Record Rack

*** Various artists, “More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album,” Birdman. A lost classic by one of rock’s lost souls, Jefferson Airplane/Moby Grape drummer Skip Spence’s “Oar”--written during a 1968 mental hospital stay--walked a fine line between illumination and incoherence. On this tribute and re-creation, artists from Robert Plant to Tom Waits, Beck and Robyn Hitchcock tap into the tragic beauty of Spence’s damaged psyche, often echoing the brittle power of that era. The best insights, though, come in a hidden track by Spence himself (his final recording before his death three months ago), and in project producer Bill Bentley’s highly personal essay explaining his deep attachment to the original.

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