Sunday, May 31, 2026

rep>>> The Chocolate Watchband - Melts In Your Brain...Not On Your Wrist • The Complete Recordings (1965-67 us, fascinating garage psych, 2005 Big Beat two disc set)



Great rock'n'roll rarely translates properly to disc. The history of the genre is littered with literally thousands of acts that were blinding and transcendent on the bandstand, yet limp, ineffectual or misguided in the studio. And the opposite is just as true, though the art of the recording medium allows for a control and an innovation that usually isn't possible in a live context. When the two disciplines are matched, there is the potential for true greatness; yet for those involved, the realization of such may come only after years of frustrated disillusion with the initial outcome. Such is the case with the Chocolate Watchband. 

The recorded legacy of this supreme psychedelic punk combo paints a picture quite removed from the truth, yet as our definitive new anthology MELTS IN YOUR BRAIN . . . NOT ON YOUR WRIST demonstrates, it nevertheless holds up as one of the finest catalogues of the 1960s, balanced between the Watchband's own Anglophile blueswailing, and a preternatural aura, the result of studio trickery imposed without the bands knowledge or consent. The juxtaposition acts as a paradigm of how the British Invasion-inspired punk fury acquired an experimental veneer, and led to something unique. By unwittingly having their record career mapped out for them by producer Ed Cobb, the Watchband paradoxically wrote themselves into the annals of cultdom; yet it is the rock'n'roll heartbeat of this once-in-a-lifetime band that is their true heirloom.

As well as handily collecting their complete recorded works 1965-69 in one nicely remastered package, Melts In Your Brain . . . Not On Your Wrist" seeks to finally clarify the peculiar and fascinating history of this consummate group. The tracklisting on this definitive 2 CD set clearly delineates between the tracks that truly feature the definitive Watchband ie the grinding 1966 model led by frontman par excellence David Aguilar - and everything else attributed to the Chocolate Watchband name, whether it be recordings by the earlier and later incarnations of the combo, or those trippy cuts on their three long-players either adulterated or recorded by someone else entirely. 

The many aficionados that have come to love the Watchband's albums over the years are no doubt blissfully unaware of the machinations behind the substitutions and studio fakery on their records, and no doubt cherish the non-Watchband sides on those records just as much. To which end, their studio adventures, as well as the illustrious life and times of the Watchband are examined in great detail in the copiously illustrated booklet, with commentary from all the bands members, and a rare interview with the late Ed Cobb.
by Alec Palao
Tracks
Disc 1
1. Let's Talk About Girls (Manny Freiser) - 2:44
2. Sweet Young Thing (Ed Cobb) - 2:55  
3. Baby Blue (Bob Dylan) - 3:16 
4. Blues Theme (Mike Curb) - 2:09 
5. Loose Lip Sync Ship (David Aguilar, Mark Loomis) - 3:16 
6. Don't Need Your Lovin' (David Aguilar) - 2:36 
1. Sitting There Standing (David Aguilar, Gary Andrijasevich, Bill Flores, Mark Loomis, Sean Tolby) - 2:19 
8. Misty Lane (Martin Siegel) - 3:20 
9. She Weaves A Tender Trap (Ed Cobb) - 2:31 
10.Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love In) (Don Bennett, Ethan McElroy) - 2:23 
11.No Way Out (Ed Cobb) - 2:20  
12.In The Midnight Hour (Wilson Pickett, Steve Cropper) - 3:28  
13.Come On (Chuck Berry) - 1:41 
14.Gone And Passes By (David Aguilar) - 3:12 
15.I'm Not Like Everybody Else (Ray Davies) - 3:41  
16.I Ain't No Miracle Worker (Nancie Mantz, Annette Tucker) - 2:48  
11.Milk Cow Blues (Kokomo Arnold) - 2:55 
18.Medication (Minette Alton, Ben Ditosb) - 2:11 
19.'Til The End Of The Day (Ray Davies) - 2:37 
20.Psychedelic Trip (David Aguilar, Gary Andrijasevich, Bill Flores, Mark Loomis, Sean Tolby) - 1:56
Songs 4,5 as The Hogs
Disc 2
1. Let's Talk About Girls (Manny Freiser) - 2:43 
2. In The Midnight Hour (Wilson Pickett, Steve Cropper) - 4:25 
3. Hot Dusty Roads (Stephen Stills) - 2:24 
4. Gossamer Wings (Don Bennett, Ethan Mcelroy) - 3:24 
5. Baby Blue (Bob Dylan) - 3:11 
6. Medication (Minette Alton, Ben Ditosti) - 2:05 
7. Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying (Gerry Marsden, Les Chadwick, Les Maguire. Fred Marsden) - 2:49 
8. Since You Broke My Heart (Don Everly) - 2:20
9. Uncle Morris (Gary Andrijasevich, Mark Loomis) - 3:09 
10.How Ya Been (Gary Andrijasevich, Danny Phay) - 3:09 
11.Devil's Motorcycle (Gary Andrijasevich, Sean Tolby) - 3:00 
12.I Don't Need No Doctor (Nick Ashford, Valerie Simpson) - 4:00  
13.Flowers (Gary Andrijasevich, Danny Phay) - 2:45 
14.Fireface (Sean Tolby) - 2:49 
15.And She's Lonely (Mark Loomis, Sean Tolby) - 4:16 
16.Dark Side Of The Mushroom (Richie Podolor, Bill Cooper) - 2:34 
17.Expo 2000  (Richie Podolor) -2:39 
18.Voyage Of The Trieste (Ed Cobb) - 3:37  
19.In The Past (Wayne Proctor) - 3:06 
20.The Inner Mystique (Ed Cobb) - 5:34 
21.The Uncharted Sea Aka Voyage Of The Trieste (Ed Cobb) - 3:23  
22.Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go (Hank Ballard) - 2:36  
23.Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go (Hank Ballard) - 2:15  
Songs 18-21 as The Yo-Yoz
Songs 22,23 as The Inmates

The Chocolate Watch Band
1965
*Ned Torney - Guitar
*Mark Loomis - Guitar
*Rick Young - Bass Guitar 
*Pete Curry - Drums 
*Jo Kemling - Organ
*Danny Phay - Lead Vocals

1966–1967
*Mark Loomis - Lead Guitar, Keyboards
*David Aguilar - Lead Vocals, Harmonica
*Gary Andrijasevich - Drums, Backing Vocals
*Sean Tolby - Rhythm Guitar
*Bill 'Flo' Flores - Bass, Backing Vocals

1967
*Sean Tolby - Lead Guitar
*Bill 'Flo' Flores - Bass
*Tim Abbott - Rhyhtm Guitar
*Mark Whittaker - Drums
*Chris Flinders - Vocals

1968
*Sean Tolby - Guitar
*Bill "Flo" Flores - Bass
*Mark Loomis - Guitar
*Gary Andrijasevich - Drums
*Ned Torney - Guitar
*Danny Phay - Vocals

More Chocolate...
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rep>>> Paul And Georgia - The Paul And Georgia Album (1968-76 us, classic folk intertwined with acid psych, blues, country and roots 'n' roll including members from the Doors, 2004 remaster)



This album introduces the songs of Paul Ferrara and his wife Georgia, recorded between 1968 and 1976. In the early sixties, Georgia Newton, a teenager with a love for music and a strong desire to search for something more, became part of the Sunset scene as she hitchhiked her way down Beverly Glen every night, leaving behind her conventional family. While on the famous Strip, she met John Densmore and Robby Krieger, two talented musicians who would soon form half of The Doors. 

Paul Ferrara, who studied film at UCLA with Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison, later became the band's photographer and cinematographer, filming their exploits on and off-stage and giving birth to Live at the Hollywood Bowl as well as the yet-to-be-officially-released Feast of Friends. In the process, Paul developed a close friendship with Jim Morrison. 

