Buskin’ in the Subway – the new indie album from legendary Moby Grape co-founder Don Stevenson – will be available in the U.S., on amazon.com, as of January 18th. (Check out our review here.) It was released in Germany – 0n the Sireena label – earlier this month.
The album is Stevenson’s first in almost seven years and former Grape members Jerry Miller and Peter Lewis are present on several tracks.
Check out the press release, below, for more.
DON STEVENSON “Buskin” in the Subway ” CD Order No. SIR 2193
Broken Silence
Brand new solo album of former MOBY GRAPE co-founder!
MOBY GRAPE from San Francisco is beyond any doubt a part of the big West Coast psychedelic scene at of the end sixties and must necessarily be counted with Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and Quicksilver Messenger service. With its radical mix of folk, country, psychedelic, blues, and jazz, they went a huge step further than their peers. The first three albums “Moby Grape” (1967), (1969), “Wow/Grape Jam” (1968) and “Moby Grape ‘ 69” are all masterpieces and belong in every well-stocked collection. Of the five original founders of the band, Jerry Miller(guitar), Bob Mosley (bass), Peter Lewis (guitar) and Don Stevenson (drums) still get together for some events, however, Alexander “Skip” Spence, the enfant terrible of the band, died in 1999. All band members wrote and sang their songs themselves, certainly a further reason for the enormous variety of MOBY GRAPE.
Don Stevenson, in 2011, had already brought out a much-noticed solo album with ” King Of The Fools”. For his current album he teamed up with Dane Clark, 1996-drummer of the John Mellencamp band, who is responsible for the final mix of the album. An illustrious crowd of friendly musicians support Don for this album, including fellow GRAPE band members- Jerry Miller and Peter Lewis. Dane Clark plays drums and Don plays guitar and of course is behind the microphone. It’s clear that “Buskin’ in the Subway” has become a huge album. All the ingredients and diverse musical styles of the original MOBY GRAPE serve Don Stevenson and his fellow players here again. Folk, blues, rock, jazz – everything is back! Actually, it would be a wonderful new GRAPE album. The new version of the title “8:05”, which can be found originally on the debut album by MOBY GRAPE is a great idea. Strongly recommended not only for neo – or old hippies!
The motif on the front cover of this CD was created by nobody other than Helen Hirsch of Filmore East fame. She created many of the Moby Grape posters and album art. Even the artwork is vintage Grape!