Moby Grape-Moby Grape
(Columbia Records USA 1967)
USA Chart Peak #24
Personnel: Jerry Miller-guitar, vocals, Peter Lewis-guitar, vocals, Skip Spence-guitar, vocals, Bob Mosley-bass guitar, vocals, Don Stevenson-drums
In many ways, Moby Grape were San Francisco's answer to the Buffalo Springfield. Moby Grape were loaded with talent (perhaps too much talent for one group.) The band boasted four exceptional songwriters and two world class vocalists (Bob Mosley, Peter Lewis.)
Moby Grape's self titled debut album from early 1967 was released with an avalanche of hype but it actually lived up to the hype. It remains as free and vibrant today as when it was first issued. Musically, the Grape had elements of The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, The Who and The Youngbloods and combined them into a technicolor brew of their own. Virtually every track on the album could have been a hit (but sadly none of them were.)
Moby Grape is an album that has grown in stature and influence. I first heard it in 1968 and I still play it on a regular basis. Many people wrote the group off after this album but Grape's 1969 album Moby Grape '69 was almost as good!
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