The '60s and '70s and Some of the Best Rock

Hey Everyone!

Happy FRIDAY! I hope that the week has been going well!

This past Wednesday marked my first Rock Show of the quarter at WNUR as I DJ'd with my awesome co, Laura Ruch. I am always amazed by the amount of new music that there is to hear! (Not that it's even necessarily new as in current, but my ears are virgin to it!) This past Wednesday during our slot, Laura pulled some awesome tracks from Love and Moby Grape, two bands who are quickly becoming new favorites.

Love was an awesome psych/garage/folk rock group somewhat reminiscent of The Beatles that actually did a lot better overseas in the UK than it did in its home country of America. I spent all morning listening to their most well-known 1967 album, Forever Changes, which included their most popular single, "Alone Again Or". After doing a bit of research, I found out about some of the difficulties that the band faced in recording the album, where they basically had only 64 hours to record the majority of it, after a switch from session musicians to band members was made.

I am excited to keep on exploring Love, along with Moby Grape, of course, another band of the late '60s and early '70s. (Basically, I am a sucker for most music that was produced around this time period--I wish I was 18 in the Summer of Love). The biggest difference that I noticed between Love and Moby Grape off the bat was the length of the tracks. Moby Grape is a bit more upbeat, overall, with most tracks running about 2 minutes. One of their most famous tracks, "Omaha" clocks in at 2:22 and encapsulates the fun flavor of the '60s band. What I do find interesting in comparing these two bands is their use of several guitars and lush instrumentation to make the music incredibly interesting and infectious, but seemingly simple and catchy at the same time. Moby Grape was compared often to Buffalo Springfield as was Love and, indeed the smooth but interesting sound persists across the two bands and many others of the time period. (Interestingly enough, Neil Young was originally supposed to co-produce Forever Changes along with Bruce Botnick, but he had to drop off the project because of work with Buffalo Springfield.)

Regardless, I feel that I've only skimmed the surface of what these bands have to offer as contemporaries of The Byrds, The Doors, The Beatles, The Association and other more well-known bands from that era. I never can get enough.

Peace.Love.Music

Kara Ali