalls the album’s opener “The World’s … Read more
“Birds In My Tree” is the second track on Strawberry Alarm Clock’s 1967 album Incense And Peppermints. It was later chosen as the b-side of a single. A short and conventional pop song, “Birds In My Tree” features vaguely psychedelic touches in its adventurous melody, lyrical references to drugs and a new ideal existence, and a … Read more
“The World’s On Fire” is the first track on Strawberry Alarm Clock’s 1967 LP Incense And Peppermints. At over eight minutes, it is the band’s longest-ever track and is one of the better “long” psychedelic grooves of the era. “The World’s On Fire” was presumably conceived in the spirit of other mid- and late-60s tracks … Read more