The Chocolate Watchband had already unwound by the time this mysterious psychedelic stew was assembled using older tracks and new songs recorded with session musicians. The band had gone through several lineup changes before they had recorded their debut album 'No Way Out' and had completely disbanded after a tour with another new lineup. Engineer Richie Podolor and producer Ed Cobb recorded new tracks with singer Don Bennett, who had provided overdubbed vocals on 'No Way Out'.
Cobb remembers: "The Chocolate Watch Band had broken up and come together many different times. I really enjoyed working with them, but they had no rules bound to themselves. Consequently they would break up. It did not matter if they were successful or not. Then I would talk to them, and they would agree to do something else...They were very much wrapped up in the drug culture. A lot of strange things happened."
The credits on 'The Inner Mystique' include the former lineup of David Aguilar on harmonica, percussion, and vocals; Gary Andrijasevich on drums and vocals; Bill Flores on bass; Mark Loomis on guitar and vocals; and Sean Tolby on guitar. Also associated with the album were Jeremy Miller on guitar and Don Bennett on vocals. The low key psychedelic first side of the album was recorded without any members of the band. Side two was thrown together with garage styled outtakes in the vein of the first album recorded by the band before the breakup.
Aguilar reflects: "Why do things come apart? At what point does a love relationship become one of deceit or hate or anger? Why do some people say 'Black' when you say 'White'? Why do some bands stay together until even their biggest fans wish they would die? What is the glue that holds groups together? I believe it’s Sex, Drugs, Ego and Music. What is it that pulls great bands apart? The same thing - Sex, Drugs, Ego and Music...Sex problems could arise between band members when invisible, unspoken boundaries between women and men were violated...What do you get when you place five Alpha males in a closed room with one very attractive, sensual and sexually free female. In one way or another, during the course of the next few hours, every guy in that room is going to make it known to her that he is the one leading the group. And two days later, when she dumps Mark and jumps into the bed and becomes the permanent lover of one of the other band members …anger...disaster...
Take your pick. Or, select both...Drugs: For listening to music, watching a movie, making love or driving down coast Highway 1 with Pink Floyd turned up full on the radio, they can be fun. For performing music, jumping out of airplanes or trying to define yourself as a musician, they suck. Drugs are a recipe for absolute, guaranteed failure...Egos are the power units of rock and rollers. You gotta have a huge ones or its never gonna work. Your ego is what tells you its OK to get up on stage and perform a song you don’t know the words to. It is the unshakeable belief that you are better than someone else and the world needs to know it. Ego is what got us into trouble with the Seeds. The Watchband always had a set pattern for starting a rehearsal. First, we all gathered for practice around six PM. We never practiced on weekends. Those were reserved for performing. Mark was always the first to show up because, well, he lived there! Gary was punctual as hell because he lived two miles away. Bill was as good at telling time as Gary and he usually made it by six also. I was in school and sometimes arrived a little late but never after seven. Sean, well how do you hold the wind in your hand? ... Many times we would then listen to a new song Mark, Sean or I had brought in with us to see if we wanted to do it. In one evening we were usually able to cover two new songs. Some songs didn’t work. We just couldn’t feel the groove or many times I just couldn’t sing it. If it didn’t feel right, we dumped it. That was it, a non-ceremonial burial at sea."
www.thechocolatewatchband.com
"Voyage of the Trieste"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f_qa_Kx03g
"In the Past" was a cover of the song by We the People.
"Inner Mystique"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOX6bX7bMDw
"I'm Not Like Everybody Else"
is a cover of the song by the Kinks
"Medication"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LN9oIGcpcI
"Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go" (Hank Ballard) – 2:18
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzYEsHnG2Xk
"Baby Blue" (Bob Dylan) – 3:14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlRhkUhaatU
"I Ain't No Miracle Worker" (Annette Tucker / Nancie Mantz)– 2:53
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zghCRxKDMe4
'The Inner Mystique'
full album
00:00 Voyage Of The Trieste
03:42 In The Past
06:51 Inner Mystique
SIDE B
12:30 I'm Not Like Everybody Else
16:14 Medication
18:23 Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go
20:43 Baby Blue
24:00 I Ain't No Miracle Worker
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