Several rungs down the ladder from The Whiskey or The Trip, Gazzari's on Sunset Strip was a joint whose slick- haired clientele wore sharkskin suits, skinny ties and an eloquent sneer that said, "Pinko liberal commie faggots not welcome".
But Peter Lewis, the son of film star Loretta Young, had been to hell and back before his band, Peter And The Wolves, ever took the stage at Gazzari's. At 11, his parents' divorce had driven him to a failed suicide attempt and left him in a psychiatric ward where "they shot me full of Thorazine and locked me up until I promised to go to school". The ward also had a guitar, which Lewis appropri- ated: "If I had the guitar they left me alone because I looked occupied".
Peter And The Wolves churned out efficient pop and rock covers but Lewis wanted to do more. "I'd seen The Byrds opening for The Stones at Long Beach Arena and it flipped me out, like Mr. Toad seeing the motor car." His tick- et out of Gazzari's arrived in mid-'66 in the shape of LA club band the Joel Scott Hill Trio, who shared Lewis' ambition. "The idea was to write our own songs and introduce a soul vocal sound into folk-rock." They suggested he meet their old guitarist Bob Mosley but warned that he was crazy.
When Lewis first encountered Mosley at the bar in LA airport it felt like chalk meeting cheese. "I had bell-bottoms and long hair, and he had Bermuda shorts, red sneakers with white socks, a goatee beard, shades and his hair combed back." As Lewis' car sped towards his Laurel Canyon house, the taciturn Mosley suddenly growled, "I can play like a motherfucker and sing anything up to high C. What the hell can you do?"
That night, along with the Joel Scott Hill Trio, they plied Mosley with acid and waited to see what might emerge. "About dawn, when Bob was really smashed, I stated play- ing this Rickenbacker 12-string lick and Bob latched right onto it. We wrote one of our first songs, Bitter Wind, right then and I knew we had something special."
Introduced to former Jefferson Airplane member Skip Spence by that group's ex-manager Matthew Katz, they moved to San Francisco and recruited Don Stevenson. "We wanted a lot of harmonies so we needed a drummer who could sing, and Don's voice could stop you in your tracks, like Steve Winwood with a high vibrato." Don brought in a third guitarist, Jerry Miller, and, after one half-hour rehearsal, voila, Moby Grape. Two months of solid rehearsal followed before the band started playing at a beached Sausalito houseboat which had been turned into a club, The Ark. Columbia Records producer David Rubinson came one night to see headlining act The Sparrow (later known as Steppenwolf). "They got blown offstage by the opening band," recalls Rubinson. "This group was staggering, unbelievable. I said, Who are these guys?" They were, of course, Moby Grape.
"Another night, two guys walked in looking for Skip." says Lewis, "and it was Neil Young and Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield." Forming an immediate bond of friendship, Stills and Young returned almost daily for a fortnight, then went off to spread the word about Moby Grape. They also recorded a single, For What It's Worth, which, as Stills later confided to Lewis, was based on two Moby Grape songs, Murder In My Heart For The Judge and On The Other Side. "But, hey," says Lewis, "they were cool."
After a showcase at The Matrix, every West Coast A&R man was hustling to sign Moby Grape. "Paul Rothschild of Elektra wanted us so bad he offered us 50 per cent of the stock of the label to sign." But manager Matthew Katz had other plans. "He virtually blackmailed us into signing with Columbia by threatening to stop paying for Bob and Skip's flat and have them thrown out," recalls Lewis. Before the year was out, Katz had inked a deal with Columbia Records and the career of a band with the potential to be California's finest, was locked into a down- hill course.
by Johnny Black
1967 Moby Grape - Moby Grape (2007 remaster)
Tracks
Disc 1
1. Introduction At Monterey Pop Festival - 1:21
2. Indifference (Alexander "Skip" Spence) - 3:10
3. Mr. Blues (Bob Mosley) - 1:50
4. Sitting By The Window (Peter Lewis) - 2:50
5. Omaha (Alexander "Skip" Spence) - 2:33
6. Millers Blues (Jerry Miller) - 7:40
7. Hey Grandma (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 2:21
8. Sitting By The Window (Peter Lewis) - 3:07
9. Omaha (Alexander "Skip" Spence) - 1:59
10.Going Nowhere (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 2:30
11.Sweet Little Angel (B.B. King, Jules Taub) - 4:47
12.I Am Not Willing (Peter Lewis) - 4:00
13.Honky Tonk Blues (Bill Doggett, Clifford Scott, Shep Shepherd) - 8:47
14.Bitter Wind (Bob Mosley) - 4:44
15.Murder In My Heart For The Judge (Don Stevenson) - 18:25
16.Dark Magic (Alexander "Skip" Spence) - 6:49
Tracks1-5 recorded at The Monterey Pop Festival, Monterey, Ca., June 16, 1967.
Track 6 recorded at The Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, Ca., 1968
Tracks 7-9 recorded at Steve Pauls Scene, New York City, 1968
Tracks 10-15 unknown venue, 1967
Track 16 recorded at Winterland, San Francisco, Ca., 1967
Disc 2
1. $20 Blues (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 11:15
2. Hey Grandma Blues (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 8:04
3. Changes (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 4:39
4. Dark Magic Part 1 (Alexander "Skip" Spence) - 5:29
5. Dark Magic Part 2 (Alexander "Skip" Spence) - 11:37
6. Looper (Peter Lewis) - 2:29
7. 8:05 (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 2:11
8. Learn From Your Mistakes (Peter Lewis) - 3:04
9. Can't Be So Bad (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 4:00
10.Sitting By The Window (Peter Lewis) - 3:19
11.Fall On You (Peter Lewis) - 2:52
12.It's A Beautiful Day (Bob Mosley) - 7:04
13.Big Boss Man (Jimmy Reed) - 5:44
14.Hey Mama (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) - 2:55
15.I Can Only Give You Everything (Phil Coulter, Tommy Scott) - 2:40
Tracks 1-2 recorded unknown venue, july 23, 1968
Tracsk 3-5 recorded at The Avalon Ballroom, San Francisco, Ca., Dec.31, 1966
Tracks 6-7 recorded at Winterland, 1967
Tracks 8-13 recorded at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y., 1969
Tracks 14-15 Peter & The Wolves 45,PW#500, Los Angeles, 1965 featuring Peter Lewis
Moby Grape
*Jerry Miller - Guitar, Vocals
*Peter Lewis - Guitar, Vocals
*Alexander "Skip" Spence - Guitar, Vocals
*Bob Mosley - Bass, Vocals
*Don Stevenson - Drums, Vocals
1967-68 The Place And The Time (2009 Sundazed release)
1967 Moby Grape - Grape Jam (2007 remaster)
1969 Wow (Sundazed Issue)
1969 Moby Grape - Moby Grape 69' (2007 remaster and expanded)
1969 Wow (Sundazed Issue)
1969 Moby Grape - Moby Grape 69' (2007 remaster and expanded)
Moby Grape was an exceptional collection of musicians. Thanks for sharing these live recordings, and R.I.P. Jerry Miller, a great guitarist though sorely underrated.
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