''20 Granite Creek'' is the rock band

Moby Grape Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting, and who collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country, and jazz with rock and psychedelic music. They were ...

's fifth album. After recording their last album for Columbia Records, '' Truly Fine Citizen'', the band went on hiatus until 1971 when they reunited with

Skip Spence Alexander Lee "Skip" Spence (April 18, 1946 – April 16, 1999) was a Canadian-born American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. In the same year, he released his only s ...

and

Bob Mosley James Robert "Bob" Mosley (born December 4, 1942, in San Diego, California) is principally known as the bass player and one of the songwriters and vocalists for the band Moby Grape. Some of his best-known songs with Moby Grape are "Mr. Blues", " ...

and recorded this reunion album for Reprise Records; their only album for the label.

David Rubinson David Rubinson (born August 7, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York)Internet Movie DatabaseMini-Biography of David Rubinson Retrieved 2012-06-05.as of 2017 it's 1962? is an American recording engineer and music producer, who was particularly involved in music ...

, who produced most of the band's Columbia albums, was back as producer here, as well as serving as the band's manager.. The album title refers to an address near Santa Cruz, CA but there is no record that any band member ever lived there. The rights to this album are now owned by the band after previous manager, Matthew Katz, lost them when the band successfully sued him in 2007.

Critical reception

Reviewing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' in 1971, music critic

Richard Meltzer Richard Meltzer (born May 10, 1945) is an American rock critic, performer, writer and songwriter. He is considered by some rock historians to be the first to write real analysis of rock and roll and is credited with inventing "rock criticism". B ...

found the album remarkable and said that it "proves that without an audience and with all the members of the original Grape aboard ship they can outdo Truly Fine Citizen with their eyes closed." By contrast, Robert Christgau of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, th ...

'' found it drab and marred by kotos, but warmed to the album over time; in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981), he said Moby Grape sounds intense and hopeful for a band in decline: "You can hear the country undertone now, but you can also hear why you missed it—at their most lyrical these guys never lay back, and lyricism is something they're usually rocking too hard to bother with, though their compact forms guarantee poetic justice."

Track listing

;Side one ;Side two

Personnel

* Peter Lewis - rhythm guitar,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Jerry Miller Jerry Miller (born July 10, 1943) is an American songwriter, guitarist and vocalist. He performs as a solo artist and as a member of the Jerry Miller Band. He is also a founding member of the 1960s San Francisco band Moby Grape, which continues ...

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

, vocals *

- bass; drums (track #9); vocals *

- rhythm guitar; koto; vocals * Don Stevenson - drums; electric guitar (#3); vocals * Gordon Stevens -

electric viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

, dobro, mandolin Additional personnel * Jeffrey Cohen - bass (#9) *

Andy Narell Andy Narell (born March 18, 1954) is an American jazz steel pannist, composer and producer. Biography Narell took up the steelpan at a young age in Queens, New York. His father, who was a social worker, had started a program of steelpan playing ...

steel drums The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Descriptio ...

- electric piano, congas

Charts

Album – '' Billboard''

References

External links

* {{Authority control Moby Grape albums 1971 albums Reprise Records albums Albums produced by Dave Rubinson