The Inner Mystique – CHOCOLATE WATCH BAND***

Voyage Of The Trieste/In The Past/Inner Mystique/I’m Not Like Everybody Else/Medication/Let’s Go Let’s Go Let’s Go/Its All Over Now Baby Blue/I Ain’t No Miracle Worker

The Inner Mystique was the follow up album from the Californian psychedelic rock band Chocolate Watch Band. They started as a garage rock band and their earlier influences can still be found here.

“Inner Mystique is perfect for the music lover who romanticizes about the rock & roll revolution of the sixties. With each listen, this sucks you into the portal of what that decade was all about politically, socially and musically. It's rebellious and innovative.” “One can embrace this album in two different (but equally satisfying) ways, as a showcase for some of the Watch Band's best sides surrounded by some filler, or as an overall spaced-out, psychedelic/punk experience.”

“Overall it's a normal garage band standard. The covers are not very inspiring, to be frank, usually with some hard-rock or garage rock feel. However, the first three tracks really shine, and these three raga-psychedelic songs are excellent examples of quality music.”

“The group floated apart evidently and the producer took leftover songs and mixed them with psych out songs that are pretty cool but not of the bands doing. They were a garage band and that's what they were truly about and not hippiedom really, which was just a backdrop. This is well worth owning, you get some cool garage rock songs and some psych rock songs.”

“Just as the debut was a mixture of raw garage rock and atmospheric psych rock and so is The Inner Mystique. It's a bit backwards considering the time of release this one has a bit more of the garage variety than atmospheric psych. All of it top shelf. They still have that snarling, menacing sound and that's the ingredient that takes it to a higher level.”

“With their second album Chocolate Watch Band continued to deliver the same psych/garage oriented sound. But this time the psychedelia is the dominant style here, even if the garage influences are still very clear. Although not one of my ultimate psychedelic rock favourites but overall the record is solid as a rock.”