Incense and Peppermints

Not to be confused by any means with the band's debut album (which happens to share the very same title), MCA Special Products' Incense & Peppermints collects ten highlights from the group's four albums for UNI Records. Budget-line collections are notorious for offering a random selection of songs, but Incense & Peppermints feels as if it were assembled with a bit more care, since it contains the group's five charting hits - 'Incense and Peppermints,' 'Tomorrow,' 'Sit with the Guru,' 'Barefoot in Baltimore,' and 'Good Morning Starshine' - and the remaining cuts contain such cool obscurities as 'Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow,' 'Birdman of Alkatrash,' and 'Strawberries Mean Love.' Such unpredictable inclusions make this a budget-line disc worth picking up, especially if you don't want to invest in more exhaustive compilations.