Moby Grape

The myth surrounding San Francisco psych legends Moby Grape is largely based on their magnificent debut album and the cult status of their mercurial songwriter Skip Spence. Despite major label support, the bands early singles failed to cause a stir, yet those 10 well-crafted, deeply soulful songs were compiled for the band's brilliant self-titled debut album. The follow-up, WOW, charted but marked the departure of the enigmatic Spence; his ethereal composition "Seeing" was one of the highlights of the patchy MOBY GRAPE '69. Despite legal struggles over name rights, the band continued to record and tour in various lackluster reunion formations (though never with Spence) and under hybridized names into the 1980s. Spence died of lung cancer in 1999.