Oar

It's hard to speak about this. I finally caught up with Moby Grape only a few years back, and am now, as they say, a fan. There's a bit preceding the track, 'Someday' on 'The Very Best of Moby Grape' where producer, David Rubinson raps with 'Skip' Spence about being a 'teenage idol.' It is so good natured that you immediately realise that 'Skippy' is much loved. Apparently when he walked into a room he lit it up like a roman candle. Of course he burned, everyone knows that now. The most immediate parallel would be Syd Barratt, but while Syd sometimes sounds lost on his solo records, Alexander Spence is never less than lucid. 'Oar' is not the sound of a man falling apart, it is the sound of a man falling together. It is not always easy listening, and sometimes you have to work to enjoy it. It ain't pop music baby, and it's only 'rock' and 'psyche' in narrow bands. The main thing is his voice, deep and sonorous, occasionally rising like a column of expressed air, one of the greatest voices ever, if you ask me. Heard enough? Read the next review.

A forgotten genius who was the inspiration for a large number of American folk/rock artists, he was a troubled character destined to live hard and die young. Anyone who lived through the sixties will find a lot to enjoy here

Great album if you like a damaged soul. Like an American version of Syd Barrett deeply strange and effecting. See it as a companion piece to Syd's solo work, it feels like it took a lot of support to get something rounded and complete and doesn't quite get there but heyho what can you do with a blown mind, there's something great in there it just takes the right ear to find it

I can't say im "In Love" with many albums that i've heard throughout my life but this is differently one i can.always wanted this on vinyl so chuffed.If you want some brilliant new tunes to help soundtrack your lifelisten to this album!

Crystal clear, perhaps from a hi res digital source, which I do wish they would be clear about.

one of the best albums ever. for fans of psychedelia and outsider music.

Brand new as described and arrived 2 weeks earlier than expected.

I had this album a long long time ago and it has always stuck in my mind so I had to buy it again and it was as good as when I first heard it !