Sweet. 

Don't get confused with the "Incense And Peppermints" albums, though.  Their first album is called  "Incense And Peppermints".  For some reason they also named their greatest hits album  "Incense And Peppermints".    Click my links to see which is which. 

If you end up really getting into Clock, they were orginally called  Thee Sixpence and there is a CD called "Step By Step" which is made up of all of their singles.  They actually recorded the "Incense And Peppermints" song under that name, but change it before it was released.  Here's what Borderline Books says about Thee Sixpence..........

Quote:

Thee Sixpence   

Personnel:
LEE FREEMAN vcls, hrmnca, gtr A B C D
GENE GUNNELS drms A B  D
ED KING gtr A B C D
GARY LOVETRO bs A B C D
MIKE LUCIANO tamb, vcls A B
STEVE RABE lead gtr A
MARK WEITZ vcls, keyb'ds  B C D
RANDY SEOL drms  C D
GREG MUNFORD vcls    D
 

ALBUM:
1(-) STEP BY STEP (Akarma AK 034) 1998
 

45s:
1(A) In The Building/Hay Joe (All-American 333) Apr. 1966
2(A) Long Days Care/Can't Explain (All-American 303) Jul. 1966
3(A) Fortune Teller / My Flash On You (All-American 313)  Oct. 1966
4(A) Fortune Teller / My Flash On You (Dot 16959) Oct. 1966
5(B/A) Heart Full Of Rain/(Gotta Get The) First Plane Home (All-American 353) Jan. 1967
6(B) Heart Full Of Rain/Fortune Teller (All-American 353) Jan. 1967
7(D/C) Incense And Pepermints/The Birdman Of Alkatrash (All-American 373-AA/373-A) 1967


NB: (1) as by The Sixpence, 'B' side title is a mis-spelling of HEY Joe. (6) is a second press of (5) with Fortune Teller replacing (Gotta Get The) First Plane Home. (7)'A' side of 7 also has a 'p' missing from 'Peppermints'. 

From Glendale, California this band is best known for being the early incarnation of the Strawberry Alarm Clock, arguably one of the most famous, colourful, and doubtless the most commercially successful U.S. flower-power psychedelic-pop band.

Some band members were earlier in a sixties surf outfit called the Irridescents who released a 45 back in 1963. The adaptable and durable Ed King would find success again in the '70s with Lynyrd Skynyrd. Incense... vocalist Gary Munford was a member of label-mates Indescribably Delicious, leading to speculations ever since as to their identity, which have finally been clarified with another Akarma reissue - see the Indescribably Delicious entry.

Thee Sixpence's line-up was pretty fluid - Ed King joined after the first 45. Following Heart Full Of Rain the group recorded Incense And Peppermints, but before it was released, their name was changed by management to the Strawberry Alarm Clock. The group played Santa Barbara quite a bit, leading to speculation that they were based their, but all but Lee Freeman came from Glendale.

Step By Step gathers together all their All-American 45s above and adds one bonus track, The World's On Fire, an awesome rambling garage-psych workout from Strawberry Alarm Clock's debut album. Indeed this album is essential listening for garage, psych and Strawberry Alarm Clock fans and is unreservedly recommended. It bristles with raw fuzzy garage and psych gems which, with the obvious exception of Incense And Peppermints, barely hint at the subsequent transformation into Strawberry Alarm Clock and their wider-appealing kaftan-and-beads psychedelic pop. Covers include faithfully raucous versions of Love's Can't Explain and My Flash On You and the oft-visited Hey Joe and Fortune Teller. Heart Full Of Rain was later covered by label-mates Big Brother.

Many of their tracks had previously been compiled: - In The Building, with its hypnotic drum fill, on Psychedelic Disaster Whirl (LP); Fortune Teller on Psychedelic Unknowns, Vol. 4 (LP & CD); My Flash On You on Psychedelic Unknowns, Vol's 1 & 2 (LP), Psychedelic Unknowns, Vol. 1 (Dble 7"), Sixties Rebellion, Vol. 8 (LP & CD), I Was A Teenage Caveman (LP) and 60's Punk E.P., Vol. 2 (7"); Long Days Care on Diggin' For Gold, Vol. 7 (LP); Heart Full Of Rain and In The Building on Filling The Gap (4-LP).

(Max Waller / Vernon Joynson / Mike Markesich)

---