Wow/Grape Jam

Performer: Moby Grape
Producer: Matthew Katz
Distributor: CBUJ Distribution

Notes: 2 LPs on 1 CD. Moby Grape: Skip Spence, Peter Lewis, Jerry Miller (vocals, guitar); Bob Mosley (vocals, bass); Don Stevenson (drums). Unknown Contributor Roles: Don Stevenson; Jerry Miller; Peter Lewis; Skip Spence; Bob Mosley . Moby Grape's self-titled 1967 debut album remains one of the most enduring works to have emerged from any band in the '60s. From the outset, however, the band was saddled with problems on every front. The album's release was confounded by record company over-hype and by inter-band, outer-band, business, and personal complications. Moby Grape was allotted a larger budget for its second album, WOW/GRAPE JAM, and the initial release featured two full albums shrink-wrapped together. WOW is the true sophomore release, with GRAPE JAM being 20 minutes of in-studio jamming by Grape members with Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield. Even with the band's widening divisions and track record of consistently bad decisons, all five members of the band contribute to WOW--with some absolutely stunning results. The album is filled with great songs that are sympathetically arranged and performed, among them the fragile "He," the bluesy "Murder In My Heart For The Judge," and the soulful "Bitter Wind." Moby Grape ends the album with a new version of "Naked, If I Want To"--a strutting, funky take on an acoustic track from their debut.

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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