Wow – MOBY GRAPE****

The Place & The Time/Murder In My Heart For The Judge/Bitter Wind/Can’t Be So Bad/Just Like Gene Autry: A Foxtrot/He/Motorcycle Irene/Three Four/Funky Tunk/Rose Coloured Eyes/Miller’s Blues/Naked If I Want To

Follow up album from the highly regarded San Francisco rock group Moby Grape. Splits and internal dissension meant that Wow would be their final major hit release. (US:20)

"Wow is the group's second studio album. It is a lot more varied than its predecessor but it also shows that it is a product of it's time. Not many groups could pull off an album that goes from the madrigal-like The Place & The Time to a soulful rocker Murder In My Heart For The Judge, to the sound collage in Bitter Wind, to a shuffle with horns in Can't Be So Bad, to the ode to vaudeville in Like Gene Autry; A Foxtrot, all in the space of one side of an album."

"This record is completely different from the first Moby Grape album. I like it for that reason, actually. Accept it as another aspect of the group. Great tunes and the usual trippy flourishes of studio play that the times exhibited."

"Wow is an entertaining, diverse effort with a number of fine tunes that reflect the group's ability and talent to grow and explore."

"This album is a step in the wrong direction after their stellar, eponymous debut. On this one, Moby Grape were clearly trying to do a little bit of everything. The difference is that on their debut album this worked to their advantage, whereas on this one it becomes a definite liability, mostly because a lot of the ideas are bad and gimmicky."

"Just as good as the debut. Great harmonies, tight playing and arrangements, and great instrumentation throughout. I swear listening to this made me feel like I was transported back to 1968. It's one of those rare albums that does live up to it's title."

"Personally I don't think that Wow is as good as the self titled album as a whole, but if you take it in pieces, it's actually better. Everyone needs to own this album if only to hear Motorcycle Irene, which is one of the greatest songs ever written."

"Ambitious, but clearly an album where the group's reach exceeded its grasp. Nothing really seems completely thought out, and good ideas run out of steam trying to find something new to say."