The Moby Grape Appreciation Thread

[Moon Dawg]

 Anyone else here into the Grape? About 5 years ago I bought the LISTEN MY FRIENDS comp and came away very impressed. Seems like most people have heard OF Moby Grape but few have heard their music, which is where I was before buying the CD.

 Skip Spence, Peter Lewis, Bob Mosley, Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson: The original five man lineup may have been the finest live rock band of the late 60's. (At their best anyway.) FAR superior as a live act to The Byrds or (gulp) the 1967-68 Beach Boys.

 Quick ratings from what I have heard:

 MOBY GRAPE *****
 WOW ***1/2    GRAPE JAM **
 MOBY GRAPE 69 ***1/2
 TRULY FINE CITIZEN ***
 OAR (Skip Spence solo) ****
 20 GRANITE CREEK ***

 The debut may be the best album of 1967. It literally crushes the concurrent BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD album.  WOW contains many good tunes but suffers from the excesses of the period. The inclusion of GRAPE JAM as a bonus record probably undermined its validity. 69 is about halfway classic. TRULY FINE CITIZEN never seems to earn much praise but I found it pleasant. 20 GRANITE CREEK bored me a bit but is decent. OAR is on some levels a demented masterpiece. "War in Peace", Little Hands", "Cripple Creek" and the guitar fade on "Diana" caught my ear.

 Not at all familiar with their post 20 GRANITE albums such as LIVE GRAPE, 84, and LEGENDARY GRAPE. Worth hearing?

[Moon Dawg]

 Nobody cares about Moby Grape???  These guys had the potential to be THE greatest American rock band. That's right.

[Dead Parrot]

The Skip Spence story in particular is one of the saddest tales in rock music. If you listen to his contributions to Moby Grape, you realise what a massive talent was lost to drug abuse and mental illness. "Omaha", "Indifference", "Motorcycle Irene", and particularly "Seeing" are some of the best songs to come out of the 60's.

[SMiLE Brian]

My family lucked out and got the non-Matthew Katz first album from sundazed for really cheap.

[Moon Dawg]

The Skip Spence story in particular is one of the saddest tales in rock music. If you listen to his contributions to Moby Grape, you realise what a massive talent was lost to drug abuse and mental illness. "Omaha", "Indifference", "Motorcycle Irene", and particularly "Seeing" are some of the best songs to come out of the 60's.

 There's a Spence demo bonus cut on the 2007 MOBY GRAPE '69 reissue called "You Can Do Anything" that may have been as good as any of the above. You listen to his tunes and wonder how they hang together but somehow they do. Took me a bit to warm up to "Motorcycle Irene" but I like it now.

[Moon Dawg]

My family lucked out and got the non-Matthew Katz first album from sundazed for really cheap.

 Apparently the 2007 reissues of their Columbia albums were quickly pulled after Katz launched a new round of litigation, which obviously upset the band, especially Bob Mosley.

[Vegetable Man]

I recently bought the 10" Skip Spence "After Gene Autry"/"Motorcycle Irene" demo disc from Sundazed, and it's wonderful. Sad to see such great talent go to waste. The whole Moby Grape story is a very sad one when you consider what could have been, but boy, did their music kick some ass! "Hey Grandma", "Omaha" (and really that whole debut album) are great rockers. Stuff like "8:05" and "Just Like Gene Autry" are very nice ballads. Folk, Psych, Rock, you name it and the Moby Grape could do it (complete with harmonies and three guitars). Too bad Katz is a jerk and won't allow the vinyl reissues. Oh well, Long Live The Moby Grape!