moby grape long gone compilation 67-69 liberated bootleg from HEAD Records 412 mb flac monterey pop festival, 6.16.67: 1.indifference 2.mr.blues 3.sitting by the window 4.omaha 1968 movie soundtrack from "The Sweet Ride": 5.never again foundation jam SF,CA, 1968: 6. grape jams 7.murder in my heart for the judge 8.my heart's desire 9.gypsy wedding Rai Congrescentrum, amsterdam, 2.12.69: 10.i am not willing 11.trucking man 12.sitting by the window 13.fall on you 14.murder in my heart for the judge 15.bob's blues 16.omaha unknown date & location (sound like studio tracks): 17.if you can't learn from my mistakes* 18.trucking man* 19.ain't that a shame* 20.five to eight** *from their 3rd album Moby Grape 69. I think these are early versions of these songs before they were finalized on the album. **I think this is an unreleased track. AMG Notes by Richie Unterberger: One of the best '60s San Francisco bands, Moby Grape were also one of the most versatile. Although they are most often identified with the psychedelic scene, their specialty was combining all sorts of roots music -- folk, blues, country, and classic rock & roll -- with some Summer of Love vibes and multi-layered, triple-guitar arrangements. All of those elements only truly coalesced, however, for their 1967 debut LP. Although subsequent albums had more good moments than many listeners are aware of, a combination of personal problems and bad management effectively killed off the group by the end of the 1960s. Many San Francisco bands of the era were assembled by recent immigrants to the area, but Moby Grape had even more tenuous roots in the region than most when they formed. Matthew Katz, who managed the Jefferson Airplane in their early days, helped put together Moby Grape around Skip Spence. Spence, a legendarily colorful Canadian native whose first instrument was the guitar, had played drums in the Airplane's first lineup at the instigation of Marty Balin. Spence left the Airplane after their first album, and reverted to his natural guitarist and songwriting role for the Grape (the Airplane had already recorded some of his compositions). Guitarist Jerry Miller and drummer Don Stevenson were recruited from the Northwest bar band the Frantics; guitarist Peter Lewis had played in Southern California surf bands like the Cornells; and bassist Bob Mosley had also played with outfits from Southern California. The group's relative unfamiliarity with each other may have sown seeds for their future problems, but they jelled surprisingly quickly, with all five members contributing more or less equally to the songwriting on their self-titled debut (1967). Moby Grape remains their signature statement, though the folk-rock and country-rock worked better than the boogies; "Omaha," "Sittin' by the Window," "Changes," and "Lazy Me" are some of their best songs. Columbia Records, though, damaged the band's credibility with over-hype, releasing no less than five singles from the LP simultaneously. Worse, three members of the group were caught consorting with underage girls. Though charges were eventually dropped, the legal hassles, combined with an increasingly strained relationship with manager Katz, sapped the band's drive. Moby Grape's follow-up, the double-LP Wow, was one of the most disappointing records of the '60s, in light of the high expectations fostered by the debut. The studio half of the package had much more erratic songwriting than the first recording, and the group members didn't blend their instrumental and vocal skills nearly as well. The "bonus" disc was almost a total waste, consisting of bad jams. Spence departed while the album was being recorded in New York in 1968, as a result of a famous incident in which he entered the studio with a fire axe, apparently intending to use it on Stevenson. Committed to New York's Bellevue Hospital, he did re-emerge to record a wonderful acid folk solo album at the end of 1968, but that would be his only notable post-Grape project; he struggled with mental illness until he died in 1998. Another unexpected blow was dealt when Mosley, despite his membership in a band that emerged from the Haight-Ashbury psychedelic scene, joined the Marine Corps at the beginning of 1969. The band did struggle on and release a couple more albums during that year, and the best tracks from these (particularly the earlier one, Moby Grape '69) proved they could still deliver the goods, though usually in a more subdued, countrified fashion than their earliest material. The group broke up at the end of the '60s, although they would periodically reunite for nearly