The Moon
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 (1967-68) - Andy 'Drew' Bennett -- bass - Larry Brown -- drums, percussion, keyboards - David Marks -- vocals, rhythm guitar - Matthew Moore -- guitar, keyboards
line up 2 (1968-69) - Larry Brown -- drums, percussion, keyboards NEW - David P. Jackson -- bass (replaced Drew Bennett) - David Marks -- vocals, guitar - Matthew Moore -- guitar, keyboards
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- Davie Allan & the Arrows (Larry Brown) - The Alpha Band (David P. Jackson) - The Band without a Name (David Marks) - The Bel-Aires (Larry Brown) - The Beach Boys (David Marks) - Colours (David Jackson) - Country Coalition (David Jackson) - Mike Curb and Larry Brown - Dave and the Marksmen (David Marks) - Dillard and Clark (David P. Jackson) - The Good Time Singers (David P. Jackson) - Gunhill Road (Larry Brown) - Hearts and Flowers (David P. Jackson) - David Marks (solo efforts) - Matthew Moore (solo efforts) - Matthew Moore Plus Four (Larry Brown and Matthew Moore) - The Plymouth Rockers (Matthew Moore) - Rachel & the Reindeerz (David Marks) - Jerry Styner and Larry Brown
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Genre: pop Rating: 4 stars **** Title: Without Earth Company: Imperial Catalog: LP-12381 Country/State: US Grade (cover/record): VG+/ VG+ Comments: -- Available: 1 Catalog ID: 5852 Price: $140.00
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The Moon is one of those mid-1960s Southern California bands that gets widespread praise, but for some strange reason seems to consistently get lost when it comes to people's list of favorites. For what it is worth, their debut album effortlessly makes my favorites list.
Formed in 1967, the band had quite a talented line up with three of the four members having already recorded material. The lone exception to that statement was bass player Andy Bennett.
Moore was apparently the project's front man. Working with his brother/producer Daniel Moore, efforts to score a recording contract saw them find an early supporter in Mike Curb. Curb introduced Moore to drummer/keyboard player Brown, who brought in bassist Bennett. Separately Moore recruited Marks who he'd run into several times. Curb agreed to finance an album and the four band members literally locked themselves into Hollywood's Continental Studios, save for food deliveries and a couple of days off in order to let cleaning crews clear the trash from the recording spaces.
My copy of the LP came with some Imperial promotional material, including a band photo and a brief band history which I'll go ahead and quote for it's entertainment factor rather any bibliographical value:
Produced by Brown, 1968's "Without Earth" fell a little short in terms of originality, but the band deserved credit for having good taste when it came to their influences - a dash of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, a touch of The Bee Gees and a big heaping of mid-1960s Beatles. Largely penned by Moore, it all came together in a wonderful mix of acid drenched pop-sike. Virtually every one of these twelve songs had a catchy melody, lovely harmony vocals and interesting studio effects (thanks to producer Brown). Among the highlights, complete with dreamy Lennon-esque vocals, sitar, backward guitars and taped effects 'I Should Be Dreaming' served as a tutorial for how to write a mid-'60s pop-psych song. A near perfect slice of pop-psych, 'Never Mind' blended George Harrison-styled guitar with a Michael Nesmith-styled melody. Adding the aural icing to the cake was high school music teacher Robert Klimes' orchestral arrangements. While such arrangements have a tendency to bury bands, that wasn't the case here. Any creative shortcomings were made up by the band's sense of enthusiasm, the set's commercial orientation and the general sense of fun found on tracks like 'Mothers and Fathers' and the single 'Someday Girl.' Add to that Moore had a voice that was perfectly suited for the genre (his performances frequently reminded me of Emmit Rhodes). It wasn't a perfect debut ('Give Me More' was a pedestrian ballad), but remains one of my favorite mid-1960s American pop-sike albums. Yes, the band members have admitted they were ingesting various illicit substances while recording the album. Well worth tracking down, even more so given you can still find affordable copies. Oh, I also love the John Luke Eastman cover art.
