Moby Grape - Hoochie

 

#Moby Grape #psychedelic rock #acid rock #folk rock #country rock #blues rock #West coast sound #1960s

In the wake of Skip Spence's mental and physical breakdown, 1969's "'69" was recorded as a quartet featuring singer/rhythm guitarist Peter Lewis, singer/lead guitarist Jerry Miller, drummer Don Stevenson and bassist Bob Mosley. Produced by David Rubinson, the album doesn't get much credit from critics or Grape fans, but to my ears it's quite good. It's even more impressive when you consider the turmoil surviving members found themselves surrounded by. Part of the criticism is understandable in that the set isn't particular cohesive, leaving you with the impression it was cobbled together from earlier sessions and catalog odds and ends. Others aren't going to agree, but I've always found the album's diversity is actually one of the characteristics that makes it so enjoyable. With all four members contributing material, the set bounces between different genres, including country & western, folk-rock, pop and conventional rock. It's done with a sense of professionalism and a laid back charm. There are plenty of highlights with Mosley acquitting himself with particular distinction - check out what may be his prettiest song 'It's a Beautiful Day Today' and the boogie rocker 'Hootchie'. Other standout tunes include 'Ain't That a Shame', the rocking ''Going Nowhere' and the typically bizarre (and disturbing) Spence leftover - 'Seeing'. In fact, the latter selection may be enough for some psych fans to buy this set. If I had to find something to criticize then it would probably have to do with Lewis' growing interest in country, but I have to admit I liked 'Ain't That a Shame' and 'I Am ot Willing'. On tracks like 'If You Can't Learn from My Mistakes' the band reminded me of something out of Mike Nesmith's solo career.  Was it the best Moby Grape studio album? Nah, it doesn't come close to the debut, but I'm proud to own a copy, having done my part to boost its sales to #113 n the Billboard album charts. And as you'd expected by a band seemingly cursed with bad luck, things turned even uglier for the band when Mosley unexpectedly quit the band in order to enlist in the Marines Corps. He last nine months before be given a dishonorable discharge for hitting an officer (not a career enhancing decision).  From: https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/moby-grape/moby-grape-69/

Moby Grape - Indifference

 #Moby Grape #psychedelic rock #acid rock #folk rock #country rock #blues rock #West coast sound #1960s

Mention the name Moby Grape to a roomful of rock critics, and you'll hear nothing but praise for the 1960s San Francisco rock band. But aside from fans and critics, few people today have ever heard of Moby Grape. Why? Bad advice, bad breaks and bad behavior are three short reasons. Now that a label is trying to right these wrongs by reissuing the group's first five records, old problems still stand in the way. The name Moby Grape comes from an absurdist punch line: What's big, purple and swims in the ocean? But the band that influenced groups ranging from Led Zeppelin to The Pretenders was no joke. Neither was its 1967 debut, according to Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke.
"It's one of the few rock 'n' roll albums of any era that you can say, 'That is a perfect debut album.' The songwriting on it is memorable - you take those songs with you wherever you go. The triple-guitar orchestration - it's not just power chords. Everyone is playing melodies and counter-melodies and rhythms. Very funky, also very country, very punk, very surf. And they were all singers."
When other San Francisco bands were stretching out with long, psychedelic jams, Moby Grape was producing catchy three-minute songs that were composed, played and sung by each member. Moby Grape's drummer, Don Stevenson, calls the songwriting process a "collective consciousness." That "collective consciousness" was a little surprising, since these five guys had little history and a lot of differences. Guitarist Peter Lewis and bassist Bob Mosley came from Southern California surf bands. Stevenson and guitarist Jerry Miller played in organ trios around Seattle. Canadian-born Skip Spence had just left another San Francisco band, Jefferson Airplane. Yet all five members produced remarkably cohesive vocal harmonies.
The members of Moby Grape worked hard to achieve their tight sound, and they first caught the attention of fellow musicians like Buffalo Springfield and Janis Joplin during marathon rehearsals that ran from night until morning. Record-company executives eventually started showing up, and Moby Grape found itself in the middle of a bidding war. It signed with Columbia, which pronounced the band San Francisco's Beatles and spared no expense on its first album. But the label's decision to release five singles at the same time alienated and confused disc jockeys. Rolling Stone's Fricke explains: "Columbia really went to town. And yet they went to town at precisely the wrong time. That was an era when hype was suspect." The musicians didn't handle the hype well, either. At their record release party, some members were busted for pot possession and for contributing to the delinquency of minors. Guitarist Miller says the diversity that made their musical blend so rich was also pulling them apart.
"What we had was five guys just going completely nuts just looking for the leader," Miller says. "We couldn't even lead ourselves." Moby Grape's members grew increasingly frustrated with their manager, whom they believed had botched their chance to be included in the now-famous Monterey Pop Festival film. By the time they reached New York to work on their second album, the band was cracking up - and so was guitarist Spence.
"Skippy bumped into some people that turned him on to some hard drugs, tell you the truth," Miller says. "And that's when things started to unravel, 'cause Skippy started to unravel." In a drug-fueled psychotic episode, Spence attacked Stevenson's hotel-room door with an ax and ended up in the criminal ward of Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital. Sadly, Spence lived much of the rest of his life in California mental institutions.  From: https://www.npr.org/2007/12/21/17498799/moby-grape-just-cant-catch-a-break