Customer Reviews

Place & The Time

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As has often been said, the first Moby Grape album may be one of the few perfect debut albums in rock history. For that reason alone, I've been a fan of the band since day one and have bought everything ever issued under their name (and some under other names for legal reasons), official and bootleg. This one has some amazing material on it and, as others point out, the material has previously been out as bonus tracks on earlier Sundaze reissues. I also want readers to know that if they own the double CD, "Vintage - The Best of Moby Grape" (Columbia Legacy 1993)that they also have the bulk of the material presented here. There are some tracks that were not on that package, but for the most part buying this disc would not gain you much in new material.

One disc 76 minutes approximately. The mastering is just about as good as technology can now do. Some of the tracks are a bit rough,but they are demos and out-takes.
This is a treasure-trove of basically unreleased tracks from early in the group's existence. Saying that,these tracks were included on the albums Sundazed put out a few years ago. Now that the first few albums have been taken out of circulation, (except for the pricey "San Francisco Sound" label) this is what we're left with-and it's pretty darn good. Any Moby Grape fan will like virtually every track here. Some of these are on the Sundazed reissues that are still in circulation,but a number of them were on the titles no longer available. Perhaps this is a way for Sundazed to re-coop some of it's losses when they were forced to quit manufacturing certain titles.
The packaging is nice,giving a synopsis of the band and information on each track (demo,alternate,etc.) which helps place these sides in their proper context. The only omissions are from the album,GRAPE JAM. This is due to time limitations because the three missing tracks (GRAPE JAM #2,GRAPE JAM #9,and BAG'S GROOVE-a jazz composition by Milt Jackson) total a bit over 31 minutes,and wouldn't fit,with the other tracks,on one disc.
Anyone who missed out on the Sundazed releases of this group would do well to pick this up-presumably it will not be recalled. Listening to these sides will give both the uninitiated (especially) and fan insight into what the band's demos and live recordings were like,if you're not familiar with this group. It's interesting that having all these sides together,in one package,actually makes for a pretty powerful album in it's own right. When they were originally spread through the various albums,some of that power was dissipated. So these tracks can certainly stand alone,which says something about the quality of the writing,arranging, and playing by the band. All members of the band could write,sing,and play. Together,they crossed blues,rock,and country,into something very exciting. This is great music from one of the best bands from the sixties (I was lucky enough to hear them live back then and they were a powerful band-vocally and instrumentally) which anybody who likes great r&r should purchase. Look for a live album with tracks from various concert halls around San Francisco,which will eventually be released.

I will go out on a limb here. Moby grape were the BEST San Francisco band to come out of the mid-sixties, better than the Dead, Jefferson Airplane, all of them. They had 5 part harmonies the Beatles or Beach Boys would die for, a lead guitarist of Clapton/Hendrix caliber, songwriters rivalling anyone past or present and musical sensibilities crossing blues, country, pop, avant garde, all of it. This release peovides access to many unreleased gems (and some, I believe, were released on the VINTAGE box set, now out of print). This is real stuff, music which leaves most current wannabe bands in the dust (even their throwaway tracks are steller). Anyone interested in good music should add this release to their collection. 'Nuff said.

More proof this band could have/should have/would have had a far longer career if not for the intersection of problems with drugs, egos and the media. A collection of auditions, album demos, outtakes and some incandescent live performances that delivers on the premise - often not achieved by other bands when previously unreleased and proclaimed as the definitive, sea-change recordings by them are scatter-shot at the public - that we, the listening public, missed something when the band imploded over a two or three year period.

In retrospect, maybe it was more than inter-personal conflicts and personal devils than band and label management neglect. I don't know and maybe even after all this time, no one can give clarity to it. Suffice it to say that the previously unreleased material here - some of which has shown up on the withdrawn but occasionally still available Sundazed versions of Wow! and Grape Jam - provides a view of the band as a psychedelic powerhouse that could have run with the other more-long-lived (and often as or more drug addled) peers in the Bay Area.

Just the live version of "Changes" is worth the price of this CD.
This band was as great in concert as their milestone first
album. Any video of this group is worth watching to see the energy
and charisma of Skip. "Miller's Blues" also live, is even more proof
of the musicianship of this great group. Any fan of the Grape will want
this.

