Wonderful band from the late 60s Bay Area scene that released one of the better debut albums of the era.

Got bent over every table in the office by their record label, and had some internal problems, not least of which was the serious instability of Skip Spence who was arguably their most talented member. 

Classic tale of "the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong label with the wrong album cover". Crisp rock songs, most clocking in at 3:00, got lost in the San Francisco scene. Production is a little careless ("where's the bass?"), but the voices are strong and the lyrics hold up. Too bad they didn't sign with Elektra or Vanguard.

One of my favorite 60's American rock bands, arguably at their peak the greatest of all of the San Francisco acts of the 60's with awesome tunes, 5 great players and 4 singers, one of whom, Bob Mosley , is absolutely phenomenal, though all 4 were very good. Royally screwed by their record company and devious manager. The first album is one of the greatest debuts of all time IMO, and subsequent albums were a lot better than they've been given credit for. Like Syd Barrett, Peter Green, and others, Skip Spence went off the deep end, eventually becoming a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic due to too much drug use, but he did record a great blues/ country and some rock solo lp, "Oar" in 1969 after leaving the band while the 2nd album in 1968 was being worked on,and spending time in Bellevue. Great band, should've been huge if not for internal problems, record company mistakes, and managerial problems. 14 MAJOR labels wanted to sign them, in retrospect, Columbia might have been a bad choice as they overhyped them and had a huge roster of acts already, therefore, they were possibly not able to handle them properly, despite the huge amount of publicity and money they put into the band.

One of the very sad tales of a band with seemingly unlimited potential only to completely waste it's talent and disappear into the abyss of long lost bands. Apparently, these boys (led by Great Society's former drummer, Pete Spence on guitar and vocals) burned white hot on various San Francisco stages stages throughout late '67 and '68 and were finally captured on their sometimes brilliant debut (the self-titled, Moby Grape, 1968) which went down in flames due to a strange marketing scheme that saw the album pre-released as five singles. Neither premise sold well and the press scalded the band who went off the deep end losing their competetive edge to booze and hard drugs. Nothing can hide the fact that their initial album contains some outstanding songs highlighted by Spence's blistering guitar work on "Omaha." That song alone is worth the price of admission. I attended a show some years back at the Universal Amphitheater in Hollywood featuring 60's acts; The Seeds, Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Standells, and others of the same ilk. The 'Grape' was slated to play, but they didn't show up. I only wish that they had.