The Moth Confesses

The Moth Confesses
Studio album by The Neon Philharmonic
Released	1969
Genre	Psychedelic pop[1]
Length	31:32
Label	Warner Bros./Seven Arts Sundazed Rhino Records
Producer	Don Gant Bob McCluskey Tupper Saussy
The Neon Philharmonic chronology
The Moth Confesses (1969) The Neon Philharmonic (1969)

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Allmusic	Original Release link Sundazed Reissue link

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.^[2]

"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.