Review: Peter Lewis and Eilen Jewell, 2 Moby Grape founders, make vital new music

“Imagination” by Peter Lewis (OMAD Records) and "Get Behind the Wheel” by Eilen Jewell (Signature Sounds)

These albums are far out and groovy, in that they carry strains of Moby Grape, a rock band that had its 15 minutes of fame in 1967 amid San Francisco’s Summer of Love.

Bad decisions, bad habits and bad luck made the Grape’s purple reign brief. But the quintet did release one classic album, and decades later, two founding members have created vital new music.

Peter Lewis, now 77, had the most elegant voice in a band with four fine singers, and on “Imagination” his gentle tenor turns back the clock. It’s frayed but arresting, and his flair for melody remains intact.

Great guitar work filled Moby Grape songs, thanks in large part to Jerry Miller, who remains in top form at 79 as he handles lead parts on singer-songwriter Eilen Jewell’s absorbing album “Get Behind the Wheel.” Jewell and co-producer Will Kimbrough wisely give Miller plenty of room to shine, and he explores the wide range of styles that made Moby Grape a marvel.

Miller’s solos shimmer, chime, slash and burn. He plays twangy tag with Fats Kaplin’s pedal steel on three songs, and teams with Kimbrough to create a celebratory twin-guitar squall on “Alive.” The accompaniment elevates Jewell’s engaging, slightly psychedelic tunes about love at high volume and the cycle of life, along with covers of Van Morrison (“Could You Would You”) and Jackie DeShannon (“Breakaway”).

Lewis’ set is equally diverse as he ponders the meaning of life and beer shampoo. “Just Like Sunshine” benefits from his inventive guitar, and “If I Just Had You” features Dion-esque doo-wop vocals. The trippy “Frank Zappa’s Ghost” and stacked harmonies of “La Mujer” echo Lewis’ former band, as does the bluesy benediction “Saying Goodbye.”

“We’ve got to love each other,” Lewis sings, “while we still can.” Time is relentless, but for a moment it sounds like 1967.

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