"Without
Earth" track listing:
1.) Mothers and Fathers (Matthew Moore) - 2:04 rating: **** stars 'Mothers and Fathers' started the album off with a great slice of English influenced psychedelic-pop. Showcasing an ear candy melody and wonderful interlocking harmonies, there was at least a little Bee Gees in their influences. To their credit, unlike many California bands these guys actually turned in passable English accents. One of the most commercial tracks on the album with a killer hook that's almost impossible to shake. I've always wondered why it was relegated to being a "B" side on the 'Someday Girl' single. 2.) Pleasure (Matthew Moore) - 3:19 rating: **** stars The heavily orchestrated and lysergic tinged 'Pleasure' made it obvious the band had been listening to more than their share of "Sergeant Pepper" and "Magical Mystery Tour". With it's sweet harmony vocals and heavy trance-ish orchestration, the song was a nice nod to The Fab Four. I'd also argue it's one of the album's standout performances and the perfect candidate for a television program or movie that needs to capture that Summer-of-Love '60s vibe. Darn, you seldom hear harmony vocals as sweet as these guys. 3.) I Should Be Dreaming (Matthew Moore) - 2:34 rating: **** stars Reaching back to The Beatles catalog for inspiration 'I Should Be Dreaming' borrowed dreamy Lennon-esque vocals, sitar, backward guitars, and taped effects to come up with another attractive lysergic ballad. Fantastic song to listen to on quality headphones, or through top flight speakers. They had to be tripping while recording this one !!! 4.) Brother Lou's Love Colony (Jack Dalton - Gary Montgomery) - 4:59 rating: **** stars One of two tracks penned by Colours' Jack Dalton and Gary Montgomery, 'Brother Lou's Love Colony' melded Coral electric sitar (including a solo that would have made George Harrison proud), with a nice pop melody. A classic slice of sunshine pop that deserved to have been a hit. It's also a great pug for checking out The Colours catalog. Always wondered who/what inspired the song. Who was Brother Lou? I'm sure someone out there has the answer. 5.) Got To Be On My Way (Dan Moore) - 2:01 rating: **** stars Opening up with a searing Clapton-esque guitar solo from Marks, 'Got To Be On My Way' found the band dropping the Beatlesque influences in favor of a straight forward rock attack. Al;ways loved the "big" drum sound they got on Brown's kit. The result was one of the album's highlights. Fantastic track !!! Had Eric Carmen and The Raspberries, or Emmitt Rhodes recorded this one they would have been massive stars. 6.) Someday Girl (Matthew Moore) - 2:41 rating: **** stars Continuing to play it straight, 'Someday Girl' was a glorious pop ballad that was radio ready. Wrapped in a Robert Limes strings, the refrain was catchy as flypaper. The song was tapped as the album's only single and you just had to scratch your head and wonder how the buying public missed this one ...
- 1968's 'Someday Girl' b/w 'Mothers and Fathers' (Imperial catalog number 66285)
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2) Normally songs with sound effects (in this case chirping crickets) don't do a lot for me. 'Papers' started out as one of the album's best compositions, but hit a brick wall after roughly a minute when it sounded like the tape machine died. Shame they didn't finish it. 2.) Faces (Matthew Moore) - 2:04 rating: **** stars 'Papers seamlessly morphed into 'Faces' which was one of the album's most attractive vocal performances. Sounding like something The Association wished they could have written and recorded, the track had a great melody and multi-part vocal arrangement with another hook that you'll be hard pressed to shake. "None of the have faces, None of them had faces like me ..." 3.) Never Mind (Matthew Moore) - 1:48 rating: ***** stars Another highpoint came in the form of 'Never Mind'. Musically this one sounded like a cross between 1965-era Beatles and a Michael Nesmith-penned Monkees tune. Moore's sterling jangle guitar work would have made George Harrison smile. Simply a killer two minutes of pop majesty. Only complaint was I wish it were longer. 4.) Give Me More (Matthew Moore) - 2:45 rating: *** stars With Brown on keyboards, the harpsichord-propelled ballad 'Give Me Moore' was pretty, but kind of fey. A pretty tune, but also the album's weakest performance. Hard to believe these guys were all under 21 when the were recording this. 5.) She's On My Mind (Jack Dalton - Gary Montgomery) - 2:24 rating: ***** stars The second Dalton-Montgomery composition, 'She's On My Mind' sounded like something The Free Design would have recorded. With its intricate group harmonies, it was a very MOR-ish track, but in a cool kind of way. Since I'm a big Free Design fan, it gets high marks from me. Love Dave Roberts' speeded up horn arrangement 6.) Walking Around (Matthew Moore) - 1:52 rating: **** stars Opening with an odd sound effect that reappeared midway through the track (Theramin, oscillator?), 'Walking Around' turned into one of the album's best pop efforts. Another radio-ready slice of top-40 pop.
