Moby Grape '69 is the third album by the psychedelic rock band Moby Grape, released on January 30, 1969.
It is the first album after the departure of co-founder Skip Spence. Spence nonetheless is heard on one song, "Seeing", presumably from the Wow/Grape Jam sessions, and positioned as the final song on Moby Grape '69. As Peter Lewis describes the album, "We made Moby Grape '69, in an attempt to rebound from the Wow album, which was over-produced. And it's a cool album. Although we could have rehearsed it a little more, we still believed in it. But I think we were waiting for Skippy to come back, and he never did."[4]
The album peaked at a disappointing number 113 on the Billboard chart.[5] Nevertheless, it is noteworthy as an early endeavor into country rock.[6]
The album was re-released on CD and Vinyl in 2007 by Sundazed, but as with their previous albums, it has been pulled.
^Poco's first album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, was released in May 1969, while the Eagles' self-titled first album was released in June 1972. Moby Grape '69 was also being recorded during similar periods when The Byrds were recording the landmark Sweetheart of the Rodeo album (recorded March to May 1968). The Byrds' album was completed earlier and as a consequence released six months prior to Moby Grape '69. Sweetheart of the Rodeo, now regarded as a groundbreaking masterpiece, was initially met with similarly mixed public reactions to that associated with Moby Grape '69. Sweetheart of the Rodeo's highest U.S. charting was number 77, and it failed to chart at all in the United Kingdom; see Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
