Customer Reviews

Without Earth/The Moon

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Moon's only two lps that were released/recorded back in '67 & '68 are quite ahead of it's time, considering the debut lp was done on a three track, the later on a 4 track! The sound is hugh with psych "analog" punch (especially the bass). Although the debut lp "Without Earth," is a little bit bright (nothing a good EQ can't change), there's still that big bottom end "full of wall" sound. Nevermind the some songs are killer "Beatles (think Magical Mystery Tour era) Psych style" full tilt. Others that have over the top hooks, and even one track that has sort of a funk groove (Got To Be On My Way) going on. The real candy psych tracks- Pleasure, I Should Be Dreaming (backward drums), Brother Lou's Love Colony, Someday Girl, Papers, and Faces, keep you coming back for more and more (I couldn't stop plqaying this disc for weeks!). The 2nd lp "The Moon," has a more rounded "sound production," but not nearly as psych as the debut lp. More laid back, but still some real good gems too. My personal favorite track "Mr. Duffy," brings back some psych flavor mixed with a Paul McCartney solo style vibe, with beautiful string arrangements! That song that I still go back listening to, over and over again. If you haven't picked up this underground band that never got the attention they deserved, highly recommend picking it up and adding it to your "psych collection!" 5 Stars!

I read the other reviews, decided to take a chance, as I love to discover new music, no matter how old. I thought it would be good. I was wrong. This collection is nothing short of great. I don't throw that description around lightly. I'm a Beatle worshiper, a fan of the Zombies, The Moody Blues, King Crimson...

I know good music. These guys really deserved to be heard. The songs are well written, creative, arranged and performed with style and imagination. The music is an absolute delight.

In closing, in case you have yet to get my drift, I love this album, and urge anyone with taste to buy it and play it their friends. Spred the word about The Moon!

Just as it seems every schlemiel with a guitar who heard the Ramones or Sex Pistols ran out and started a punk band, it's probably a safe bet that a fair number of people who bought Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or Magical Mystery Tour started a psychedelic-tinged pop band and put out an obscure album or two. Most of which, needless to say, are mediocre and terribly dated. And, to be honest, pretty much every great obscure track you really need can be found on the Nuggets and Nuggets II box sets. Still, occasionally I'll stumble across a surprisingly decent obscurity.

This is one of those lucky finds. L.A.'s The Moon didn't exactly take the Summer of Love by storm; their biggest claim to fame was likely the inclusion of guitarist David Marks, who apparently had played in the Beach Boys at some point (nope, I hadn't heard of him earlier). Fortunately, collectors' label Rev-Ola collected their 2 lp's, 1968's Without Earth and 1969's The Moon, onto a single cd a couple years back. And it's actually pretty great. Or if not great, at least something worth repeated listens. The debut is a pretty blatant Beatles rip-off, apparently trying to sound as much like Magical Mystery Tour as possible without venturing into copyright infringement. Of course, nothing is as memorable as anything John & Paul came up with, but there are a few songs (oddly overlooked by Nuggets and comparable collections) that deserve to be played alongside any other 60's pop classics -- most notably the catchy "Walking Around" and the psychedlia-drenched "Never Mind." Much of the rest falls into a sunshine pop sound, perhaps too twee to be memorable, but it ain't bad. The follow-up was more of a departure, with the band apparently adding some Dylan (or, more likely, Donovan) to their collections. A much more folk-oriented sound, though still plenty of light psychedelic pop thrown into the mix. Some gets kinda silly, but the sound is a bit improved, and at least it's less derivative. All in all, a worthwhile purchase for fans of the era.

There are only a few artists that make it to the top and Moon is just one of the many groups that got lost in the crowd. Matthew Moore is a decent songwriter whose style roughly fits into the same category as Emitt Rhodes or Eric Carmen. The two albums are catchy and enjoyable, but not one song could be considered to be an absolute killer for an a side on a single. Simply put, they sound like a mixture of the Beatles, Bee Gees, Zombies, and Hollies while never actually sounding like themselves. Maybe a diiferent producer could have coaxed Moore into writing in a more original style, but don't let that stop you from buying this lost gem.

I found the Moon - Without Earth album in a junk shop in London aroung 1970.
I've been in love with it ever since, but never found a soul who had ever heard of the band. In fact I wasn't even sure from the sparse album info if the band was called The Moon or Without Earth.
Since the advent of CD I've been wondering, without much hope whether it might one day appear.
Fooling around on Google one day, there it was !!
This is amazing psychoBeatles stuff and you owe it to yourself to hear it.

Why else would I have spent fifteen years anxiously searching for a CD version of it??

This is beautifully produced orch-psych with great singing. It's great for fans of the Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's", Billy Nicholls "Would You Believe" and Status Quo's "Matchstick Men" It's not nearly as immediate as those albums, but after a few listens there are many magical twists and turns. This is my favorite reissue so far from the Rev-Ola label.

