Moby Grape hit the ground running with this joyous ramble of a debut record that would have stood out in any era. "Omaha" is practically an aural blitz on the listener's senses. While nothing else reaches that intensity, it's generally a manic free-for-fall throughout reflecting the spirit of the times, but packed tightly within deftly constructed short songs. The record itself barely runs past 30 minutes; yet, the constant zany energy does wear a bit thin towards the end. Still, a landmark sort of document and probably deserved more attention than it got during its' day.
Now we're in Steppenwolf and even Grand Funk Railroad territory, yet echoes of the original sound remain. Which really makes sense only in the world of Blue Cheer. Some really plain stupid fun songs here, though. "Saturday Freedom", anyone?
Are we sure about that? The record is hijacked – and in some cases redeemed – by ancillary or guest players. The main point is it's a downturn from the first two albums.
As noisy, heavy, and fuzz-thick as the debut record was, the follow-up generally follows that tonal blueprint and branches out into new musical horizons. Well, sort of. Released mere months after the debut, it sounds like not much time was had to come up with new material, but what's here is fairly entertaining, if not as impactful as before. The definite standouts are the covers of "Satisfaction" and "The Hunter".