unheard albums over the next two decades, in lineups featuring varying original members. Their problems were exacerbated by Matthew Katz, who owns the Moby Grape name, and has sometimes prevented the original members from using the name when they worked together. Lou's Notes: MONTEREY POP FESTIVAL - INDIFFERENCE / MR. BLUES / SITTING BY THE WINDOW / OMAHA (Color, June, 1967) It is assumed that MOBY GRAPE'S full set was filmed by D.B. Pennebaker, but the GRAPE footage has never surfaced. Tommy Smothers introduced the band at Monterey. THE SWEET RIDE (Film Cameo, Color, 1968) Tony Franciosa stars in the Movie. Band is featured in a FANTASTIC wild night club scene with swirling oils and dancers. Much of the music is marred by film dialogue. The band performs a lip-sync version to this great tune. In the film credits, the song is listed as "NEVER AGAIN" and Dusty Springfield performs the Theme Song SWEET RIDE. In the mid 90's Moby Grape released this song officially for the first time on their 2 CD set, VINTAGE. In this package, the song is listed as SWEET RIDE, not NEVER AGAIN. This leads to speculation that the Grape were promised the title song to the film, but somehow Dusty Springfield ended up with it and the Grape were forced to come up with an alternate title. Bootleg Review: Moby Grape Long Gone (Head Records CD-R, 73:56 min) VENUE: Tracks 1 - 4 from Monterey Pop Festival, June 16, 1967; track 5 from an untitled 1968 film soundtrack; tracks 6 - 9, Foundation Jam, San Francisco 1968; tracks 10 - 16, Amsterdam, February 12, 1969. SOUND QUALITY: Tracks 1 to 4 are good soundboard (6-7), a little low on the volume but reasonably clear. Track 5 is at the other end of the spectrum, loud and noisy, almost unintelligible. The San Francisco tracks are fair to good (4 - 5) with some hum and tape hiss. Tracks 10 - 16 from Amsterdam performance are good to very good soundbound, with some fades and tape hiss. I've never claimed to be an sound expert, but the stereo separation on some of these tracks (especially 1 - 4 and 6 - 10) sounds a little fishy to these ears – reprocessed mono? You tell me.... COVER: Front of four-panel insert has nifty “Moby Grape” graphic ripped from some great white whale tale, the ocean leviathan colored...what else?...purple. Back of insert has great color publicity photo of band while the inside has a live shot complete with sixties-era psychedelic lightshow on the wall behind the performers. Back cover has another pic of band along with tracklist and venue info. Plain gold label on CD-R disc. TRACKLIST: Indifference/ Mr. Blues/ Sitting By The Window/ Omaha/ Never Again/ Grape Jams/ Murder In My Heart For The Judge/ My Heart's Desire/ Gypsy Wedding/ I Am Not Willing/ Trucking Man/ Sitting By The Window/ Fall On You/ Murder In My Heart For The Judge/ Bob's Blues/ Omaha/ If You Can't Learn From My Mistakes/ Trucking Man/ Ain't That A Shame/ Five To Eight COMMENTS: Moby Grape were the kind of band that only the sixties could produce, and considering the sad, sorry shape of rock & roll here in the late nineties, that's a damn shame. Moby Grape mixed musical styles effortlessly and flawlessly, throwing elements of roots rock, psychedelica, blues and country into their songs. It's hard to believe, after listening to the handful of their ground-breaking albums that they were, for a while, a Top Forty charting band. In my mind, only Spirit, and perhaps the Byrds, flirted so outrageously with commercial success during the late sixties while holding onto such experimental musical ideals and artistic dignity. Long Gone is a rare look at Moby Grape live. Capturing fragments of three separate Grape performances during the peak of their career, from 1967 to 1969, Long Gone offers a look at a maturing band that starts out, with the first four cuts taken from the Monterey Pop Festival, as a sloppy, rag-tag, psychedelic-oriented group of players. Within the space of a couple of years they evolve into a strong live band, as the cuts from Amsterdam will attest to. Coming near the end of their first European tour, the Amsterdam songs, particularly the popish “Sitting By The Window” and the rollicking, somewhat blue “Murder In My Heart For The Judge,” remind us of the band's abilities. Although the sound quality on Long Gone ranges from fair to the “very” side of good (a result of the primitive recording capabilities of the era), it's nevertheless a treat to hear these performances, long thought lost to history. Review by Rev. Keith A. Gordon, copyright 1998 This review originally appeared in Live! Music Review, Dec. 98/Jan. 99 issue.