Step By Step

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 psych garage rock that would have otherwise been unobtainable for most listeners.

Step By Step was collated and issued by the Akarma label, on vinyl.

Comprising all of Thee Sixpence’s songs in chronological order, Step By Step shows how the group went from a crude garage band with shambolic takes on “Long Days Care” and cover songs taken from Love’s first album (“Can’t Explain”, “My Flash On You”, “Hey Joe”) and moved through some great, inspired psychedelia. In the latter category, check out the uncomfortable, brooding “In The Building” and the organ-led psych-garage pieces like “Heart Full Of Rain” and of course “Incense And Peppermints”.

How Step By Step overlaps the two bands

Because they were first released as Thee Sixpence before the band was signed to the Uni label, both “Incense And Peppermints” and “The Birdman Of Alkatrash” are included here. These are the usual, well-known Strawberry Alarm Clock recordings, not early incarnations. Tacked onto the end of Step By Step is the lengthy and cinematically cataclysmic “The World’s On Fire”, the leadoff track from the Incense And Peppermints album.

Step By Step was released on colored 180g vinyl. The collection is highly recommended, certainly for Strawberry Alarm Clock fans but also for general fans of mid-60s garage punk groups like The Leaves and The Standells. The earliest days of what became known as Strawberry Alarm Clock already displayed the excitement, darkness, and experimental thrust of the band’s classic music.

Track list

Side 1

  1. “Long Days Care”
  2. “Can’t Explain”
  3. “Fortune Teller”
  4. “My Flash On You”
  5. “In The Building”
  6. “Hey Joe”
  7. “Heart Full Of Rain”

Side 2

  1. “(Gotta Get The) First Plane Home”
  2. “Incense And Peppermints”
  3. “The Birdman Of Alkatrash”
  4. “The World’s On Fire”

2 thoughts on “Step By Step

  1. Good find Matthew, thanks a lot! Nice to see Thee Sixpence more available to the masses. Hope the other tracks follow, of course, but these are a nice introduction to thee band.

  2. Half of Thee Sixpence’s singles output have just been made available on mp3 (with more on the way), as part of the Paul Buff archives series:

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002OYI8WC/

    Most of the tracks in the series have come from Paul’s master tapes, but not so sure about these….they do seem to sound better than some of the crackly vinyl transfers on Step By Step though.

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