Moby Grape remains the least heralded band recorded. They were a supergroup in the truest musical sense, blazing (excuse the pun) a trail of songs both brilliant and mystifying coupled with impeccable musicianship. Except for the arrogance and greed of their unscrupulous manager, this group would have blinded the charts and left others in a reverential mode. Often imitated, never duplicated, and unfortunately underrated through the majority of their recording career together they now get some of the acclaim accorded to them years after the fact. Even if you're new to the Grape it's never too late. Embrace this recording and appreciate this music since there hasn't been anything even remotely this good in ages!! The best wine comes from the ripest Grapes!!

This is the album to get for Moby Grape fans. Alternate and unreleased tracks from the first two yrs of Moby Grape (the best yrs) are great, in stereo, and sound great. There are some instrumentals that are excellent. I saw Moby Grape three times during 67-68 and they were excellent. This album brings back these times so much--great vocals and excellent guitar work. Great drums also. You just have to get this one--bring back the best guitar band of the sixties. Long live the memories--and rest in peace-Skip Spence.

This collection of Moby Grape songs captures the essence of the band's original recordings because it consists of songs from that era. If you like the band's original tracks and are looking for more songs, this collection is a good way to go. "New" tracks include the demo recordings of "Stop," "Big," and "Loosely Remembered." The highlight is the blistering guitar work of "Rounder," a track that appears on the Vintage CD. If you have the Vintage collection, you have about half the songs from that CD. Overally, a good survey of the band's creative power. If you have never heard Moby Grape, be prepared to be impressed.

Let me start by saying this: Moby Grape has, since 1967's debut album, been one of my favorite bands ever. They have been on my "all time top seven favorites list" since 1967. Way back in 1971 I saw them at the FAREWELL FILLMORE EAST WEEK along with BB King. I said it then in a review I wrote for CREEM MAGAZINE that Jerry Miller out-bluesed BB King that night and I will say it again...because he did. Well, fade to 1996 and my notion to contact Jerry Miller via his website. I was able to do just that and not a few days later I get an email from Lynn Quinlan (I believe) telling me that Jerry had tried to contact me back in '71 to thank me for my article. It was cool to hear that then and it still is today.

That aside, let me say that I am still a loyal fan of the band. So much so, that as a long-time musician (I played in clubs along side of MG in Greenwich Village) and published songwriter (but don't get any ideas...fame has eluded me...as many were called but few were chosen)...and with all of that "fame" just out of my grasp I would view myself being a success if Jerry or one of the guys did one of my songs on a CD....for free, just to have that personal satisfaction. That is the kind of regard I have for Moby Grape. That I would view that, as the crowning touch on my so-called 'career'. Be that as it may....I digress....

Now to the heart of the matter: "THE PLACE AND THE TIME." This new release (and to some extent I am including MOBY GRAPE LIVE as well. Especially with the stellar MONTEREY POP FESTIVAL cuts and a superlative live version of "MURDER IN MY HEART FOR THE JUDGE" (a song covered by THREE DOG NIGHT back in the Day). This new release is almost like A LOST MOBY GRAPE LP. On the surface it is a CD of outtakes, demo cuts, alternate versions and some live stuff (listen to an outstanding live verson of CHANGES...WOW)

Yet it is so much more than that. The power and energy exuded by the band is astounding. This material was recorded during the bands' halcyon days of 1967-68. This was their prime. The CD presents a very cohesive body of work. It transcends the other "outtakes" cd's of the recent past. Sundazed has done a wonderful job and should be proud.

This CD (and the Live one) display the band with just the original members and has none of the added players of subsequent releases of the 80's and 90's. Sometimes the band is all five original members and at times it is sans Skip Spence. Nonetheless, the band is always in high gear and great form throughout. Stand out cuts are: "What's To Choose"; "Loosely Remembered"; (the live) "Changes"; the acoustic "It's a Beautiful Day Today" and Peter Lewis' classic, "If you Can't Learn From My Mistakes". Truth be told, there is not a weak cut on the disc.

It has often been said that "it is not good to live in the past." I would really like to know who said that. Some Fifteen year old from back in the days when people did not live past 50!!!!???? LOL. Truth is the older we get (especially in these sterile, grim and bleak times) the more we cherish THE PAST...as it represents our lives at the time of our prime when all of the 'firsts" were yet to pass. But know this: I am not LOST in the past. As a musician and teacher of philosophy I all too well have my feet planted in the tenuous present. But I will tell you this:
it is those DOSES OF THE PAST that keep me going on, dreaming, hanging in, so to speak.
AND MOBY GRAPE IS ONE HELL OF A TONIC...SO DRINK UP MY FRIENDS...DRINK UP.