Moby Grape is an American rock group from the 1960s, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting[1] and that collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country, and jazz together with rock and psychedelic music. The group continues to perform occasionally. As described by Jeff Tamarkin, The Grapes saga is one of squandered potential, absurdly misguided decisions, bad luck, blunders and excruciating heartbreak, all set to the tune of some of the greatest rock and roll ever to emerge from San Francisco. Moby Grape could have had it all, but they ended up with nothing, and less. The group was formed in late 1966 in San Francisco, at the instigation of Skip Spence and Matthew Katz. Both had been previously associated with Jefferson Airplane, Spence as the bands first drummer, playing on their first album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, and Katz as the bands manager, but both had been dismissed by the group. Katz encouraged Spence to form a band similar to Jefferson Airplane, with varied songwriting and vocal work by several group members, and with Katz as the manager.[3] According to Peter Lewis, Matthew (Katz) brought the spirit of conflict into the band. He didnt want it to be an equal partnership. He wanted it all.[4] The band name, judicially determined to have been chosen by Bob Mosley and Spence, came from the punch line of the joke Whats big and purple and lives in the ocean?.[5] Lead guitarist Jerry Miller and drummer Don Stevenson (both formerly of The Frantics, originally based in Seattle)[6] joined guitarist (and son of actress Loretta Young) Peter Lewis (of The Cornells), bassist Bob Mosley (of The Misfits, based in San Diego),[7] who has been largely ignored for his contributions to the renaissance of melodic bass playing during the San Francisco–inspired rock movement that included such bassists as the Jefferson Airplanes Jack Casady and the Grateful Deads Phil Lesh. Spence, now on guitar instead of drums, was a major force in the Grape. Jerry Miller and Don Stevenson had moved The Frantics from Seattle to San Francisco after a 1965 meeting with Jerry Garcia, then playing with The Warlocks at a bar in Belmont, California. Garcia encouraged them to move to San Francisco. Once The Frantics were settled in San Francisco, Mosley joined the band.[8] While Jerry Miller was the principal lead guitarist, all three guitarists played lead at various points, often playing off against each other, in a guitar form associated with Moby Grape as crosstalk.[9] The other major three-guitar band at the time was Buffalo Springfield. Moby Grapes music has been described by Geoffrey Parr as follows: No rock and roll group has been able to use a guitar trio as effectively as Moby Grape did on Moby Grape. Spence played a distinctive rhythm guitar that really sticks out throughout the album. Lewis, meanwhile, was a very good guitar player overall and was excellent at finger picking, as is evident in several songs. And then there is Miller. … The way they crafted their parts and played together on Moby Grape is like nothing else Ive ever heard in my life. The guitars are like a collage of sound that makes perfect sense.[10] All band members wrote songs and sang lead and backup vocals for their debut album Moby Grape (1967). Mosley, Lewis, and Spence generally wrote alone, while Miller and Stevenson generally wrote together. In 2003, Moby Grape was ranked as number 121 in Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[11] Noted rock critic Robert Christgau listed it as one of The 40 Essential Albums of 1967.[12] In 2008, Skip Spences song Omaha, from the first Moby Grape album, was listed as number 95 in Rolling Stones 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. The song was described as follows: On their best single, Jerry Miller, Peter Lewis and Skip Spence compete in a three-way guitar battle for two and a quarter red-hot minutes, each of them charging at Spences song from different angles, no one yielding to anyone else. Below are pictured the first LP covers....the left is the cover that was censored...The cover right shows the infamous finger by drummer Don Stevenson.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 21:18:58 +0000
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