I really like this double-CD and have been enjoying it immenslely. Catchy tunes, fun (though often cliched) psychedelic instrumentation. Great lyrics.
However, the first CD is really "tinny." I mean, imagine you turned the bass knob all the way down and the treble knob all the way up -- that's the way it sounds. The second CD was better produced, for sure.
Finally, the band name is a bit of a misnomer. "The Moon" evokes Nick Drake, melancholy, mystical, late Sunday night dreary fog, etc.. -- This music is nothing like that. It is peppy pop-psych. Their name should have been The Peppermint Fellows or The Whimsical Dandelions or something like that. It is definitely Zombies-lite -- also reminded me of the Left Banke. But they are certainly not in the same vein as Love, The Doors, or Skip Spence.
That said, if you like the pop-psych, you'll love this and wonder why NO ONE has ever heard of them.

The best children's books I ever read were always ones where somebody discovers a world that they never knew existed...one a lot like the one we're accustomed to, but different in some wonderful and unsuspected way. I always wished that could happen to me. Well, lately it HAS been happening, as I discover new worlds of recorded music that actually existed in a time I thought I knew well, but never suspected. This CD is the latest source of wonder and marvel to brighten my stereo.

As others have noted, the songs of "Without Earth" do indeed rely heavily on the psychedelic cliches of the era...the pop-psych drum rhythms, reverse tracking, phasing, etc. And it's true that the tonal balance is heavily skewed to the treble; and on this release, the low bass, leaving the midrange highly neglected. But despite all that, I still cannot fault the songs, because they are absolutely masterful and totally satisfying examples of their genre.

It's the second album, "The Moon," that really blows me away, though. It should not be compared directly with the first album. In the year between them, the band found a direction for themselves, and this is a very different animal.

Individual listeners may or may not feel the songs are as strong as the first, depending on their tastes, but I certainly think so. These are songs with heart and substance. Some provide a foretaste of the age of art rock, exploring themes that would become the conventions of that genre, while mostly avoiding the pretentions. A few are not unlike what the Beatles were doing at that time. Most are simply unique unto themselves.

Musically, "The Moon" is much more mature and innovative than its predecessor. In "Without Earth," the bulk of the odd chord changes are there simply because they can be. They sound intriguing, but serve little real purpose other than to please the ear for a moment. There are fewer of them in "The Moon," but they are used very effectively to highlight the mood of the songs.

Instrumentally, "The Moon" really shines. The band's own playing is first-rate on most of the tracks, and so are the vocal harmonies. The track "John Automaton" comes closest to being Beatle-esque in its use of guitar, drums, organ and backing vocals. "Pirate" and "The Transporting Machine" will remind you of the sound of Genesis a few years farther along, perhaps with a hint of Klaatu thrown in here and there.

Now, it is true that orchestral instruments had been used effectively by the Stones, Donovan, the Beatles, and others already. But although you might therefore expect the strings, winds and brass in "The Moon" to merely sound like what had gone before, think again! Yes, all the sounds ARE familiar to us--now--but keep in mind that these tracks were laid down in 1969! Here you will find horns being used in ways that Chicago would try a year or two down the road. The string section produces glorious sounds that ELO wouldn't master for 6 to 8 years yet. Clarinets and oboes weren't used in quite the same way again until Carly Simon in the mid-Seventies, and to a certain extent, King Crimson.

The production values of "The Moon" also far outstrip "Without Earth." The sound, apart from a little tape hiss, is cleaner than The Beatles on the White Album, and approaches the impeccable production of "Abbey Road." It will call to mind the studio technique of a lot of mid-Seventies producers, in fact.

Between "Without Earth" and "The Moon" and the singles, The Moon produced some music that was grounded in their own time, but also some music that was years ahead of its time. Only now do we get to appreciate it properly, and what a voyage of discovery it is!

I discovered this album in 1991 and was anxiously awaiting its CD reissue since then. Anyone who is a fan of 60's pop-sike simply must have this CD. "Without Earth" is a US interpretation of Sgt. Pepper including the effect typical of the era: backwards tracking, Lennon-esque vocals, sitar, and complex backing arrangements. Furthermore, it is consistent throughout the LP with same feeling. I don't mean all the songs sound the same, but that they work together to make the album a continuous listening experience. You won't be pulling off one or two tracks onto a best-of CD. "The Moon" is a little less satisfying, but think of it as bonus material to the perfect LP of "Without Earth"!

If you're unfamiliar with David Marks,he was the guitarist on the first four Beach Boy's lp's.He played on such hits as "Surfer Girl","Little Deuce Coupe","Surfin' U.S.A." and "409".Mark's later band was The Moon that played light weight psychedelic pop.This CD issues the group's only two records,'Without Earth'('68)and 'The Moon'('69).The rest of The Moon's line-up were:Mathew Moore-vocals,David Jackson-bass and Larry Brown-drums.Noticed that Moore had penned most of the material here.Tunes that I liked best were "I Should Be Dreaming","Someday Girl","Give Me More","Mary Jane","The Good Side" and "Life Is A Season".There are some bonus cuts tagged on,several 45's that appear to be mono edits,of "Pirate","Not To Know" and three others.Marks had reportedly rejoined the Beach Boys in 1997 but had to leave again due to health problems.A nice find.