Category Archives: Paris Tower

Categories: Clearwater, Florida, Paris Tower

The Inner Thoughts

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Inner Thoughts Paris Tower Card
The Inner Thoughts, with Mike Burgess standing on roof

Inner Thoughts Paris Tower 45 1,000 Miles (Cheating On Me)The Inner Thoughts came from Clearwater, Florida, west of Tampa. There’s not a lot of info about them available, but the Inner Thoughts had one of the best and earliest releases on the Paris Tower label, “Smokestack Lightning” b/w a band original, “1,000 Miles (Cheating on Me)”, released in March, 1967.

Paris Tower included a postcard with some copies of the single, featuring the cool photo of the band with this great description on the other side:

Shaaa-Zam!!! THE INNER THOUGHTS are ready to capture your city with their first Paris Tower release, which is a far out, fuzz-toned, revamped arrangement of “Smokestack Lightning.”

Rumbling into high gear; this Clearwater, Florida group has made a name for itself among the cool set on Florida’s West Coast.

Give a close listen to the flip side, “1,000 Miles (Cheating on Me).” This is a surprisingly original number with a wild “MOD” mood featuring tonal transitions indescribable in print. THE INNER THOUGHTS will be around for a long time!!!

Inner Thoughts Paris Tower 45 Smokestack LightningMembers of the Inner Thoughts were:

Bob Baskin – vocals
Ray Carpenter – lead guitar
Mark Burgess – bass
Sonny (surname?) – guitar
Jeff Covert – drums

Mark Burgess was formerly the lead guitarist for J. R. and the Newtrons, a Dunedin group that didn’t record but whose members included David Muse, later of Firefall; John Roedel, who joined Those Five; Bill Harrill; Buddy Waterman; and Rick Roberts of the Flying Burrito Brothers.

Publishing for “1,000 Miles (Cheating on Me)” was through Redrah Music, BMI. The Inner Thoughts recorded at H&H Productions in Tampa, the pressing through RCA, U4KM-2558.

Sources include the Limestone Lounge and Tampa Bay Garage Bands.

Categories: Daytona Beach, Florida, Paris Tower

The Hungri I’s “Half Your Life” on Paris Tower

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Hungri I's photo

From Daytona Beach and named after the San Francisco nightclub, of course. The Hungri I’s were regulars at the Beachcomber Nightclub and the Surf Bar, as well as the Vanguard Club in Titusville. The lineup was Neil Haney lead vocals and organ, Danny Rowdon lead guitar, Chris Drake guitar, Allen Martin bass and Lou Shawd drums.

They cut some tracks at the Bee Jay studio run by Eric Schabacker, and “Hold On” was released on Bee Jay Demo vol. 2, on Tener. It’s a good organ-led version of the Sam and Dave hit (thanks for sending me that Ad Z.)

At Bob Quimby’s studio in Ormond Beach they recorded a fine original by Neil Haney, “Half Your Life”. Danny Rowdon’s lead guitar really gives the song some momentum. The flip is a relaxed cruise through How Come My Dog Don’t Bark, retitled “Comin’ Round” and credited to Danny Rowdon.

The band paid Gil Cabot to release the two songs on his Paris Tower label, supposedly because he offered to make them famous. Paris Tower was known as a vanity label, however, and never did any promotion for its releases. Years later you could say Cabot’s words have come true, as this 45 is very well known amongst fans of 60’s 45s.

Some Paris Tower singles were issued with a sheet with a photo of the band on one side and a bio &the Paris Tower logo printed on the back. I’m not sure if the Hungri I’s 45 came with this – could anyone verify that insert exists?

It was up to the band to distribute the 500 copies pressed in November of ’67, so for some reason they took to the road and toured Wisconsin, Minnesota and Indiana.

Fuzz, Acid and Flowers lists Ralph Citrullo and Allen Dresser as later members, but I believe it was Neil Haney and Chris Drake who left the I’s and joined the Third Condition, previously known as The 2/3rds, which already included Citrullo and Dresser.