Where in rock and roll vinyl history do The Who and Strawberry Alarm Clock overlap? Fear not, for there is an answer.
In 1969, MCA put out an album called Double Star Series Featuring The Who & The Strawberry Alarm Clock. It was a limited edition promotional album pressed by MCA for the Philco company. One side of the album features songs by the Who, the other side Strawberry Alarm Clock. The catalog number was MCA Special Products 734586.
The Double Star Series was, as its name implies, a set of albums that paired previously-released songs by two artists. Among the several other editions were discs featuring Roger Williams/Carmen Cavallaro, Freddy Martin/Sammy Kaye, and Liberace/The Ray Charles Singers. Collecting them all could be a fun pursuit, and this one is one of the more desired ones.
The Double Star Series song selections
The songs from The Who on Double Star Series all date from the years 1965 to 1967 and are taken from albums and singles. They aren’t the band’s biggest hits, rather a motley collection. (But, pick any five Who songs from that era and you can’t really go wrong can you?)
All of the Strawberry Alarm Clock songs, oddly, come from the band’s second album Wake Up… It’s Tomorrow (1968). Even more peculiar: the minor hit “Tomorrow” – that LP’s most obvious choice for a record label that finds itself in an anthologizing mood – isn’t on here.
As it is, the SAC song choices on Double Star Series are eccentric at best, and from a Strawberry Alarm Clock fan’s point of view, pretty awesome. Many of the darker and weirder parts of Wake Up… It’s Tomorrow were chosen (see song list below). Either MCA had some wise house hippie who knew what they were doing, or some pencil-pusher chose at random and got really lucky. Either way, a boon for SAC fans.
The Double Star Series front cover
The front cover art is a painted collage of band shots, the two sort of merging into one another in the middle. Overall there’s a pretty nice pick/orange/black color scheme to the cover.
The SAC painting (the half of it visible anyway) is the same one from the 1971 compilation Changes, seen on that album in its fuller and more colorful form. (The painting is based on the cover of 1967’s Incense And Peppermints.)
Availability of Double Star Series
The Double Star Series Who/SAC album is rather hard to find these days; if looking, remember that it is often classified under The Who, the band with the undeniably larger stature. There is no practical reason to own this album except as a collectible. For the devoted completist, the Double Star Series LP a fun rarity, and a not-at-all impossible goal.
Apparently, there was even an early cassette version, which would be much more difficult to find. But oh, think of the bragging rights!
Track listing
Side 1: The Who
- “Happy Jack”
- “Bucket T”
- “So Sad About Us”
- “I Can See For Miles”
- “Out In The Street”
Side 2: Strawberry Alarm Clock
- “Sit With The Guru”
- “Nightmare Of Percussion”
- “Soft Skies, No Lies”
- “Curse Of The Witches”
- “They Saw The Fat One Coming”
I have this on Decca release 8 tracks tapes