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Plain and Fancy

Music gives soul to universe, wings to mind, flight to imagination, charm to sadness, and life to everything.

Plato

Sunday, March 25, 2012

The Moon - Without Earth And The Moon (1968-69 us, outstanding orchestrated psychedelia)




The music recorded was an effort to contribute an augmented level of warm, meaningful, and enjoyable listening fare for all of the creatures that hear. The beginnings were mainly generated by the songs being written by Matthew Moore. Matthew's brother, 'Daniel Moore', was an independent record producer in Los Angeles and had produced several singles with Matthew as the artist.

Daniel had arranged a meeting with  'Mike Curb' at Sidewalk Productions, in an effort to find a recording contract, and Mike was very helpful in providing the producer, and engineer, and drummer, and keyboardist: (Larry Brown), and in encouraging Matthew to seek out musicians that would form a group to record his compositions. Larry Brown introduced "Drew" Bennett to the proposed gathering, and Matthew had been running into David Marks around town, so he approached David with the idea of recording a few trial tracks. Within a few weeks the project was under way.

The Studio was to be, "Continental Studio", in Hollywood, and the four young adventurers set up camp and locked the doors. These young men were still not yet 21 years of age. The tremendous technical and organizational task had began. All were single, all were very accomplished musicians, all were ridiculously fearless as to the huge undertaking they had embarked upon. It was agreed upon from the beginning that the fewest possible distractions and interruptions during the recording process must be the rule.

The doors were locked and only food deliveries and an occasional visit from Mike Curb was allowed during the basic track recording phase. Sleeping, eating and playing music....that was all. The quest for perfection was the standard, many re-takes, many 'start all overs', and many heated discussions concerning choices of parts to be played or parts, not to be played. Matthew: " I remember waking up ..having slept on the floor near the piano. A dim light was on in the booth, so I tried to walk to the door out of the studio.

 I kept stepping on boxes and kicking over cans and bottles but I made my way to the light panel to bring up the light in the room. I couldn't believe the amount of clutter and trash we had accumulated. We had to take a day off to allow the janitors to come in and clean. I still can recall the 'Warnings' we invoked,  to "be careful and not move any wires or mikes or touch any set up instruments". We had to go out into the world for a day and entertain ourselves. Dave and I went to a $.50 triple feature western movie downtown and watched the winos sleep. A few days later we resumed our quest.

No one knows for sure, how many hours or days or weeks or months it took to finish the first album, (Without Earth)  but we do remember the final moment when we all looked at each other and nodded in agreement that it was finished. The second Album (The Moon), was actually time logged by Larry Brown. He said It took 470 hours, from start to finish. The first one took much more time.


Tracks
1. Mothers and Fathers - 2:06
2. Pleasure - 3:19
3. I Should Be Dreaming - 2:33
4. Brother Lou's Love Colony (Dalton, Montgomery) - 3:57
5. Got to Be on My Way - 2:00
6. Someday Girl - 2:42
7. Papers - 0:59
8. Faces - 2:06
9. Never Mind - 1:51
10.Give Me More - 2:48
11.She's on My Mind (Dalton, Montgomery) - 2:21
12.Walking Around - 1:56
13.Pirate - 2:55
14.Lebanon (Moore, Moris) - 1:45
15.Transporting Machine - 1:40
16.Mary Jane (Klimes, Whitcraft) - 2:16
17.Softly - 3:01
18.Not to Know - 2:42
19.The Good Side - 2:59
20.Life Is a Season - 2:22
21.John Automation - 2:17
22.Come Out Tonight - 2:47
23.Mr. Duffy (Brown, Moore) - 2:56
24.Pirate (Mono 45 Mix) - 2:38
25.Not to Know (Mono 45 Mix) - 2:41
26.Face in the Crowd - 2:05
27.White Silk Glove (Clifford) - 2:15
28.Come On - 2:58
All compositions by Matthew Moore unless else stated.

Musicians
*Matthew Moore - Piano, Vocals, Guitars
*David Marks - Guitars, Background Vocals
*Larry Brown - Drums
*Dave Jackson  - Bass
*Joe Foster - Synthesizer
*Nick Robbins - Synthesizer
*Bob Klimes - String Arrangements
*Dave Roberts - Horn Arrangements

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14 comments:

  1. Oh my, it's Flac!!! Got to get rid of my mp3 files of this album. This is the ultimate site for audiophiles.
    Many, many thanks Marios!

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  2. Thank-you Marios! I'm listening to this right now. I particularly enjoyed track 9 "Never Mind."

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  3. From early morning on a warm sunny day comes along with two fantastic albums on one CD enriched with momo version....originally released on the label Imperial - Without Earth (1968) Imperial LP-12381 &The Moon (1969)Imperial LP-12444

    "The Moon is causing a high tide of admiration from pop music fans across the United States. "Without Earth," The Moon's first Imperial records LP, is causing this wave of acceptance and has promoted critics to heap praise on this versatile and talented group. The Moon was formed in Los Angeles in the summer of 1967 and is composed of Matthew Moore, Drew Bennett, Larry Brown and David Marks. The group is unique in that it is completely self contained. Members 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."

    Marios , if I remember, some time ago placed it on PHROCK ... thanks for the reminder of those brilliant albums your site! ...

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  4. Thank you for this great share. I've read great things about Moon, but have never had the opportunity to hear their music ... until now. Thank you again! By chance do you have Cryan Shames - Synthesis to share?

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  5. Marios, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for Synthesis in flac.

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  6. Many thanks for this post, Marios!

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  7. Hello Marios, I came across your blog because my brother bought me the second album from The Moon on vinyl and I wanted to get a copy I could also play on my iPod. But, I can't seem to find the link to get the mp3s- I'm probably just overlooking the link, but could you please point me in the right direction? Thanks.

    ~Jim

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  8. Thanks, Marios- got your message on my website. Really appreciate it!

    ~Jim

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  9. Anonymous, The Moon rises again.....

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. mayblitz, "The Moon - Without Earth And The Moon" links replaced but you have to d/load both parts again.

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  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  13. excellent songs, thank you very much Mr. Duffy.

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