Weekend Mix: Now I Know High

 "The Grape's saga is one of squandered potential, absurdly misguided decisions, bad luck, blunders and excruciating heartbreak, all set to the tune of some of the greatest rock and roll ever to emerge from San Francisco. Moby Grape could have had it all, but they ended up with nothing, and less."
                                                                                                                       -Jeff Tamarkin

Peter Lewis – rhythm guitars, vocals
Jerry Miller – lead guitars, vocals
Bob Mosley – bass, vocals
Skip Spence – rhythm guitars, vocals
Don Stevenson – drums, vocals
                                                                                                       

Their first album, "Moby Grape" (1967) is widely recognized as a classic.
While recording their second in New York City, Skip Spence's schizophrenia began to take over. Famously chopping down a band member's hotel room door with a fire axe. He was committed to Bellevue for six months while Moby Grape soldiered on, finishing "Wow" (1968). Skip never returned to the band full-time. While incarcerated, he wrote enough songs to record "OAR" (1968), in Nashville, playing all the instruments. It's an un-hinged masterpiece, in many ways similar to Syd Barrett's post Pink Floyd albums.

Then came "Moby Grape '69", "Truly Fine Citizen" (1969) also recorded in Nashville, and finally,

"20 Granite Creek"(1971). Although Spence was no longer in the band they included him when possible, depending on his health. 

This compilation covers their initial run. 

They have disbanded and reformed many times, and often having to use a fake name as their  manager, Matthew Katz, hung on their contract like a drowning man to a log, or worse, a sociopath. They signed their contract under duress, with a large dollop of naivete, resulting in not even owning the name Moby Grape.

From wikipedia:

"Matthew Katz insisted that an additional provision be added to his management contract, giving him ownership of the group name. At the time, various group members were indebted to Katz, who had been paying for apartments and various living costs prior to the group releasing its first album. Despite objecting, group members signed, based in part on an impression that there would be no further financial support from Katz unless they did so. Neil Young, then of Buffalo Springfield, was in the room at the time, and kept his head down, playing his guitar, and saying nothing. According to Peter Lewis, "I think Neil knew, even then, that was the end. We had bought into this process that we should have known better than to buy into."

Due to continued legal battle between the band and Katz over ownership of their name, pseudonyms were used during several decades for performance or recording purposes; including Mosley Grape, Legendary Grape, Maby Grope, Fine Wine, and The Melvilles.

Moby Grape today:

Peter Lewis – rhythm guitars, vocals

Jerry Miller – lead guitars, vocals

Bob Mosley – bass, vocals

with

Joseph Miller – drums (son of Jerry)

Omar Spence – vocals (son of Skip)

Don Stevenson – drums, vocals (guest appearances)

They were all incredibly talented, and Jerry Miller deserves to be included in any conversation about guitar heroes.

Enjoy!
-BBJ

Now I Know High