Moloch - Moloch (1969/2017) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/192kHz]

Moloch was comprised of singer Gene Wilkins, guitarist Lee Baker, bassist Steve Spear, keyboardist Fred Nicholson, and drummer Phillip Durham. The band was a popular mainstay of the late ‘60s Memphis rock scene, their sound a high-octane blend of blues, rock, and soul filtered through psychedelic influences. The band’s lone album was produced by Memphis roots ‘n’ blues legend Don Nix, who wrote most of the material including his song “Going Down,” which would later become a blues-rock standard covered by artists like Freddie King, Gov’t Mule, and Stevie Ray Vaughan, among others – but Moloch put their stank on it first.

Moloch’s 1969 album is a bit of an anomaly for Stax, tucked in between releases by stone cold soul artists like Isaac Hayes and Sam & Dave. It was an important release, however, as influential on the development of the stateside blues-rock scene as Eric Clapton and Cream’s first album was on British blues. The band’s late guitarist, Lee Baker, was an underrated but imaginative player whose influence would spark the creative muse of a younger generation of Memphis pickers, including Luther Dickinson of the North Mississippi Allstars and Steve Selvidge of the Hold Steady. Produced by Don Nix (widely credited as a key architect of the "Memphis Sound"), this hard-hitting collection of bluesy Acid Rock first appeared on Stax subsidiary Enterprise in 1970. Featuring the outstanding guitar playing of the late Lee Baker (later to play with Alex Chilton) and the original version of "Going Down" (covered by Freddie King, Jeff Beck, JJ Cale and others), the album makes its album debut here, complete with two rare bonus tracks, and is an essential purchase for all fans of blues-influenced rock and roll. Fallout.