They wrote songs together like Waiting For the Sun and played music late into the night. In 1968, at a showing of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Paul and Georgia met for the first time, and the two soon became a couple. Paul had always played the guitar, and Georgia started to sing along with him. Their songs, along with her stunningly natural and almost haunting voice, caught the attention of several producers, including Doors' producer Paul Rothschild. Rothschild was particularly interested in the song One More Drink and wanted to give it to a young female artist he produced named Janis Joplin. Paul and Georgia refused, wanting to keep the song for themselves -- a decision they've both regretted to this day. 

Paul and Georgia recorded two of their songs with The Doors backing them, following the band's rehearsal. Ray Manzarek, John Densmore and Robbie Krieger are featured on the tracks One More Drink and Hopi. The couple would also record two more songs with the band Nite City, Manzarek's post-Doors project. 

They also recorded at Elektra Studios with actor and musician Tim McIntire, the man who scored the music for the motion picture Jeremiah Johnson. Jim Morrison, who would usually attend Paul and Georgia's recording sessions, fell in love with the song Bald Mountain. Morrison used the song in HWY, a film he wrote. In HWY, Morrison plays the lead part of the killer on the road in the desert near Joshua Tree, California. 

Paul was the man behind the camera for the filming of the movie, a cult classic in Europe only seen in art houses that will soon be released in the USA. In 1970, Paul and Georgia's son Rio was born. Soon after that, Jim Morrison left Los Angeles and flew to Paris to join his longtime girlfriend Pamela Courson and pursue his life as a writer and poet. Paul, Georgia and Rio began to explore the USA and decided to settle on a ranch near Taos, New Mexico where the couple continued to write music.

Thought to be lost, these recordings were recently found at Paul's New Mexico ranch, preserved and digitally remastered from the original analog masters that had not been heard for almost thirty years. Paul's arrangements, melodies and simple yet intricate instrumentation are a perfect complement to Georgia's gorgeous and ethereal voice. That voice will bring to mind the likes of Laura Nyro, Janis Joplin, and Grace Slick.

Paul and Georgia were more than their recorded legacy. They embodied the struggles that young couples of the late 60's faced fighting for independence and against conformity. At ground zero of the rock'n'roll world of The Doors, they embraced the counterculture, the anti-war sentiment and the consciousness expansion movements of the times. Their love bond would lead them on a return to the country and a spiritual quest; their story is worthy of a major motion picture. 

A biography of Paul Ferrara is also in the works. He will discuss the years he attended the UCLA Film School with Jim Morrison and Ray Manzarek, his career as a Hollywood photographer for Nancy Sinatra, her father, Ravi Shankar and many others, including The Doors. He will also discuss his acting career, including his part alongside Peter Sellers in the motion picture The Party, and his relationship with Georgia. 

If you are too young to have lived through the tumultuous sixties, when these songs were created, or if you are lucky enough to remember the musical renaissance that the period produced, you will find comfort in the beauty contained in the recordings of Paul and Georgia's long overdue debut album. 
by Anne Sophie Dacosta and Kyle Vincent
Tracks
1. Hopi - 2:49
2. Salt - 2:15
3. Change - 3:07
4. One More Drink - 2:58
5. Nuilena - 3:22
6. Sweet Wine - 3:15
7. Black Gold - 3:15
8. Bald Mountain - 3:11
9. James - 3:03
10.Black Jack Pine - 2:32
11.How Have You Been - 3:38
12.Not Right to Fight - 1:56
13.Joyride - 3:04
14.Need You - 2:51
15.Ice Cream - 1:38
All songs by Paul Ferrara

Musicians
*Georgia Ferrara Pulos - Vocals
*Paul Ferrara - Guitar, Vocals
*John Densmore - Drums
*Robby Krieger - Guitar
*Ray Manzarek - Keyboards
*Tim McIntire - Violin

Related Acts
1971-72  The Doors - Other Voices / Full Circle (2015 double disc remaster)

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