Moby Grape Wow/Grape Jam 2LP Sealed Psych Mint Shrink MGS 1 Skip Spence

$

250

The Mad Platter presents:

A minty fresh collection recently purchased, and listed for your buying pleasure.

Check my other listings for more stone cold rarities.

Vinyl: Mint, never been played!

Cover: Mint, nice tight shrink wrap, corners are nm-, just one small shrink wrap opening top right.

Labels: Mint

1st US Pressing on Columbia Records

This was Moby Grape's highest charting release in the U.S., peaking at #20 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

A very nice collectors copy!

Nearly impossible to find in such beautiful sealed condition.

No splits and completely legible spine.

Last 2 copies sealed on eBay went for $366 and $248!!! All reasonable offers will be reviewed. Thank you for looking!

As always, it will be professionally cleaned, and packaged in new anti static inner sleeve, and quality outer sleeve.

I ship media mail, but I am flexible, just let me know what you want.

USA buyers only.

Here's a little background information on it's release:

Wow/Grape Jam is the second album by the rock band Moby Grape, released in 1968. It is different from most double album releases in that it was released as two different albums in separate covers, but packaged together and sold for only one dollar more than price of a single LP.

Wow has a more heavily produced sound than the first Moby Grape album. String and horn arrangements were added to many of the songs by producer David Rubinson. Recording started in Los Angeles in late 1967, but most of the album was recorded in New York City in late 1967 and early 1968.  "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" is a blues rock tune written by drummer Don Stevenson that was later recorded by other rock musicians such as Lee Michaels, Three Dog Night and Chrissie Hynde. "Bitter Wind", written and sung by Bob Mosley, has remained one of the group's most popular songs. The acoustic version here contains an ending that includes harsh wind noises and backward vocals. Other stand-out tracks include Jerry Miller's rocking shuffle "Can't Be So Bad", Skip Spence's darkly comedic roots rocker "Motorcycle Irene" and Peter Lewis's lush ballad "He". The album also includes an electrified re-arranged version of "Naked, If I Want To", which was on the first album as an acoustic track. "Just Like Gene Autry: A Foxtrot" is the most unusual song on the album, a 1930s style tune written and sung by Spence. It was given a spoken introduction from Arthur Godfrey and cut onto the LP record at 78 RPM with added scratchy sound effects to give it an authentic period effect. (Early copies of 'Wow' omit the band's name from the record label, for unknown reasons.)

Grape Jam has been criticized for its rather loose and mostly improvised performances which contrast sharply with the heavily produced material on Wow. However Grape Jam is also notable in that it features guest appearances on piano by Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield. This studio album was recorded in New York City in January and February 1968. Skip Spence plays guitar on "Never" and piano on "Boysenberry Jam".  Peter Lewis does not appear on this album. "The Lake" is a strange combination of poetry submitted by a fan (Michael Hayworth, the winner of a KFRC San Francisco songwriting contest) and avant-garde psychedelic Musique concrète sound effects somewhat like side four of Freak Out! or "Revolution 9".  The opening track "Never" is the best known song and has often been cited as the source for Led Zeppelin's song "Since I've Been Loving You", the opening lyrics, bluesy arrangement and some melodic elements are virtually identical.  The album was the inspiration for a number of other studio "jam" albums during the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Later examples of this trend included Al Kooper's Super Session and the 3rd LP of George Harrison's All Things Must Pass.

In a retrospective review for Rolling Stone magazine, music critic Robert Christgau felt that the album suffered from "Pepper-itis" because of how worthy songs such as "Can't Be So Bad" and "Murder in My Heart for the Judge" were diminished by superfluous effects such as horns, strings, stereo separations, and musique concrète.  Christgau went further on Grape Jam, referring to it as "hippie self-indulgence" and "wooden groove instrumentals".

Personnel

    Peter Lewis - rhythm guitar, vocals

    Jerry Miller - lead guitar, vocals

    Bob Mosley - bass, vocals

    Skip Spence - rhythm guitar, vocals

    Don Stevenson - drums, vocals