Moby Grape

Performer: Moby Grape
Producer: David Rubinson; Matthew Katz
Distributor: CBUJ Distribution

Notes: Moby Grape: Skip Spence, Peter Lewis, Jerry Miller (vocals, guitar); Bob Mosley (vocals, bass); Don Stevenson (drums). Personnel: Don Stevenson, Skip Spence (vocals, guitar, drums); Jerry Miller, Peter Lewis (vocals, guitar); Bob Mosley (vocals). Recording information: CBS, Hollywood, CA (01/25/1967-11/06/1967). Unknown Contributor Roles: Don Stevenson; Jerry Miller; Peter Lewis; Skip Spence; Bob Mosley . Though Moby Grape came blasting out of San Francisco at the height of the Haight-Ashbury scene, they are more related to LA bands like the Byrds and Love, stressing songwriting, arrangements, and multi-part vocals rather than jamming. This debut album stands as one of the finest debuts by any band of the '60s rock era. The Grape's three-guitar line-up is known to have inspired a similar approach with Buffalo Springfield. From the first blast of "Hey Grandma" to the mesmerizing electric closer "Indifference," Moby Grape moved fearlessly from country-tinged romps to blue-eyed soul, with plenty of pounding-in-the-chest rockers throughout. It's all anchored with tight and inventive instrumental interplay and no less than four songwriters, each with a vocal character that would've made them the center of any band. However, from this enduring peak it all went downhill, with sad swiftness. The usual litany of in-fighting, bad management, label pressures, and drugs began undoing this great band as soon as this album appeared. While created in the late '60s, this is an essential album by the measure of any decade.

Rolling Stone (p.128) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "'Hey Grandma' and Spence's anthemic 'Omaha' rock as hard as the grungiest garage classics." Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.126) - Ranked #121 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "[W]hat an amazing noise they made on their debut album, a stunning artifact of San Francisco rock at its '67 peak..." Rolling Stone (2/4/99, p.60) - 5 (out of 5) - "...MOBY GRAPE is one of rock's truly perfect debut albums and a pivotal document of Sixties rock in radiant midmutation. Funky country, folk rock, acid punk, frat-band R&B: They're all here, whipped into a thirteen songs fireball of widescreen vocals and meticulous guitar sizzle..." Uncut (p.131) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[A] near-flawless set that, like Love's FOREVER CHANGES, gains in stature and resonance as the years fly by." Magnet (p.108) - "[T]rack after track of short, sharp roots variants, from pleasantly bouncing boogie to loping, stoned odes to carefree times and Bakersfield twang that gives the Flying Burrito Brothers a run for their money." No Depression (p.90) - "[O]ne of the most stunning debuts by any band of the rock era."

The myth surrounding San Francisco psych legends Moby Grape is largely based on their magnificent debut album and the cult status of their mercurial songwriter Skip Spence. Despite major label support, the bands early singles failed to cause a stir, yet those 10 well-crafted, deeply soulful songs were compiled for the band's brilliant self-titled debut album. The follow-up, WOW, charted but marked the departure of the enigmatic Spence; his ethereal composition "Seeing" was one of the highlights of the patchy MOBY GRAPE '69. Despite legal struggles over name rights, the band continued to record and tour in various lackluster reunion formations (though never with Spence) and under hybridized names into the 1980s. Spence died of lung cancer in 1999.

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