The band members have a small website devoted to their careers at: HOME (themoonalbums.com)
Brown has a website at: www.larrybrown440.com
Marks has a website at: www.davidleemarks.com
© 06/2024 Scott R. Blackerby
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Genre: pop Rating: 4 stars **** Title: The Moon Company: Imperial Catalog: LP-12444 Country/State: US Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: cut lower left corner Available: 1 Catalog ID: 5853 Price: $60.00
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Interestingly this was one of the first used album I ever bought. I remember shelling out $3.00 for it at a Northern Virginia yard sale and being less than knocked out by the results (of course I was listening to lots of Robin Trower at that point in my life).
The debut album's commercial failure was a major disappoint to the band members. Original bassist Drew Bennett was so hurt by the project's failure, he dropped out of the band. After the remaining band members decidied they would continue on and record a second album, Bennett was quickly replaced by David Jackson. The revamped band subsequently released 1969's "The Moon". Co-produced by drummer Larry Brown and singer/multi-instrumentalist Matthew Moore, musically the set wasn't a major change from the debut. With Moore again writing the majority of the eleven tracks, some of the debut's sense of experimentation was dropped in favor of a relatively stripped down sound. Listening to glistening pop tunes like the Paul McCartney-styled single 'The Pirate', the horn-propelled 'Transporting Machine' and the quirky rocker 'John Automation' you were left with the impression they may have been regrouping in the hopes of coming up with a more radio-friendly attack. One of the things I've always loved about the album were Moore's affinity for quirky subject matter and lyrics. Reincarnated pirates ('Pirates'), tiem travel ('Transporting Machine') and robots ('John Automation') - where else were you going to find all of these topics in one place? By the way, exemplified by the sweet ballad 'Lebanon', 'Mary Jane' and 'Not To Know', they didn't totally walk away from their earlier pop-psych sound. For years I thought the debut was the better of their two albums. Not by a large margin, but I felt "Without Earth" was fresher and more creative. Now I'm not so sure. Having listened to the album dozens of times over the years it has come to impress me at least as much as the debut. Song-for-song It made for another enjoyable slice of mid-1960s American pop-sike. Unfortunately, like the debut, the sophomore LP also failed to sell and the group subsequently called it quits.
For hardcore fans there were actually two versions of the album. Both versions featured the same track listing, but the original Kevin Leveque cover illustration didn't include Paul Slaughter's band photo.
"The Moon" track listing: 1.) Pirate (Matthew Moore) - 2:56 rating: **** stars Yeah the lyrics were goofy (something about a mortal enemy being reincarnated as a beautiful woman), but 'Pirate' was one of the most top-40 commercial things they'd recorded. Featuring one of those bright pop melodies with barrelhouse piano and glistening harmony vocals that Badfinger would effortlessly churn out, it was a great choice for a single, though it did little commercially. Always loved the faux-English accents.
