Moby Grape
Listen My Friends! The Best of Moby Grape
Columbia/Legacy
By David Chiu
Moby Grape may have never reached the heights of national popularity in contrast to their fellow ‘60s San Francisco peers the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. But that shouldn’t diminish their musical legacy, which has achieved some cult-like notoriety. Listen My Friends! offers an appreciation for the group’s efforts and is a neat introduction for those unfamiliar with this quintet. The sound is definitely rock and roll with some roots, bluesy and power pop influences like on ”Omaha,” “Sweet Ride,” and “Murder in My Heart for the Judge.” While it is definitely AOR, the tuneful songs are compact and relatively short for mainstream consumption—no endless jamming. The music on Listen My Friends! shows that this band can easily match up against any of the bigger name bands of their era.
