Skip spence

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All are paying tribute to a man whose last meaningful music was made 30 years ago but whose legacy still burns bright. For the past three decades the man in question has been in declining physical and mental health, living on the streets or in care. Now things have deteriorated further. The doctors have also diagnosed lung cancer. His son Omar arrives with a promo pressing of More Oar , the aforementioned benefit album, and plays it at his bedside. Despite his condition, Skip manages a weary smile.

Skip spence

It was recorded over seven days in December in Nashville, and features Spence on all of the instruments. Described as "one of the most harrowing documents of pain and confusion ever made", [6] the album was recorded after Spence had spent six months in Bellevue Hospital. Spence had been committed to Bellevue following a delusion-driven attempt to attack Moby Grape bandmates Don Stevenson and Jerry Miller with a fire axe. At the time of Spence's release from hospital, he had written a number of songs that he wanted to record. Producer David Rubinson suggested that Spence record at the Columbia studios in Nashville, where there was a particularly patient recording engineer, Mike Figlio. Rubinson instructed Figlio to keep the tapes running at all times, to record everything that Spence did. The majority of the tracks were recorded using a three-track recorder. Rubinson chose to stay away from the studio, concerned that Spence's recording activities would be distracted by the presence of a producer. According to Spence, the Nashville sessions were intended by him to only be a demo, which he gave to Rubinson with the intent that the songs would be fleshed out with full production for the actual album. Instead, Rubinson had the demo recordings released by Columbia. When first released, Oar was not promoted by Columbia Records, despite pleadings from Rubinson. It was at the time the lowest-selling album in Columbia Records history and was deleted from the Columbia catalogue within a year of its release. Oddly, it also signalled the beginning of his most prolific writing cycle. Unbeknownst to everyone involved with his career at that point, Bellevue provided Spence the safety he needed and the time to create what was to become his best-known work. Combining the ramblings of a man on the brink of mental collapse with some real moments of flippancy and laughter, Oar is a genuinely strange record.

The result, a strange spoken-word piece called Land Of The Sunwas deemed too weird for inclusion.

Skip Spence, who has died of lung cancer aged 52, played a seminal role in the San Francisco psychedelic rock scene of the late s as a member of two of its most influential bands, Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape. He also became its most notorious acid casualty, spending the last 30 years in and out of mental hospitals. Spence was always weird. At the age of 11, he rang up Little Richard to complain about him deserting rock 'n' roll for religion. Weird things happened to him. Born in Windsor, Ontario, he was a singer-guitarist on the mids San Francisco coffee-house circuit and an electric guitarist with an embryonic Quicksilver Messenger Service. He was invited to join Jefferson Airplane on drums because, according to the leader, Marty Balin, 'he looks like a drummer'.

By Matthew Greenwald. Spence, who would have turned fifty-three on Sunday, died at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, where he had been fighting a number of ailments. Spence was checked into a Northern California hospital with pneumonia on April 5th, and his condition quickly worsened. In an odd twist of fate, Birdman Records was just getting ready to release More Oar, a tribute album with performances by Robert Plant, Beck, Tom Waits and others, in a few weeks. Spence, a uniquely talented musician and songwriter, had suffered from mental illness for the last thirty years. Spence began his musical career in as the original drummer for Jefferson Airplane.

Skip spence

There are a number of musicians whose names could come to mind when talking about Jefferson Airplane, its lighter, softer spin-off, Jefferson Starship , and that group's own spin-off band, Starship. Most notably, Grace Slick sang female lead vocals for all three bands. And while originally not part of the second group, Airplane's lead male vocalist, Marty Balin, joined Jefferson Starship soon after they formed , reprising his old role. But while the voices behind those acts are arguably the most recognizable, not much is said about their drummers.

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April 16, aged 52 Santa Cruz, California , U. Sign Up to Last. The majority of the tracks were recorded using a three-track recorder. Columbia , Nashville. Sunday 21 January Moby Grape. I guess there was a line that he crossed and he could never get back. Skip had demons, like we all do, but he was really more at the mercy of them than most people. Contents move to sidebar hide. Tuesday 5 December Louder Sound.

It was recorded over seven days in December in Nashville, and features Spence on all of the instruments. Described as "one of the most harrowing documents of pain and confusion ever made", [6] the album was recorded after Spence had spent six months in Bellevue Hospital.

Sunday 4 February Fine Wine Oar The Ducks. Oar is laced with puns, wordplay and alliterative tics. Whatever the truth, when Moby Grape attempted to reunite five years later, Spence had deteriorated badly. At this final show, Spence led the group through a rendition of "Sailing" a song performed during the reunion run and an impromptu performance of "J. Friday 17 November Archived from the original on 19 December Spence's lone solo disc, Oar , is a quickly recorded document of songs he penned during a 6-month stay at Bellevue Hospital. Virgin Books. And so he kind of flew off with those people. Moby Grape. Spence was always weird.