The Moon -

The Moon was an American psych-rock band that released two albums on Imperial Records: Without Earth (1968) and The Moon (1970).

Members: Matthew Moore (guitar, keyboards), Larry Brown (drums, keyboards), David Marks (vocals, guitar), Drew Bennett (bass, 1967-68), David Jackson (bass, 1969)

Background

The Moon formed in Los Angeles in 1967 around songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Matthew Moore, the veteran of four singles, two released as Mathew Moore Plus Four. His brother, producer Daniel Moore, secured them financial backing and studio access via Mike Curb of Sidewalk Productions.

Drummer–keyboardist Larry Brown, a session player with The Bel-Aires and Davie Allan & the Arrows, joined via Curb. Brown brought engineering skills and introduced bassist Drew Bennett. Guitarist–vocalist David Marks, formerly of The Beach Boys, joined after meeting Moore around the L.A. scene.

The quartet spent long hours at Hollywood’s Continental Studio, recording with precision despite limited three-track equipment. All under 21, they built layered mixes through careful track combining and dense vocal harmonies by Moore, Marks, and Bennett. Strings and horns were arranged by Robert Klimes and Dave Roberts. Sessions, though intense, were occasionally broken by light-hearted distractions like toy dart gun fights.

Without Earth

The Moon released their debut album, Without Earth, in April 1968 on Imperial.

Matthew Moore wrote everything apart from two track (“Brother Lou’s Love Colony,” “She’s on My Mind”) submitted by Jack Dalton and Gary Montgomery, the team behind fellow LA psychsters Colours.

Without Earth presents a tightly constructed set of psych-pop songs built on layered vocal arrangements and short-form structures. Moore, Marks, and Bennett interlace overdubbed harmonies into compact, interlocking patterns, while select tracks feature string and horn charts by Robert Klimes. The arrangements move between clipped, brisk pacing and more suspended, atmospheric passages.

A1. “Mothers and Fathers” (2:04) – Tightly wound vocal lines and clipped phrasing drive this opener, built around rising harmonic motion and a clipped, English-accented cadence.
A2. “Pleasure” (3:19) – Swells of orchestration wrap Moore’s vocal in slow, reverb-drenched arcs. The pace drifts, with vocal harmonies suspended over string clusters.
A3. “I Should Be Dreaming” (2:34) – Saturated with effects—backward tape, sitar, panned echoes—this Lennon-style ballad unspools in delayed phrases and blurred instrumental texture.
A4. “Brother Lou’s Love Colony” (4:59) – Layers electric sitar figures into a steady rhythm, with ornate guitar filigree underscoring its soft-pop contours.
A5. “Got to Be on My Way” (2:01) – David Marks leads with clipped, distorted guitar runs; Moore follows with rapid vocal lines. Brown’s drum sound is tight and forward.
A6. “Someday Girl” (2:41) – Built on descending string figures and symmetrical vocal phrasing, this midtempo track was issued as the album’s lone single.

B1. “Papers” (1:00) – Opens with ambient sounds before cutting abruptly. Fragmented, unresolved.
B2. “Faces” (2:04) – Carries over the prior track’s tone, moving into multipart vocals and concise instrumental lines that shift quickly across harmonic steps.
B3. “Never Mind” (1:48) – A short-form standout. Moore’s jangling guitar work cuts across clipped phrases, delivered in quick succession with a focused rhythmic pace.
B4. “Give Me More” (2:45) – Harpsichord textures under Brown’s keyboard lead; slower-paced, with ornamental phrasing and soft vocal layers.
B5. “She’s on My Mind” (2:24) – High-register horn runs from Dave Roberts interlace with featherlight vocal parts.
B6. “Walking Around” (1:52) – Opens with oscillating tones that reappear mid-track; forward-moving pace, framed by soft percussive taps and pulsing bass.

Sessions occurred at Continental Studio with Larry Brown, whose production emphasizes spatial separation and detail despite the album’s three-track limitations.

Liberty lifted “Someday Girl” as a single backed with “Mothers and Fathers.”

The Moon (second album)

The Moon released their self-titled second album in February 1970 on Imperial.

The album replaces the earlier psychedelic layers with sharper outlines and leaner instrumentation. Moore remains the primary songwriter and arranger, joined by returning members David Marks and Brown, with new bassist David Jackson replacing Drew Bennett.

Quirky lyrical subjects continue across compact forms: reincarnation, time travel, robotics. Vocals remain tightly stacked, but the mix feels less saturated. Horn and string arrangements—by Dave Roberts and Robert Klimes, respectively—punctuate select tracks, providing orchestral color without overwhelming the sparse rhythm section. The album’s pacing alternates between clipped, piano-driven pop and brief bursts of fuzz guitar or baroque detail.

A1. “Pirate” (2:56) – barrelhouse piano and faux-English phrasing frame Moore’s tale of romantic reincarnation, underscored by tight harmonies.
A2. “Lebanon” (1:43) – short ballad with high-register vocal and soft vocal layering; Klimes’s string chart adds ambient warmth.
A3. “Transporting Machine” (1:37) – jarring drum intro and fuzz guitar support lyrics about time travel; brass section adds a clipped, staccato rhythm.
A4. “Mary Jane” (2:10) – lone non-Moore track, wrapped in a baroque arrangement by Klimes with wide stereo separation.
A5. “Softly” (2:56) – shifting time signatures and layered horns obscure a coherent structure; dense, uneven pacing.
A6. “Not to Know” (2:40) – Rhodes-like ballad with a contoured string backdrop and vocal phrasing shaped by English inflection.

B1. “The Good Side” (2:55) – blues-informed structure with restrained instrumentation; vocals lack tonal variation.
B2. “Life Is a Season” (2:19) – brief and underdeveloped; subdued rhythm and static pacing.
B3. “John Automation” (2:15) – distorted guitar leads and compressed harmonies drive this compact rocker about a robot.
B4. “Come Out Tonight” (2:45) – piano-centered pop with earnest vocal tone and refined chord transitions.
B5. “Mr. Duffy” (2:52) – dense arrangement with multitracked parts and clipped rhythmic turns; co-written with Brown.

Matthew Moore co-produced the album with engineer Larry Brown, who arranged the brass tracks.

The cover, illustrated by Sapphire Thinkers artist Kevin Leveque, contains a panel-by-panel backside cartoon in the form of a coiled pipe.

Postlude

The Moon folded soon after their second album. Matthew Moore resumed solo work and later penned material for Joe Cocker. David Marks reconnected with the Beach Boys’ circle, while Larry Brown joined Gunhill Road and continued working as a studio engineer in Los Angeles.

Discography: