Неизвестные 60-е. Часть 88.Группа Moby Grape

Moby Grape - Moby Grape. LP, £11.00 (Columbia - CL 9498)

180 gram reissue of one of 1967's finest San Francisco albums, the debut from moby grape. Dreamy incense laden psych rubs shoulders with hard edged acid rock featuring soulful three part harmonies and killer West Coast style guitar breaks. This band were tipped to be bigger than the Beatles..…

Эта коротенькая аннотация,особенно последняя строчка,так сказать вдохновила меня поместить эту группу в Н.60е

Biography by Richie Unterberger
One of the best '60s San Francisco bands, Moby Grape were also one of the most versatile. Although they are most often identified with the psychedelic scene, their specialty was combining all sorts of roots music — folk, blues, country, and classic rock & roll — with some Summer of Love vibes and multi-layered, triple-guitar arrangements. All of those elements only truly coalesced, however, for their 1967 debut LP. Although subsequent albums had more good moments than many listeners are aware of, a combination of personal problems and bad management effectively killed off the group by the end of the 1960s.

Many San Francisco bands of the era were assembled by recent immigrants to the area, but Moby Grape had even more tenuous roots in the region than most when they formed. Matthew Katz, who managed the Jefferson Airplane in their early days, helped put together Moby Grape around Skip Spence. Spence, a legendarily colorful Canadian native whose first instrument was the guitar, had played drums in the Airplane's first lineup at the instigation of Marty Balin. Spence left the Airplane after their first album, and reverted to his natural guitarist and songwriting role for the Grape (the Airplane had already recorded some of his compositions). Guitarist Jerry Miller and drummer Don Stevenson were recruited from the Northwest bar band the Frantics; guitarist Peter Lewis had played in Southern California surf bands like the Cornells; and bassist Bob Mosley had also played with outfits from Southern California.

The group's relative unfamiliarity with each other may have sown seeds for their future problems, but they jelled surprisingly quickly, with all five members contributing more or less equally to the songwriting on their self-titled debut (1967). Moby Grape remains their signature statement, though the folk-rock and country-rock worked better than the boogies; "Omaha," "Sittin' by the Window," "Changes," and "Lazy Me" are some of their best songs. Columbia Records, though, damaged the band's credibility with over-hype, releasing no less than five singles from the LP simultaneously. Worse, three members of the group were caught consorting with underage girls. Though charges were eventually dropped, the legal hassles, combined with an increasingly strained relationship with manager Katz, sapped the band's drive.

Moby Grape's follow-up, the double-LP Wow, was one of the most disappointing records of the '60s, in light of the high expectations fostered by the debut. The studio half of the package had much more erratic songwriting than the first recording, and the group members didn't blend their instrumental and vocal skills nearly as well. The "bonus" disc was almost a total waste, consisting of bad jams. Spence departed while the album was being recorded in New York in 1968, as a result of a famous incident in which he entered the studio with a fire axe, apparently intending to use it on Stevenson. Committed to New York's Bellevue Hospital, he did re-emerge to record a wonderful acid folk solo album at the end of 1968, but that would be his only notable post-Grape project; he struggled with mental illness until he died in 1998.

Another unexpected blow was dealt when Mosley, despite his membership in a band that emerged from the Haight-Ashbury psychedelic scene, joined the Marine Corps at the beginning of 1969. The band did struggle on and release a couple more albums during that year, and the best tracks from these (particularly the earlier one, Moby Grape '69) proved they could still deliver the goods, though usually in a more subdued, countrified fashion than their earliest material. The group broke up at the end of the '60s, although they would periodically reunite for nearly unheard albums over the next two decades, in lineups featuring varying original members. Their problems were exacerbated by Matthew Katz, who owns the Moby Grape name, and has sometimes prevented the original members from using the name when they worked together.

Если писал Ричи, то источник, надо понимать, - artistdirect.com. А других источников нету ли?...

Источник allmusic.com

Хатуль, это МЫ знаем Moby Grape. А битломолодёжь наша - та едва ли знает Moby Grape. Потом, контора под названием Three Dog Night репертуар завсегда набирала из малоизвестных композиторов (типа раннего Реджинальда К.Дуайта) и композиций (типа "It's For You"), - вот у них и была среди прочего "Murder In My Heart For The Judge" сабжевская, в тяжё-о-лой такой аранжировке...

