I got that in the mail yeterday (not having previously been aware of its existence) and when I first listened to it I nearly fell out of my proverbial chair; right about now, I think its the best piece of guitar driven rock I've heard so far this year. Grape Redux, anyone?
Long time readers are, of course, aware of my fondness for the Grape. In fact, one of the great experiences of my adult life was having been in the studio with my friend Bob Irwin (of Sundazed Records fame) as he remastered and in some cases remixed familiar and previously unheard Grape stuff for what became Sony/Legacy's 1993 Grape box set (now sadly out of print thanks to the management problems that have bedeviled the band since their rise to San Francisco stardom).
In any case, I can't wait to hear the rest of the album -- hey, how can you go wrong with a record including a song called "Frank Zappa's Ghost"? -- and I'll keep you guys posted on future developments, Lewis-wise, as they unfold.
Oh, and I should add that a coveted PowerPop NoPrize© will be awarded to the first reader who gleans the above's relevance to the theme of tomorrow's weekend essay question.
11 comments:
Musical acts whose careers were damaged by bad management.
Example: 1970’s downtown NYC band The Hounds whose chances at success were destroyed by a horrid manager.
Captain Al
That was really, really good! Until the chorus chimed in with the harmony vocals, it sounded more like a demo than a polished studio take -- and that's a compliment!
As for the contest: old-timers still rockin'?
Perhaps taking this a bit sideways to the topic, Peter Lewis is 77...
I bought the Moby Grape "finger" album in '67 when I was 16.
Back to Lewis...
He wrote 4 songs,on perhaps the best freshman album ever written.
Hey Grandma, Fall On You,
Sitting By The Window, Changes.
Where the Hell he has been all these years ???
One thing Steve - was it true that the SF bands disliked them and the Grass Roots for their more mainstream music?
Rob
Rob:
Dunno about the grass roots, but there was definitely Grape backlash among the San Francisco hippie mafia. The other thing that did them in was their schmuck manager refusing to let them be in the Monterey Pop movie.
Mathew Katz deserves his spot in Hell, but he did deliver one good quote re the bands he encountered when he first got to SF: "They broke the cardinal rule. The played Elmore James badly." Thanks for posting that lovely track.
Heh.😎
I bought one of the Sundazed vinyl reissues before they were taken off the market by the scumbag manager. It was supposed to be a stereo copy of Grape Jam, but a mono Moby Grape was in the jacket. I would have picked them all up anyway had I been able to do so.
I've been thinking lately that a great topic for discussion, here or over at Burning Wood, would be bands or artists that never topped their debut album. And Moby Grape definitely fall in that category. Sure there were some great songs on the later records, but their debut was just stunning. (And because I was too young when it came out and it was out of print for so long, I never heard it until this century.)
Marc
Marc/Danny - as I said I bought the
original release (finger album) when I was 16....I still own the original, 57 years later. Awhile back I bought the CD reissue (Relix.. ?)
I played the album yesterday for my wife ( way younger than me / she has a 60s ear) she loved there debut.
Marc - as you said, perhaps the best debut album ever...Omaha !!!
Rob
I can’t say enough about how much The Grape influenced my sonic concepts as a young musician and still informs my playing. Love it, thanks for that! One of my biggest disappointments in my musical “career” was that The High Beams were supposed to play a gig with them sometime in the 90s and I can’t remember…I think it was Don Stevenson needed to have emergency dental surgery which canceled their gig.
Whoa!
Proof that new music put out by famous old dudes doesn't have to suck.
Quick, somebody tell Pete Townshend...
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