Once I'd heard the reunion show, my revived interest meant that I started looking for Dr Strangely Strange material again. A visit to the iTunes Store, more in hope of locating the new album or the 1997’s Alternative Medicine than any expectation of older material, there it was - Kip of the Serenes available again after all these years for $16.99, and just in time to download before we headed to Japan.
Given that it was a mere two days before we left, I decided to wait till we returned before conducting further archaeological research in the musty back corners of Hughesy’s memory but, as things turned out I came back with a copy of Halcyon Days as well.
So to the music.
As you’d expect, an album that starts with a track named Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal, with the opening lines:
Friends greet you on the way
Say “There you go.”
There you go
You may wonder where you’re supposed to be going
has a little more than its fair share of lyrical whimsy, and fits nicely into the same folk-psych vibe as the incredible String Band without exotic instrumentation and vocal eccentricities.