Moby Grape - Listen My Friends!

Ageing like a fine wine

This flawless 20-track overview of this first generation San Francisco band, who actually established their reputation across the Bay at Sausalito’s legendary Ark club, is culled from their first four Columbia albums and includes a pair of well-chosen rarities, one previously unreleased. The latter is a long version of Sweet Ride (Never Again), a dynamic, guitarstruck, psychedelic masterpiece, while “version one” of the Byrdslike Bitter Wind was plucked from an earlier 1993 Grape collection titled Vintage.

Otherwise, the original quintet (guitarists Jerry Miller, Peter Lewis and Skip Spence, bassist Bob Mosley and drummer Don Stevenson), who were all amazing singers and songwriters, move fluently through classic mindbenders such as the relentlessly energetic Hey Grandma, a Laurel Canyon-laidback 8:05, the churning Murder In My Heart For The Judge and the sound effectsenhanced Motorcycle Irene. With Spence absent, the final two Columbia projects suffered, but songs such as the enclosed harmony-rich ballad Ain’t That A Shame and a contemplative Changes, Circles Spinning ably recall the glory days. It’s no match for that 1993 two-disc set for devotees, but an excellent introduction to this seminal, though ill-fated, group for the heretofore uninitiated.

Columbia/Legacy | 88697 05963 2

Reviewed by Gary von Tersch
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