Incense and Peppermints - The Strawberry Alarm Clock
Track List:
The World's on Fire
Birds in My Tree
Lose to Live
Strawberries Mean Love
Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow
Paxton's Back Street Carnival
Hummin' Happy
Pass Time with the SAC
Incense and Peppermints
Unwind with the Clock
Before we begin
So yeah I am on a bit of a late 60’s psychedelic kick at the moment and this was a band I found recommended after listening to The Zombies. I don’t think I’ve heard anything off this before.
The World's on Fire
The soundscape that I hear is very much what I anticipated. Very crisp and clean. I really like the organ. Reading the lyrics I think this is a herald to the new age of psychedelia. The Strawberry Alarm Clock is here and they are announcing their arrival by setting the world in fire. There are some really. The way that they pronounce fire reminds me of the song This Fire by Franz Ferdinand, I have no clue if this could have influenced them but my brain still connects the two. The solo on this song was fun and experimental sounding, looking forward to the remaining listen.
Birds in My Tree
This song is brief. I think this is an advertisement for the hippie lifestyle of the late 60's in San Francisco.
Lose to Live
This is a strange one. The count to start well after the start. The middle verse is more like something I would expect to hear from Jello Biafra than something produced more than a decade before. I do like the drum solo to start the instrumental section. So with an attempt at interpretation. I don't know. The song starts with a statement that you need to search within yourself to find peace of mind. Then rapid statements claiming that in order to be alive you have to be willing to fight and lose. To love you have to be willing to hate. Your life can be unexpected. Then the weird Jello part, this is self doubt, the narrator is telling himself in his head that he is worthless and no matter what they try to do they will be there telling themself they are going to fail. This relates back to the start that you have to search within yourself for peace. Then a reaffirmation of the first verse. And then the instrumental section. Perhaps the instrumental section is an audible representation of the inner struggle and turmoil of the narrator. The fighting to live, and the feelings of hate needed to love The entire instrumental section comes back to a more whole feeling piece to end the song. We have gone on a journey inside the narrator's head. The song ends with an almost sing songy nursery rhyme section.
Strawberries Mean Love
What a way to start a song. This song makes my ears happy. I enjoy the composition. For a meaning, I think they are clarifying their name. Strawberry Alarm Clock nah it's the Love Alarm Clock and it's time for everyone collectively to decide to love one another. Yes, I think this is another hippie anthem.
Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow
This song I have been excited about. I have a mushroom pillow that rests under my head every night. Again this is a song that just sounds pleasing to my ears. I think it's the instrumentation that I just like. I think this song is about tripping on magic mushrooms. But I think I could abstract the meaning in a more literal sense. The narrator has a fascination with mushrooms and looks forward to rainy days when the fungi fruit due to high humidity and he can then go and observe them.
Paxton's Back Street Carnival
I think this one is describing a psychedelic trip in the scene of a street carnival. Again with the hippie love from the band but the time and location seem to make sense.
Hummin' Happy
This sounds happy, but isn't or isn't in a traditional sense. First the narrator talks about seeing people getting busted for selling tainted lemonade. Next we hear about a woman not paying attention and being distracted and falling into a manhole. In the chorus the narrator declares he is a sadist. Next the narrator talks about a baby bird getting squished by a semi truck and we get a reprise of the chorus. I am not so sure this is a declaration of the person being a sadist. Instead I think it is the person being perceived as a sadist, which I can relate to as I tend to deal with stress by making jokes which may be dark.
Pass Time with the SAC
I thought way too long about what the hell SAC meant before realizing it’s the band’s name. The song is literally an instrumental break to spend time with the band.
Incense and Peppermints
The title track, my expectations are pretty high now given the first 8 songs on the album…Well I have heard this song before and just didn't recognize it by name or by artist. I like this song. I think this one is yet again about the use of psychedelic drugs. It's a theme but not really a concept album. The outro is in stark contrast to the rest of the song.
Unwind with the Clock
It’s an outro to the album and saying thank you like a concert. Very 4th wall breaking, neat and unusual. Just a fun jam.
Thoughts after listening
I think this is firmly in the genre of acid rock. I really like the way the album sounds. It will receive more play for me. As far as trying to explore the meaning of the songs, I think that is really secondary here. There are some interesting topics explored but overall I think the songs are relatively shallow but fun.
