A ‘Vintage’ Showcase of Moby Grape’s Vitality

When ‘60s rock band Moby Grape is mentioned these days, it’s likely to be as the subject of a joke--as in the case in a recent episode of the MTV cartoon “Beavis and Butt-head�--or as an example of just how wrong a record company can be in predicting stardom.

Given the band’s unflattering image, it’s a little surprising to find Columbia Records releasing a two-disc CD box set of Moby Grape as part of its Legacy retrospective series.

But an even bigger surprise--at least for anyone who has never heard Moby Grape--is the vitality and strong craftsmanship of the group’s music.

When you listen to the early recordings on “Vintage: The Very Best of Moby Grape,� it’s easy to see why Columbia Records was so excited in the mid-’60s about the group’s chances.

In the 1983 edition of “The New Rolling Stone Record Guide,� the band’s 1967 debut was given the maximum 5-star grade.

“That its debut LP is as fresh and exhilarating today as it was when it exploded out of San Francisco during 1967’s summer of love is testament to the band’s visionary concept of eclectic American music,� critic Billy Altman declared.

“Swirling within (the album) are elements of jazz, country, blues and plain old rave-up rock & roll. Yet all of it is so well integrated into the group’s execution (five members who all sing, write and play brilliantly) that it’s impossible to pigeonhole any of the album’s 13 songs.�

The entire debut album, “Moby Grape,� is included in the 140-minute box set, along with other assorted material, including a dozen previously unavailable tracks.

The spectacular ups and downs of the band--which consisted of Jerry Miller, Bob Mosley, Peter Lewis, Don Stevenson and Skip Spence--are chronicled in a booklet included in the box set.

“They should have been contenders,� Rolling Stone’s David Fricke writes in the excellent liner notes. “They could have been champions. Moby Grape had everything going for them and, for a few brief months in late 1966 and early ‘67, nothing to stop them from becoming the Next Big Thing.�

So what happened?

The band was victimized by a nightmarish list of personal problems as well as what Fricke describes as a “grotesque overselling� of the debut album, including the release of five different singles at once.

Even the music--after that exquisite debut--suffered.

“We were the Next Big Thing,� Peter Lewis says in the liner notes. “We were in the right place, at the right time and we were ready. But we didn’t know what we had until we were through with that first album.

“Being in a band is about hanging out with the guys that you like, and who like you, and who can entertain each other even when you’re not playing gigs. We didn’t have enough of that. Six months after we met, we were rock stars. That was horrible.