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!!!
Members 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.
Sources include the Limestone Lounge and Tampa Bay Garage Bands.
I wonfer if Mark Burgess is the father of Maxx Burgess, Tampa Bay singer, who used to booked the Rockit Club, but is probably best known for being the person who created the Tampa Bay Music Awards which was pretty popular in Tampa for a while.
The guy behind the music awards spelled his last name Borges, so I don’t think there’s any relation. Mark Burgess did have some solo recordings, including one on the 98 Rock compilation album.