The Moth Confesses is the 1969 debut album by The Neon Philharmonic. Described as "A Phonograph Opera," it was inspired, according to the liner notes, by a production of Samuel Barber's "Antony and Cleopatra", which Saussy attended after "The New York Times" claimed that it was a terrible opera, and wanted to see what a terrible opera looked like, which he surmised was its deliberate attempt to appeal to a one-time audience. In response, he conceived this album as a condensed opera, with a moth-like protagonist, focused on the "literary theme" of desperation. Saussy did not imagine it could be staged like "Tommy", but offered it up as a challenge.
"Brilliant Colors" and "Morning Girl" were both released as singles, while "The New Life Out There" was used to promote the record as a contemporary opera in radio advertisements. "Morning Girl" hit #17 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and was later covered by The Lettermen. Shaun Cassidy covered "Morning Girl, Later" with a few tweaked lyrics (omitting the reference to "Catherine" which complicates the song, implying that the protagonist now has a wife or daughter) and titled it "Morning, Girl." The songs primarily cover the topic of striking out towards a new life when relationships fail for various reasons.
Track listing.
All songs written by Tupper Saussy.
1995 reissue.
The album was reissued by Sundazed Music in 1995 with six bonus tracks. The six extra songs are noted to be more straightforward than the original songs found on the original album. The liner notes for this album were written by Andy Zax, who later compiled and produced Rhino's 2003 Neon Philharmonic anthology " Brilliant Colors: The Complete Warner Brothers Recordings".
2003 reissue.
The album was reissued again in 2003 on "Brilliant Colors: The Complete Warner Brothers Recordings" (Rhino Records in collaboration with Warner Brothers/Seven Arts) in which it is the first eight tracks of Disc 1. The remainder of disc one is "The Neon Philharmonic", while the bonus tracks that appear on the Sundazed edition are moved to the second disc with more songs as well as mono single versions of songs from the albums. The album cover is reproduced in CD size with the original liner notes provided in larger print in the booklet.
"The Last Time I Saw Jacqueline" features excerpts from two Johann Sebastian Bach ariosos, including a different section of the one quoted in The Beatles's "Hey Jude", while "Little Sparrow" is actually about Mickey Newbury's stay in Saussy's family's guest room.
Charts.
USA - Singles
"Morning Girl" was so popular at the time that the reference to Cheerios sparked interest from General Mills to arrange the song for Bobby Bloom as part of a promotion for a premium for a doll called Beautiful Dawn.