“Moth And The Flame”
by The Sky Saxon Blues Band
1967 song
"Moth And The Flame" appeared on the 1967 LP A Full Spoon Of Seedy Blues, credited to The Sky Saxon Blues Band but in fact a project by otherwise-psychedelic The Seeds. "Moth And The Flame" is one of the best things about the album, and although an obscure track on what is by far The Seeds’ least-revered album it may be the best recorded version of Sky Saxon’s gravelly “teen sneer” voice that exists. “Uh-HUH, uh-HUH, uh-HAW,” he chants over the band’s super-basic instrumentation. Sky usually had a nasally buzz to his voice but "Moth And The Flame" features it in its purest and most glorious form. It’s a wonder, an incandescent buzzsaw of a sound.
Daryl Hooper’s keyboard is busy on "Moth And The Flame", basically soloing for the entire track but merely as support for the rhythm. There is a piercing harmonica which was overdubbed at the same session that produced the song’s one and only take, on September 23, 1966. The mouth-harp player is unknown but may be Sky himself.
