Song:Incense and Peppermints
Album:Strawberries Mean Love
This 1967 number one hit is one of the most memorable songs of the psychedelic era. Other than the one song, Strawberry Alarm Clock weren't very successful due to constant personnel changes and mismanagement. But they were a real band. They started out in 1965 in Glendale, CA as a British Invasion cover band called Sixpence and then Thee Sixpence. The original members were Lee Freeman on vocals, Ed King on guitar, Gary Lovetro on bass, Gene Gunnels on drums, Mike Luciano on tambourine and Steve Rabe on guitar. They recorded some singles for All-American Records. One of these was picked up for national distribution by Dot Records. Meanwhile, Rabe left and Mark Weitz joined as a singer and keyboard player. Weitz and King started writing together and wrote an instrumental called Incense and Peppermints. Their producer/publisher Frank Slay gave the song to his songwriter friend John Carter and then Slay cheated Weitz and King out of the songwriting credit. Weitz and Freeman refused to sing the song so a kid named Greg Mumford did the vocal. They didn't care because it was supposed to be a B side anyway. The single was released under Thee Sixpence but they decided the name was too generic so Strawberry Alarm Clock was based on The Beatles hit Strawberry Fields Forever. As sometimes happens in radio, DJs preferred the B side and Incense and Peppermints started getting airplay and was picked up by Decca Records for their UNI label. It topped the Billboard Hot 100. Then they had to record an album and that led to several personnel changes. They went out on a national tour and appeared in the 1968 film Psych-Out. But they were never able to reach the heights of Incense and Peppermints and they split up in 1971. This comp is definitive. Ed King was guitarist for Lynyrd Skynrd but left in 1975. He's been part of that band's reunion. Weitz left the music business but recently has been a member of Billy Corgan's Spirits In The Sky. Here's Strawberry Alarm Clock performing Incense and Peppermints 1967.
Good to see this song on here. It's fun to see the band performing on the video, though I wish the song were live too (it's the regular studio version overdubbed).
ReplyDeleteCheck out some of the other songs on that CD mentioned above, the band had a lot more songs than just "Incense And Peppermints"!
I think that I recall reading that Greg Mumford was a regular member of the band before they changed their name to Strawberry Alarm Clock. I am not sure, but I think that I also recall reading that he sang on several of the band's songs as well as Incense and Peppermints.
ReplyDeleteNo Munford was lead singer of Shapes and Sounds. He was never a member of Strawberry Alarm Clock and it appears he only sang the one song.
ReplyDelete