Album: Moby Grape
Artist: Moby Grape
Born: San Francisco
Released: June 1967
Genre: Psychedelia
Influenced: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Robert Plant, Cat Power, Black Crowes
What's big and purple and lives in the ocean? Moby Grape. Though the San Francisco scene didn't have the best jokes, it did leave a more important legacy as the birthplace of "concerts" (before then pop stars just performed a few songs), underground FM radio stations and this wonderful album. For a brief period in '67, Moby Grape could have been contenders, the "west coast Beatles", but a mixture of record label incompetence (putting out five singles at once smacks of hype) and succumbing to the pitfalls that plagued many 60s & 70s rock stars, meant their star burned twice as bright and not half as long as it should. All five band member sang & wrote their own songs, and this gives the album such a variety of styles and heightens the quality of the songwriting. Skip Spence has become the most legendary of the five, thanks to his stint as drummer on Jefferson Airplane's first album and his solo album Oar, released in '68 and now a cult classic; he also become one of the tragic acid casualty figures of the time. His best legacy on the album is Omaha, which has one of the best openings to a psychedelic song from the era (guitar feedback and cymbal crashes played backwards) and features three competing guitar lines, an innovation that the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd would take to new levels.
There are just so many good tracks on this album, it's one of the most sought-after LPs on my Discogs wantlist. There's no extended jams like on some of the Grateful Dead albums from the same era, even though many of the guitar hooks are superior and more worthy of exploration; all in all, the album clocks in at just over 30mins. The opener "Hey Grandma" is one of my favourite tracks and a brilliant showcase for their harmonies, singing about groupies in "granny glasses" and the mind-bending effects of cough remedy Robitussin mixed with elderberry wine. Other standouts are Sitting By The Window and the country rock sound of 8:05, an early example of the genre that would be taken to new heights by Dylan and The Byrds. Moby Grape are a perfect pop example of how luck (or a lack of it, in their case) is a huge element of long-lasting success.
Artist: Moby Grape
Born: San Francisco
Released: June 1967
Genre: Psychedelia
Influenced: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Robert Plant, Cat Power, Black Crowes
What's big and purple and lives in the ocean? Moby Grape. Though the San Francisco scene didn't have the best jokes, it did leave a more important legacy as the birthplace of "concerts" (before then pop stars just performed a few songs), underground FM radio stations and this wonderful album. For a brief period in '67, Moby Grape could have been contenders, the "west coast Beatles", but a mixture of record label incompetence (putting out five singles at once smacks of hype) and succumbing to the pitfalls that plagued many 60s & 70s rock stars, meant their star burned twice as bright and not half as long as it should. All five band member sang & wrote their own songs, and this gives the album such a variety of styles and heightens the quality of the songwriting. Skip Spence has become the most legendary of the five, thanks to his stint as drummer on Jefferson Airplane's first album and his solo album Oar, released in '68 and now a cult classic; he also become one of the tragic acid casualty figures of the time. His best legacy on the album is Omaha, which has one of the best openings to a psychedelic song from the era (guitar feedback and cymbal crashes played backwards) and features three competing guitar lines, an innovation that the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd would take to new levels.
There are just so many good tracks on this album, it's one of the most sought-after LPs on my Discogs wantlist. There's no extended jams like on some of the Grateful Dead albums from the same era, even though many of the guitar hooks are superior and more worthy of exploration; all in all, the album clocks in at just over 30mins. The opener "Hey Grandma" is one of my favourite tracks and a brilliant showcase for their harmonies, singing about groupies in "granny glasses" and the mind-bending effects of cough remedy Robitussin mixed with elderberry wine. Other standouts are Sitting By The Window and the country rock sound of 8:05, an early example of the genre that would be taken to new heights by Dylan and The Byrds. Moby Grape are a perfect pop example of how luck (or a lack of it, in their case) is a huge element of long-lasting success.
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