Sep 202013
 

I know the first Moby Grape album and like it enough, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard a lick of their next album. (Or a third album, if one exists.) I’ve never even seen a second Moby Grape album in anyone’s collection.

The Jefferson Airplane comparison is appropriate, right? The bands had a connection through Skip Spence, who I believe started at the Airplane’s drummer. They probably drank from the same Electric Kool-Aid and traded underwear and ponchos, as part of that San Francisco scene. Is someone’s mic turned off on this performance of “Omaha,” or is the band not bothering to sing the lead vocal that responds to the “Listen my friends” chant? Their version of the next song (the title is a numeric time of day, right?) is fine, but it may have been a good thing that Moby Grape didn’t have the staying power of Jefferson Airplane. Or maybe you think it’s a shame they didn’t reach the heights of Airplane performances, like the following:

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Sep 202013
 

Has any musician given a more relaxed performance than Kenny Rogers in this performance of “Ruby” with The First Edition? Beside Perry Como, that is. Has a song’s punch line ever been delivered with more restraint? Typically quiet instruments like muted guitars, tambourines, and the rhythmic tapping of a hand on an acoustic guitar body overpower Rogers’ laid-back vocal delivery. The song actually benefits from his approach. I lean forward everything he cautions Ruby not to take her love to town.

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