Released

An early member of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape, Alexander ‘Skip’ Spence was one of the most mercurial presences in a West Coast psychedelic music scene that wasn’t exactly short on them. After two albums with the Grape, drug-induced psychosis sent Spence to Bellevue Hospital; on leaving, he drove a motorcycle down to Nashville to make Oar. It’s easy to see these lonesome, braying songs as singing out of hard times, and sure, there’s an element of that, but Spence’s material is too eloquent and rich in wisdom to be mere damaged psychedelic reverie. “Little Hands” and “War In Peace” are whispers of high-flying visions; “Cripple Creek” and “Weighted Down” are deep, dank blues numbers; the lengthy “Grey/Afro” is a thread of circular logic, slowly unspooling. It’s one man’s account of a world placed into question.

Jon Dale

Suggestions
2 cover

2

Carcáscara
Grievous Angel cover

Grievous Angel

Gram Parsons
Kiss You Kidnapped Charabanc cover

Kiss You Kidnapped Charabanc

Nikki Sudden, Rowland S. Howard
Excitable Boy cover

Excitable Boy

Warren Zevon
Michigan cover

Michigan

Sufjan Stevens
Picaresque cover

Picaresque

The Decemberists
Surfacing cover

Surfacing

Sarah McLachlan
Unhalfbricking cover

Unhalfbricking

Fairport Convention