I've never really been a big fan of the modern day trend for 'Tribute' albums and personally the only album of this type to really hit the mark for me was the Roky Erickson tribute 'Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye'. Today though I feature a track from another tribute record, 'More Oar A Tribute To The Skip Spence Album' from Birdman Records.
For those of you out there who are completely unaware of Skip Spence and might ask why anyone would want to record a tribute to him, well he was an early member of both the Quicksilver Messenger Service and the Jefferson Airplane. Skip ignited the three-guitar frontline of the great, psychedelic rock band from San Francisco, Moby Grape, whose 1967 self-titled debut is considered by many critics and fans alike to be one of the greatest albums of its era.
While recording the next Moby Grape album in New York (1968's Wow), Spence landed in Bellevue Hospital's prison ward after an incident involving an axe and a bandmate's hotel-room door. Freed six months later and eager to record a collection of songs he'd written in Bellevue, Skip headed for Nashville, where he wrote, played all the instruments on, and produced one last album as a functioning artist -- his so-called masterpiece, Oar. For the next 30 years, he drifted in and out of institutions, a diagnosed schizophrenic who basically disappeared and later died at the age of 52 .
While recording the next Moby Grape album in New York (1968's Wow), Spence landed in Bellevue Hospital's prison ward after an incident involving an axe and a bandmate's hotel-room door. Freed six months later and eager to record a collection of songs he'd written in Bellevue, Skip headed for Nashville, where he wrote, played all the instruments on, and produced one last album as a functioning artist -- his so-called masterpiece, Oar. For the next 30 years, he drifted in and out of institutions, a diagnosed schizophrenic who basically disappeared and later died at the age of 52 .
Jay Farrar ex-Uncle Tupelo & Son Volt along with the Bottle Rockets' Brian Henneman with Dade Farrar sawing away on stand-up bass (aka the Sir Omaha Quintet) sound somewhere near perfect on their version of one of Oar's best songs, 'Weighted Down (The Prison Song)'.
Jay
This is by far the longest track I have ever posted on the NRE so I just lie back and enjoy it !
ALL RECORDINGS ARE FOR YOUR AUDIO PLEASURE ONLY BUT IF YOUR ARE OFFENDED BY THE PUBLISHING OF THIS MATERIAL OR WANT TO REQUEST THE AUDIO SEGMENT REMOVED THEN PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT ON THE RELEVANT POST AND I WILL REMOVE IT.
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