''Moby Grape '69'' is the third album by the psychedelic 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 ...

, released on January 30, 1969. It is the first album after the departure of co-founder

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 ...

. Spence nonetheless is heard on one song, "Seeing", presumably from the ''

Wow/Grape Jam ''Wow/Grape Jam'' is the second album by the rock band Moby Grape. It was first released in April 1968. It is different from most double album releases in that it was released as two different albums in separate covers, but packaged together an ...

'' sessions, and positioned as the final song on ''Moby Grape '69''. As Peter Lewis describes the album, "We made ''Moby Grape '69'', in an attempt to rebound from the ''Wow'' album, which was over-produced. And it's a cool album. Although we could have rehearsed it a little more, we still believed in it. But I think we were waiting for Skippy to come back, and he never did." The album peaked at a disappointing number 113 on the Billboard chart. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy as an early endeavor into

country rock Country rock is a genre of music which fuses rock and country. It was developed by rock musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late 1960s and early 1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal s ...

.Poco's first album, '' Pickin' Up the Pieces'', was released in May 1969, while the Eagles' self-titled first album was released in June 1972. ''Moby Grape '69'' was also being recorded during similar periods when

The Byrds The Byrds () were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1964. The band underwent multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn (known as Jim McGuinn until mid-1967) remaining the sole cons ...

were recording the landmark ''

Sweetheart of the Rodeo ''Sweetheart of the Rodeo'' is the sixth album by American rock band the Byrds and was released in August 1968 on Columbia Records. Recorded with the addition of country rock pioneer Gram Parsons, it became the first album widely recognized as c ...

'' album (recorded March to May 1968). The Byrds' album was completed earlier and as a consequence released six months prior to ''Moby Grape '69''. ''Sweetheart of the Rodeo'', now regarded as a groundbreaking masterpiece, was initially met with similarly mixed public reactions to that associated with ''Moby Grape '69''. ''Sweetheart of the Rodeo's'' highest U.S. charting was number 77, and it failed to chart at all in the United Kingdom; see

. The album was re-released on CD and Vinyl in 2007 by

Sundazed Sundazed Music is an American independent record label based in Coxsackie, New York. It specializes in obscure and rare recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s. In 2000, Sundazed had a staff of 15 and two mixing studios, including a vintage audio ...

, but as with their previous albums, it has been pulled.

Track listing

Side one

# "Ooh Mama Ooh" (

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 ...

Don Stevenson Don Stevenson (born October 15, 1941, Seattle, Washington) is the American drummer and a singer and songwriter for Moby Grape, a band which was formed in San Francisco in 1966 and continues to perform occasionally today. History Don Stevenson fi ...

) – 2:26 # "Ain't That a Shame" (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson, Peter Lewis) – 2:28 # "I Am Not Willing" (Peter Lewis) – 2:58 # "It's a Beautiful Day Today" (

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", "C ...

) – 3:06 # "Hoochie" (Bob Mosley) – 4:21

Side two

# "Trucking Man" (Bob Mosley) – 2:00 # "If You Can't Learn from My Mistakes" (Peter Lewis) – 2:33 # "Captain Nemo" (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) – 1:43 # "What's to Choose" (Peter Lewis) – 1:57 # "Going Nowhere" (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) – 2:01 # "Seeing" (

) – 3:44

Bonus tracks on 2007 CD edition

# "Soul Stew" (Bob Mosley) – 2:16 # "If You Can't Learn from My Mistakes"

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

(Peter Lewis) – 1:23 # "You Can Do Anything"

(Skip Spence) – 3:35 # "It's a Beautiful Day Today"

(Bob Mosley) – 4:12 #* Previously unreleased # "What's to Choose"

(Peter Lewis) – 3:19 #* Previously unreleased # "Big"

(Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) – 2:19 # "Hoochie"

(Bob Mosley) – 3:18 #* Previously unreleased

Personnel

* Peter Lewis -

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass 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 without ...

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 featur ...

, vocals *

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

, vocals *

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, vocals *

- vocals and unknown instruments (on "Seeing")

Charts

Album - ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

References

{{Authority control Moby Grape albums 1969 albums Albums produced by Dave Rubinson Columbia Records albums