Any fans? I'm still not sure what to think of him; I just can't get into Oar. People talk about Syd Barrett's solo work being hard on the ears, but Syd's music is, as far as I'm concerned, far more accessible than Skip's. Aside from the wonderful "Little Hands," I've yet to embrace Oar. I've seen it highly praised many times, and I feel like I must be missing something here. What do you think of the former Moby Graper?
I can't believe that there's people who proclaim him to be the American version of Syd. I don't find Oar to be very good at all.
I Like Moby Grape's first 3 albums, but I have yet to acquire Oar. I hope it's not as bad as you guys say that it is. Moby Grape's first is an amazing album though, a great listen on the road.
Most reviews I've read say Oar is better than all the Grape albums except for their debut, but I dont agree and neither does anyone else I've talked about it with.. The Grape had 3 or 4 albums that were better than Oar. 20 Granite Creek = one of the most underrated and best West Coast psychedelic rock albums of all-time.
By an incredible co-incidence-I am currently listening to a 'Skip Spence' c.d. I've downloaded: 'War In Peace' as potentially my computer theme tune?!!.I could be completely wrong but wasn't he an original member of:'The Jefferson Airplane'?.
No, he was in fact their original drummer!!!!! He wasn't a drummer at all, but Marty Balin taunted the hell out of him with 'You Look Like A Drummer', so Skip tried playing drums and "got it in 2 weeks" as Marty Balin has said. If you listen to the drumming on the Takes Off album, which is the one that he plays on, the drumming is quite superb, for someone who learned it as quickly as Spence. Which is that kind of thing that inspired Spence to do all of the instruments on Oar. Everything on that album is him. Syd Barrett needed other members of Pink Floyd and The Soft Machine just to get him through the door for his 2 solo albums, and besides vocals, only contributed sparse rhythm guitar parts.
Jerry Peloquin was the orginal Jefferson Airplane drummer.Skip was on the first album(JA Takes Off),and I think Surrealistic Pillow.
skip spence is overrated?? more like moby grape is overrated. seriously, that band is nothing special.
Thankyou for all the info about Skip Spence.I like the bit that he pick up the drumming for T-J-A in two weeks!. Underated or Overated: I'm discovering his music for the first time & I really dig his musical style.I'm mooded to listen to this type of music,nowdays.It seems 100% psychedelic.I know that sounds corny!.
Oar is a superb album, IMO. I think it's far superior -- musically and lyrically -- to Syd Barrett's solo work (whose work I believe to be overrated and sloppy). I like how unpretentious and to the heart it is. 'Broken Heart' is probably my favorite track on the album. There are maybe three songs on the album I don't care for. I think Moby Great was an excellent band as well. They produced some great songs with really nice harmonies and unrestrained energy that you can really feel, without resorting to the cliches present in popular music at the time. Like any great, somewhat abstract album, Oar takes repeated listens in order to be fully appreciated. Don't expect to be enamored with it after listening to it only once.
Your right about Barrett being sloppy, but he's definitely not overrated. His writing was pretty cerebral stuff, but unfortunately he was burned out on acid, so it kinda restricted his ability. Imagine how Pink Floyd would've turned out if Syd never became the huge acid head guy that he's known for. They would've probably broken up in a few years, and never had a hit song, and their albums (however they would've turned out) wouldn't have been reissued on CD probably until now. So I say thank Syd for doing LSD.