2Кот.К
Просто там где я проживаю,она известна немногим.одним словом забыта :)

Moby Grape(1967)
One of those Holy Grail 60s records that every self-appointed rock critic talks about but nobody actually listens to (see the Zombies' Odessey and Oracle). It's actually worth the trouble, though, rivalling the Airplane's Surrealistic Pillow. The guys prove they can harmonize either on fast-paced rockers with jangly guitars and blistering solos ("Fall On You"; "Omaha") or gentle semi-acoustic ballads ("8:05"; "Someday"; "Sitting By The Window"). But they've got a weakness for smiley-faced country ("Ain't No Use") and utterly unconvincing white-boy soul ("Come In The Morning"), and sometimes their vocals just fall short of the mark, even though the backing tracks are solid ("Hey Grandma"; "Changes"). (JA)
Wow (1968)
Vintage includes eight of eleven tracks from this, and they're good, but weird, like the folksy, acidified sendup "Murder In My Heart For The Judge," and Spence's bizarre 20's nostalgia piece "Just Like Gene Autry: A Foxtrot." With band members no longer considering attendance at recording sessions to be mandatory, the album is beefed up with R & B horn sections ("Can't Be So Bad") and gratuitous sound effects (the otherwise pleasant ballad "Bitter Wind"; the bopping rocker "Motorcycle Irene"). But it rises occasionally to the riffy, tripped-out harmonizing of the earlier record ("Rose Colored Eyes" and the gorgeously orchestrated "He"). The original LP came with a bonus disk called Grape Jam, which as you might expect is a bunch of studio jams a la disk 3 of All Things Must Pass. (JA)

Moby Grape '69 (1969)
And Vintage includes ten of eleven tracks from this, even though they're not as good as the previous lot. Because overdubs and effects are minimal, everything comes down to the songwriting and performance of the four remaining band members (Spence had quit) - and they just don't have it. The only complicated production is a wacked out acid rock epic that leaves you banging your head for reasons you can't quite remember - and of course it's a Spence leftover ("Seeing"). Even the nicer ballads ("What's To Choose"; "It's A Beautiful Day Today") and heavier rockers ("Going Nowhere" - quite apt, eh?) sound dated, derivative, and slightly corny. And the band is starting to show a dangerous liking for country-western ("Ain't That A Shame") and brainless, overwrought R & B chug-a-thons ("Trucking Man"; "Hoochie"). (JA)

Oar (Spence: 1969)
Whatever this sounds like, Skip Spence's one and only solo album must at least be interesting. Spence wrote everything and played all the instruments. All bets are off as to whether it's enjoyable, but I'm looking for it. It did get a CD reissue, including five bonus tracks, but I've never seen it. (JA)

Truly Fine Citizen (1969)
Mosley had quit to join the Marines (!), and the remaining band members had already thrown in the towel when "contractual obligations" came up, necessitating this toss-off album. Recorded in Nashville with a session bass player, it's apparently a listless country-western effort. The two songs I've heard from it (title track; "Right Before My Eyes") are pathetic, and I seriously doubt this would be worth tracking down even if it was still in print (it isn't). (JA)

20 Granite Creek (1971)
The first reunion record, and the only one to feature all five members. Its early date suggests that it might include some innovative music. There are also some outside players who contribute some possibly interesting instrumentation like congas, mandolin, steel drums, and dobro. Spence got in one composition ("Chinese Song"), and the rest is split about equally between Lewis, Miller, and Mosley. This and the next two records can be found on CD, but again are hard to find outside of mail-order firms. (JA)

Live Grape (1978)
Spence's last appearance on record that I know of, and despite being a live record all the material is new. But the bad news is that Spence contributed only one tune ("Must Be Goin' Now Dear"), and the lineup included only the band's three guitarists - so Miller and Lewis split most of the songwriting, and there are also a couple of covers. I've never heard of the bass and drum players, and the record also features a saxophonist (Cornelius Bumpus) who contributed one song ("Set Me Down Easy"). (JA)

Moby Grape (1983)
The full lineup minus Spence. Also known as Silver Wheels (one of the song titles), this features a bunch of extra players like a violinist; and in a bizarre twist of fate, original producer Matthew Katz returns despite his bitter falling out with the band in the late 60s. Mosley wrote about half the record, and two tunes were contributed by guesting keyboard player Richard Dean. (JA)

Legendary Grape (1989)
Again, a reunion recording without Spence. However, he did contribute one composition ("All My Life"). Most of the track listing is split between Miller and Mosley. I have been told that this has been released recently on CD by DIG Music. (JA)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

К сожалению я не слушал 1ого альбома.Ув. господа пираты не везут его в наш край :(

Первый, по-моему, лучше. Их менеджер говаривал им: "Да вы, вроде, получше, чем Битлз".

Надо ознакомиться!

Суперский альбом!
да и второй - Wow - не хуже.