- 1969's 'Pirate' b/w 'Not To Know' (Imperial catalog number 66415) 2.) Lebanon (Matthew Moore - Peter Morse) - 1:43 rating: **** stars Surrounded by an elaborate Robert Klimes string arrangement (Klimes was a high school music teacher at the time), the ballad 'Lebanon' came off as the band's attempt at a big statement (though that plotline was lost on me). Moore's English accented vocal was unusual in that it featured him shifting into a higher register surrounded by some of the band's sweetest harmony vocals. The result was one of their prettiest melodies. Shame the song was so short. 3.) Transporting Machine (Matthew Moore) - 1:37 rating: **** stars The overlooked Larry Brown opened 'Transporting Machine' with some jarring drums which lead into some nice David Marks guitar. Sporting another set of "out there" lyrics - father-in-law created a time machine, the track was surprisingly funky, kicked along by an unexpected soulful horn arrangement. 4.) Mary Jane (Pat Witcraft - Robert Klimes) - 2:10 rating: *** stars Co-written by arranger Robert Klimes, 'Mary Jane' was the lone non-original. Slathered in a neo-Baroque arrangement 'Mary Jane' and pompous for my tastes. Nice stereo separation on the mix. 5.) Softly (Matthew Moore) - 2:56 rating: *** stars The horn powered 'Softly' never seemed to find its footing; the cluttered arrangement bouncing through different time signatures and musical niches. One of Moore's few forgettable efforts. Shame they didn't stick with a streamlined melody line. 6.) Not To Know (Matthew Moore) - 2:40 rating: **** stars Once again featuring a distinctive English feel, the pretty ballad 'Not To Know' has always reminded me of an Emmit Rhodes-meets-Badfinger track. Cloaked in another interesting Klimes string arrangement, the song featured a sweet melody and one of Moore's nicest vocals.
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2) 'The Good Side' opened side two with what qualified as a stab at a bluesy number. Give them credit for being willing to try something outside of their normal creative bounds, but clearly blues weren't their strength. 2.) Life Is a Season (Matthew Moore) - 2:19 rating: ** stars 'Life Is a Season' was a bland pop number that simply never ignited. 3.) John Automation (Matthew Moore) - 2:15 rating: **** stars Propelled by some nice Marks fuzz guitar and the band's harmony vocals, 'John Automation' was an out-and-out rocker. Moore's penchant for quirky lyrics made it an interesting choice for a single and perhaps helping explain why it didn't sell.
- 1968's 'John Automation' b/w 'Faces' (Imperial catalog number 66330)
4.) Come Out Tonight (Matthew Moore) - 2:45 rating: **** stars The piano dominated 'Come Out Tonight' could have been a "Ram"-era Paul McCartney outtake. Very commercial, but some folks will find it's sincerity cloying. I love "Ram" so this one appeals to me. 5.) Mr. Duffy (Matthew Moore - Larry Brown) - 2:52 rating: **** stars With its intricate Beatlesque arrangement 'Mr. Duffy' was the song that most recalled the debut LP. Again, it'll be too cute for some folks, but I love this kind of stuff.
© 06/2024 Scott R. Blackerby
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BACK TO BADCAT PAYMENT INFORMATION
s of the group play all the
instruments, write all the tunes, and produce and engineer all of their
recording sessions. Larry Brown, drummer of the group, in addition to
being a musician is a recording engineer. he was born and educated
near Hollywood and has been involved in the music industry for five
years. His first job was playing piano at private parties. Drew
Bennett, bass, has a varied entertainment background. He has worked in
television and movies as an extra and has toured with several pop
groups. Bennett, a Los Angeles native, has been recording and writing
tunes for five years. In his pare time he is learning the art of
karate. Guitarist David Marks also brought a vast amount of pop music
experience to The Moon. He has recorded and traveled with groups for
more than five years. marks is a native of Lake Erie, Pa.
Rounding out The Moon is lead vocalist and multi-talented musician, Matthew
Moore. Moore, in addition to his vocals, plays nearly every keyboard
instrument. A native of Oregon, he has been recording for four
years. This is The Moon and it's music will never be eclipsed."
