Moby Grape album by album in a bit!!! Dark Magic by Moby Grape Dark Magic was the Grape's signature psychedelic long song. In the same way that Dark Star by the Dead, and Quicksilver's Who Do You Love were for those epic long song bands. The decision to not include a studio version on their first album, instead creating an album of short hook laden tracks featuring each member, was a career changing decision. Of course, I wouldn't trade any track on what is one of the greatest debut albums ever, period, for any band. But imagine a double studio LP with some of those psychedelic Fillmore/Avalon Ballroom staples like Dark Magic?! Or live Avalon/Monterey tracks. Kinda mind blowing to think about. It had not been heard in decades until the Sundazed 2004 release of Moby Grape Live. double LP. Here is a 2007 Moby Grape rehearsal with Peter Lewis, Omar Spence (Skips son), and looks like Don Stevenson on the Drums. Practicing "Dark Magic" for The Real Potato, a 2010 album that would sadly never be released. In fact a whole album of songs were recorded for inclusion on yet another aborted album in the strange saga of the life of Moby Grape. (See my thread "The Real Potato" for details).
In a bit we'll start an album by album Moby Grape thread...hang on for the ride! Moby Grape! Dark Magic 2007 rehearsal:
Moby Grape...opening. Tommy Smothers: "Nobody else wanted to go first! " They sound like the best live band at Monterey!
Debut...track by track: MOBY GRAPE Moby Grape is the 1967 debut album by rock band Moby Grape. Coming from the San Francisco scene, their reputation quickly grew to immense proportions, leading to a bidding war and a contract with Columbia Records. The album peaked at #24 on the Billboard 200 albums chart in September 1967. -wiki Contents 1Production 2Reception 32007 Sundazed Reissue 4Notable covers and soundtrack inclusions 5Track listing 6Personnel 7Charts
A NM poster I recently got from a friend. An original Family Dog Production at the Avalon Ballroom. So fine. Framed it of course in a museum quality frame with UV protection glass.
Released on June 6, 1967,[7] Columbia chose also to place ten of the thirteen songs on five singles released on the same day: "Fall on You"/"Changes", "Sitting By the Window"/"Indifference" (2:46 edit), "8:05"/"Mister Blues", "Omaha"/"Someday" and "Hey Grandma"/Come in the Morning".[8] Of these five, only "Omaha" and "Hey Grandma" charted. All five records were issued with picture sleeves showing the same album cover photo. Nevertheless, as Gene Sculatti and Davin Seay write in their book San Francisco Nights, Moby Grape "remains one of the very few psychedelic masterpieces ever recorded."[9] Justin Farrar considered that "(i)t's no understatement to hail the group's 1967 debut as the ancestral link between psychedelia, country rock, glam, power pop and punk."[10] In addition, the 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide said their "debut LP is as fresh and exhilarating today as it was when it exploded out of San Francisco during 1967's summer of love." In 2003, the album was ranked number 121 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album was included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).[11] As reviewed by Mark Deming, "Moby Grape is as refreshing today as it was upon first release, and if fate prevented the group from making a follow-up that was as consistently strong, for one brief shining moment Moby Grape proved to the world they were one of America's great bands. While history remembers the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane as being more important, the truth is neither group ever made an album quite this good."[12] In 2008, Skip Spence's song "Omaha" was listed as number 95 in Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".[13]The song was described there 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 Spence's song from different angles, no one yielding to anyone else."[13] Writing in 1967,[14] shortly after the album's release, Crawdaddy! creator Paul Williams described "Omaha" as "the toughest cut on the album (and) one of the finest recorded examples of the wall-of-sound approach in rock. It surges and roars like a tidal wave restrained by a seawall."[15] -wiki
Track listing[edit] Side one No. Title Writer Length 1. "Hey Grandma" Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson 2:43 2. "Mr. Blues" Bob Mosley 1:58 3. "Fall on You" Peter Lewis 1:53 4. "8:05" Miller, Stevenson 2:17 5. "Come in the Morning" Mosley 2:20 6. "Omaha" Skip Spence 2:19 7. "Naked, If I Want To" Miller 0:55 Side two No. Title Writer Length 1. "Someday" Miller, Stevenson, Spence 2:41 2. "Ain't No Use" Miller, Stevenson 1:37 3. "Sitting by the Window" Lewis 2:44 4. "Changes" Miller, Stevenson 3:21 5. "Lazy Me" Mosley 1:45 6. "Indifference" Back cover
I did a n/d of the Sundazed Moby Grape mono LP. I wish I could find it! hahaha.... As of now, I have the 2CD Vintage collection, the "Listen My Friends" collection...and a Sony Japan CD of WOW.
1) Hey Grandma What an opening track!! Hey Grandma, you're so young Your old man's just a boy Been a long time this time (pow-pow-pow) Been a long time this time (pow-pow-pow) Been a long time this time round, this time round Everything is upside down, upside down Sure lookin' good You're lookin' so good You're sure lookin' good SF freak scene was on my mind Fillmore Slim is just a-wasting time Well I got high this time (pow-pow-pow) Well I got high this time (pow-pow-pow) Well I got high this time round, this time round Everything is upside down, upside down Cause your lookin' good You're lookin' so good You're sure lookin' good Robitussin make me feel so fine Robitussin and Elderberry wine Hey Grandma Hey Grandma Hey Grandma Hey Grandma Songwriters: Donald J. Stevenson / Jerry A. Miller Jr. Hey Grandma lyrics © Maryann Sarah Shelley Music
BOB MOSLEY. Thanks! Didn't recognize him. Such talent assembled! also, is that Don Stevenson here on the congas and at the mic.? Omaha, live in Austin
A tremendous debut album with wonderful songs, fantastic playing, and vocal contributions from all five members. Grape had a wealth of riches.
2) Mr. Blues by Bob Mosley So fine...Bob's got those blues cookin' Where's that old Mr. Blues? I guess he found a new home Pushing more trouble right down to the bone I'm wondering why he's left me alone Where's that old Mr. Blues? I guess he's stepping on through (now) Pushing down places, all down and abused Picking on people with nothing to lose I want you, people Cause, somewhere you find out Inside and outside (baby) Nothing to hide now So come on in, let me tell ya the news Cause I'm not afraid of you, Mr. Blues Where's that old Mr. Blues? I guess he's gone away now He's never been bothered with being unkind Listen here people, I've left him behind Cause if you ever, ever should lose You better come Got to, put down old Mr. Blues (let me tell ya) Got to put blues down on the table Got to let the blues go down Down my throat now Songwriters: Bob Mosley Mr. Blues lyrics © Bob Mosley Music
3) Fallin' By Peter Lewis This just gets better and better. Guitar gods. Yes, I know, it's fallin' Yes, I know, it's fallin' Did you ever get that feeling That your baby's gonna set you free? Won't she tell you why it's over? Do you sit and wonder "Was it me?" You try and tell her she'll be sorry It'll happen with somebody new But all the time you're worried 'bout The pain that's gonna fall on you You forgot to make a payment And they're gonna disconnect your phone You better pay up what you owe They're gonna try to repossess your home They want their bread in the morning Plus your next month's payment, too But all the time you're worried 'bout The pain that's gonna fall on you You caught your baby cheatin' But you say you love her any way But all the time you're thinkin' Just to find a way to make her pay You think to leave her broken hearted Is the only thing that you can do But all the time you're worried 'bout The pain that's gonna fall on you Yes, I know, it's fallin' Yes, I know, it's fallin' Songwriters: Peter Lewis Fall on You lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group