an essay I wrote about a recently-unearthed live Beatles tape<\/a>. The technology is amazing stuff, and it works: myself, I\u2019ve fiddled with the open-source version.)<\/p>\nListeners expecting a singer-songwriter affair are in for a rude awakening. The album opens with the propulsive and rocking \u201cThe Joker.\u201d Mosley wails on vocals in the manner of a blues shouter, and the band pummels along with alacrity. Well-placed lead guitar fills add even more energy. Outside of \u201cFall On You,\u201d Moby Grape rarely rocked as hard. And thanks to the re-de-mix, Mosley\u2019s powerful bass work shines.<\/p>\n
\u201cGypsy Wedding\u201d found its way into later-period Moby Grape live sets, and with good reason. The funky tune with tasty electric piano and punchy support from the Memphis Horns is a highlight of the record; it sounds like the kind of song that would have figured prominently in free-form FM radio programming of the era. The possibly autobiographical \u201c1245 Kearny\u201d is a stomper as well, with judicious use of wah-wah and another spirited Mosley vocal. \u201cSquaw Valley Nils (Hocked Soul)\u201d serves up some strong vocal harmonies (overdubbed Mosley himself, sounds like) atop a solid melody.<\/p>\n
The horns return for \u201cLet the Music Play,\u201d yet another strong rocker. The arrangement gives prominence to the horn charts and fuzzed-out rhythm guitar, and (again) the new mix affords Mosley\u2019s driving bass the prominence it deserves. Those horns spar with the lead guitar during the quick break, which is nearly too much, but ultimately not<\/i> too much. Mosley turns down the intensity for the countrified \u201cThanks,\u201d originally the closing cut on Side One. Some lovely vocal harmonies and keening pedal steel are among the tune\u2019s virtues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere Do the Birds Go\u201d rocks in a Grand Funk manner. \u201cHand in Hand\u201d doubles down on Mosley\u2019s use of multi-tracking his powerful voice. The shuffling tune has a bit of a Doobie Brothers character, but adding a wild, Bay Area psych guitar feel redolent of Quicksilver Messenger Service. \u201cHand in Hand\u201d would have been a powerful live number. \u201cGone Fishin\u2019\u201d has a very different feel, with Mosley taking more relaxed, down-home vocal tone; the melody is as close to mainstream pop as he\u2019d get on this record.<\/p>\n
The Memphis Horns open \u201cNothing to Do,\u201d another speedy number; it\u2019s the album\u2019s best application of the Memphis\/Stax feel to Mosley\u2019s own aesthetic. With a mid-song rhythm changeup, it also sounds the most like a Moby Grape tune. The record closes with \u201cSo Many Troubles,\u201d giving Mosley an opportunity to apply his considerable vocal talents in a ballad format. The melancholy track has a subtle gospel flavor.<\/p>\n
In a fair world, Bob Mosley<\/em> wold have been a major hit. Its weakest tracks are never less than good, and its best cuts rival the finest Moby Grape classics. After years out of print, the reappearance of Bob Mosley<\/em> rights a serious wrong. And word is that Mosley himself is doing well these days, and will rightly benefit from sales of his reissued debut album.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The saga of Moby Grape is one of the saddest in rock history. Possessed of stunning levels of creativity and talent, the San Francisco group fell victim to a poisonous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,64,65],"tags":[5685,1497],"class_list":["post-29401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rawk","category-reissue","category-review","tag-bob-mosley","tag-moby-grape","cat-62-id","cat-64-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29401"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29401\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29428,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29401\/revisions\/29428"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/bob_mosley.jpg\")
The saga of Moby Grape is one of the saddest in rock history. Possessed of stunning levels of creativity and talent, the San Francisco group fell victim to a poisonous combination of bad judgment and ill-intentioned management. They turned out a near-perfect debut album and then flamed out, creating a succession of flawed releases that \u2013 while well worth hearing \u2013 only hinted at the heights scaled by that debut. Guitarist Skip Spence was the first to burn out, and his story is comparatively well-known. But Moby Grape was stuffed to the gills with talented members \u2013 all could write, sing lead, etc. \u2013 and bassist Bob Mosley wrote and sang some fine tunes that would become Moby Grape classics.<\/p>\n