1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #82. Moby Grape - Moby Grape (1967)

Moby Grape - Moby Grape (1967)

Label – Columbia
Producer – David Robinson
Art Direction –Uncredited
Nationality – USA
Running Time – 33:11

Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)

1. Hey Grandma
2. Mr Blues
3. Fall On You
4. 8.05
5. Come In The Morning
6. Omaha
7. Naked If I Want To
8. Someday
9. Ain't No Use
10. Sitting By The Window
11. Changes
12. Lazy Me
13. Indifference

Heard of – but never HEARD them. Knew about but never KNEW about them. This is a pretty good record – and their story is pretty wild as well. Turns out that Moby Grape's career was a long, series of minor disasters, in which nearly anything that could have gone for a band, did go wrong. (such as: extremely poor handling by their record company, a wide variety of legal problems, a terrible deal with their manager, the standard creative and personal differences among the band members, and then there is the tragic breakdown of guitarist and songwriter Skip Spence). But even despite all of this, their self-titled debut album was easily their defining achievement. “Moby Grape” has been sited as many as one of the finest - perhaps THE finest record to come out of the 1960’s San Francisco psychedelic scene. And it is a fine record. With great songs and fresh ideas the songs are sharp and to the point. They avoid the typical psychedelic standards - long, unfocused jams, self-indulgent philosophy, attempts to sonically re-create the sound of an acid trip. None of that is here. Instead, Moby Grape built their sound around the guitar work and the crystal clear harmonies. There are several tracks - "Omaha," "Fall on You," "Hey Grandma," and "8:05" that definitely sound like obvious radio hits - and well might have been if Columbia hadn't released them as singles all AT THE SAME TIME. In a move that can make no rational sense – Columbia chose to release ten of the thirteen songs as singles which easily not only diluted the power of the individual songs – but the entire album at the time as well.
But time has been extremely kind to this record. “Moby Grape” is fresh sounding today as I’m sure it was upon it’s initial release. Fate prevented the group from building on these recordings and history will always remember the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane as being more ‘important’, but truth be told - neither of those groups ever made an album I think is as good as this one is.
The cover features one of the members giving the finger. It was banned in some places because of this.
In 2003, the album was ranked number 121 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It is recommended.


You can purchase the CD here.