Moby Grape

Moby Grape came together in San Francisco in 1966, a five-piece band with three guitarists and songwriters. Their self-titled debut album arrived the next year, and it had a sharp, compact sound that stood out from the more sprawling psychedelia of the time. Songs like "8-05" and "Omaha" were tight, melodic, and full of energy, earning the record serious critical praise.

Skip Spence, Bob Mosley, and Peter Lewis were the main writers, and the band's music pulled from folk and country as much as rock. They put out two more albums, "Wow/Grape Jam" and "Truly Fine Citizen," before calling it quits in 1970. The group's run was brief and complicated by management problems and Spence's well-documented personal struggles, which led to his early departure.

After the initial breakup, there were occasional reunions in later decades, but Moby Grape's story remains anchored to that first burst of activity in the late 1960s. Their debut album is the thing that kept their name alive, a record that still sounds direct and surprisingly fresh.