Even with over half-a-century hindsight, it’s difficult to determine the greatest misfortune of the many that befell Moby Grape early in its career. Notwithstanding the litany of faux pas arising around their sterling eponymous debut–as recounted in such detail by author Cam Cobb in his excellent book (subtitled) The Moby Grape Story–there was also that error in judgment on the part of Columbia Records that deemed the group needed to record another album soon after the first LP was issued. So, in conjunction with producer David Rubinson, the label further decided the sessions be conducted far from The Grape’s California home, specifically in New York City.
Superficially at least, the confluence of those circumstances turned out to be another sequence of adverse events. Depending, of course, on perceptions and expectations of the sophomore album from this extended perspective: this double set titled WOW/Grape Jam transcended a somewhat agonizing gestation and, in the end, proved a successful calibration of the group’s experimental side. Adventurous studio production was a natural marriage to its open-ended instrumental improvisations.
Each of these companion pieces is, in its own way, an almost inevitable extension of the predecessor. Extrapolations of the folk, country rock, and blues elements of Moby Grape, the double set of vinyl combination (each with its own graphic design) was sold at a reduced price at the time of its original issue, an astute marketing move on the part of the label (far more so than manager Matthew Katz’ campaign with a West Coast radio station).
Still, just slightly more discipline on the part of the band as well as its producer would’ve better focused their experimentation. For instance, “Just Like Gene Autry: A Foxtrot” would work better as merely a snippet of a ’20’s-’30’s tune between tracks rather than evolve into an arch joke gone on too long. Far better it had been replaced with guitarist Peter Lewis’ “What’s To Choose.”
That exquisite piece wouldn’t see the light of day until Moby Grape ’69, but appears on the 2007 Sundazed Records expanded CD of WOW. Within a package ripe for reconfiguration of its eighteen tracks, the most productive results of the quintet’s Big Apple sojourn include “Seeing” which even in its amorphous form could stand to replace this-over-arranged reappearance of “Naked, If I Want To: ” the quieter take on the first album conveyed more of the compositions intrinsic whimsy.
As with other psychedelic touches that adorn “The Place And The Time,” the cello accompaniment for author Peter Lewis’ heartache of a vocal on “He” puts it squarely in the baroque currency of the post Sgt. Pepper times. The same is true of the dissonance at the end of bassist Bob Moseley’s acoustic finger-picked “Bitter Wind;” arguably the best cut on the LP, it isn’t all that far removed in terms of both style and quality from another number by this same author, “Rose Colored Eyes.” Haunting group vocals distinguish both cuts.
According to the aforementioned tome as well as Gene Sculatti’s illuminating liner notes for the expanded CDs, Skip Spence quickly became distracted from the business at hand after arriving in the city. But even with the former drummer for Jefferson Airplane often AWOL for recording sessions (as was Lewis for different reasons), his “Motorcycle Irene” made the final cut of the dozen tracks, despite the fact this ode to a biker moll is simply too tongue-in-cheek-for its own good (and can hardly compare to the author’s previous contributions such as the euphoric “Omaha”).
In contrast to that errant novelty, the fast collective gallop of “Can’t Be So Bad” is another nod to roots on which drummer/co-author Don Stevenson deftly maneuvers in front of soul-derived horns. Like the appropriately titled “Miller’s Blues,” which is right in line with the burgeoning genre movement of those years, and the bluegrass-derived reel titled “Funky Tunk” co-authored by the lead guitarist with Spence, this is an ambitious but authentic cut clearly depicting the inner mechanics of Moby Grape as a band and as recording artists (aside from Spence’s mimicry of Donald Duck voices on the latter).
It’s a blend that might be termed Americana (or something like it), an effect simultaneously amplified and undermined on the accompanying set of loosely-improvised pieces dubbed Grape Jam. Given the preferences on display for the Super Session album, they would soon record, guests Al Kooper and Michael Bloomfield set the tone for this mostly instrumental collection via their loose-limbed piano playing during “Black Currant Jam” and “Marmalade.”
Meanwhile, the former brings the horn section from his Blood Sweat and Tears group to what is arguably the most noteworthy of three previously-unreleased takes on the 2007 reissue: an extended interpretation of “Bags’ Groove,” written by Modern Jazz Quartet’s Milt Jackson. Most conspicuously recorded by Miles Davis in 1957, this thirteen minutes-plus cover also stands as a natural corollary to the progression documented on the main album. Its sophistication is light years removed from “The Lake,” the spaced-out brainchild of the previously-referenced radio promotion, overseen by The Grape’s business ‘mentor,’ wherein a listener wrote lyrics for the five-piece to collectively compose music.
Although Moby Grape maintains its hold on their eclectic approach somewhat fitfully throughout these dual long players, the very presence of such blemishes ultimately certifies the set as an accurate representation of its era. WOW/Grape Jam is a composite as keen as the streamlined uniformity of its predecessor and as such solidifies the quintet’s claim to artistic credibility.
Fully in keeping with the star-crossed ensemble’s fate, it’s only fitting that Bob Cato’s surreal cover art for the primary title was nominated for a Grammy Award. But this honor came in 1969, the year after the album itself, in an even greater irony, reached the woebegon group’s highest sales ever, #20 on the Billboard Magazine album chart. WOW indeed!
