The World in a Sea Shell


The World in a Sea Shell is the third album by the American psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock, released in November 1968 on Uni Records. The album was not a chart success, and was the final LP to include the classic Strawberry Alarm Clock lineup.

Background

When the band's second album, Wake Up...It's Tomorrow, failed to recapture the huge success of 1967's Incense and Peppermints, the band's management decided to exert more control over the recordings for the third album. To this end, they pressured the band to record several compositions written by outsiders, including Carole King and "Incense and Peppermints" lyricists John Carter and Tim Gilbert. The band members bristled at this situation, but reluctantly agreed to it in the end. Thus, five of the album's 12 songs were non-group songs.
The new direction did not pay off commercially for the band. Many of the tracks on The World in a Sea Shell featured lush orchestration and a gentle, escapist feel that stood in stark contrast to the adventurous psychedelia of the band's past work. This sudden change in direction, seen as a gross miscalculation on their managers' part by the band members, helped seal Strawberry Alarm Clock's fate. This frustrated the band, as their own compositions for this album included some adventurous moments and sound collages that fans might have expected and that weren't too far removed from the style of the previous albums.

Singles from the album

Two singles were released: "Sea Shell" and "Barefoot in Baltimore". The latter was especially popular on local radio stations in its namesake city of Baltimore, Maryland and was used as a theme song for the city for decades afterwards.

Aftermath

In the wake of the album's release, long-time members George Bunnell and Randy Seol departed, with the lineup on the band's subsequent album, Good Morning Starshine (Strawberry [Alarm Clock album)|Good Morning Starshine], consisting of guitarists Lee Freeman and Ed King, augmented by former Nightcrawlers singer/guitarist Jimmy Pitman and returning drummer Gene Gunnels.

Track listing

Side one
  1. "Sea Shell" – 3:02
  2. "Blues for a Young Girl Gone" – 2:31
  3. "An Angry Young Man" – 2:28
  4. "A Million Smiles Away" – 2:37
  5. "Home Sweet Home" – 2:39
  6. "Lady of the Lake" – 3:00
Side two
  1. "Barefoot in Baltimore" – 2:23
  2. "Wooden Woman" – 2:07
  3. "Heated Love" – 1:58
  4. "Love Me Again" – 3:31
  5. "Eulogy" – 1:48
  6. "Shallow Impressions" – 3:22

Personnel

Strawberry Alarm Clock
Additional personnel
  • George Tipton – arrangements
  • Howard Davis – vocal arrangements
Technical
  • Paul Buff – engineer
  • Don Weller – cover illustration