Moby Grape-Moby Grape (1967)

Moby Grape had almost everything it took to be one of the greatest bands in history, but despite their intense career, it was also tragically short-lived. Almost everything that could go wrong did, from terrible promotional management by their record label to a wide range of legal problems, shameful treatment by their manager, and creative and personal differences among the band members. In many ways, Moby Grape's story is similar to that of hundreds of other West Coast bands that briefly triumphed and then crashed and burned. They followed in the footsteps of the Rolling Stones' rock and roll, the essence of the Byrds, and the magic of Hendrix. All the major record labels competed to sign them. Often identified with the San Francisco psychedelic scene, their specialty was actually combining all kinds of roots music, from folk and blues to country, classic rock and roll, and elaborate, multi-layered triple-guitar arrangements. But their self-titled debut album was their only moment of unconditional success. An explosive album with a series of brilliant songs that perfectly illustrated the San Francisco flower power sound. However, among many other misfortunes, the record label had the "brilliant" idea of ​​releasing five singles from the album simultaneously, which hindered wider distribution. But despite these unfortunate circumstances, Moby Grape's debut remains highly respected as one of the best albums of the psychedelic era.