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Alexander "Skip" Spence
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Alexander Lee “Skip” Spence (born April 18, 1946 in Windsor, Ontario - died April 16, 1999 in Santa Cruz, California) was a musician and singer-songwriter. He was a member of Jefferson Airplane, as drummer, and Moby Grape, as guitarist, for both groups’ first albums in 1966 and 1967 respectively.
Suffering from schizophrenia, he was committed to New York’s Bellevue Hospital after a failed-attempt to murder Grape members Don Stevenson and Jerry Miller with a fire axe. Upon his release from Bellevue, he recorded his only solo album, the now-classic psychedelic/folk album Oar (1969, Columbia Records). However, mental illness and alcoholism prevented him from sustaining a career in the music industry, and he lived much of his later life as a homeless person in Santa Cruz. When it appeared that he may have been overcoming those afflictions, lung cancer claimed him.
Suffering from schizophrenia, he was committed to New York’s Bellevue Hospital after a failed-attempt to murder Grape members Don Stevenson and Jerry Miller with a fire axe. Upon his release from Bellevue, he recorded his only solo album, the now-classic psychedelic/folk album Oar (1969, Columbia Records). However, mental illness and alcoholism prevented him from sustaining a career in the music industry, and he lived much of his later life as a homeless person in Santa Cruz. When it appeared that he may have been overcoming those afflictions, lung cancer claimed him.
Videos
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Play
Alexander "Skip" Spence - War In Peace
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Play
Alexander "Skip" Spence - Margaret-Tiger Rug
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Play
Alexander "Skip" Spence - Cripple Creek
Top Albums
Top Tracks
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Little Hands
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Cripple Creek
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Diana
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War in Peace
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Weighted Down (The Prison Song)
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All Come to Meet Her
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Books of Moses
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Broken Heart
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Lawrence of Euphoria
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Margaret-Tiger Rug
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Doodle
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It's the Best Thing for You
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This Time He Has Come
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Shoutbox
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dougbummy wrote:
margaret / tiger rug is the illest... skip spence one of the finest drummers
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the_savage wrote:
There's no reason why any self respecting music fan wouldn't give him the time of day. p.s. How is Oar, as a whole, "fucking creepy"? The music itself is quite uplifting, fun, or somber, to me at least.
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tourdefran wrote:
I´m agree, Diana is great
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kevlev wrote:
'Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm... Rearrange it!'
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RedArmada wrote:
Best song is "Diana"
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Durandal1717 wrote:
Simply amazing. Absolutely touching and one of the best albums ever to trip to. Though I still can't decide if Lawrence Of Euphoria is better in the original form or the cover by The Ophelias...
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leptonlunatic wrote:
shattered genius, straight from the soul
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BillStrange wrote:
These tracks sound different from the original "OAR" tracks I have. A different mix perhaps? Or because it's a stream? The worst selling album of 1969 for Columbia records has aged well indeed. I just treasure it. Skip was a tortured genius. He was also an early member of The Quicksilver Messenger Service as well as being the original drummer for Jefferson Airplane. And of course I wore out the grooves of my old Moby Grape L.P.'s years ago.
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Ziziz1967 wrote:
Another album of unsung genius. This one's meant to be listened to in full, 'cause after listening to it you can't help but feel hypnotized.
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jrmybwedding wrote:
i like it!
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IanCat87 wrote:
Oar is fucking creepy. Definitely one of the strangest things I've ever heard. Totally in its own. Nothing like it. Music for schizophrenia...
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martin-pulaski wrote:
Oar is one of my favourite albums since 1969. There has never been a moment when I heard Skip's voice and it didn't touch me very deep in my soul. His voice is one of the greatest ever. It's so sad he couldn't go and make more records, two would've been better than one. But there's still Moby Grape, of course.
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F_Hole wrote:
There's nothing to compare Oar to; Little Hands is a unique masterpiece. Just please be careful after ingesting psychedelics and listening to Oar. ;)
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gayle_grenade wrote:
Why is he tagged American...
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[deleted-user]
wrote:
it's a hidden track on More Oar, also on a groovy 45 b/w All My Life (I Love You). it's gotta be on some p2p.
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Reincremation wrote:
where does said song appear? care to post it?
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PoisonFrog wrote:
Oar is a masterpiece no question but try to track down his final recording, a single song called Land of the Sun if you can, one of the most psychedelic recordings of all time.
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HAL9000S_NL wrote:
I love grey/afro.
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Reincremation wrote:
for the win.
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aannette wrote:
wow
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Recent Activity
- 298563498653468 tagged Alexander "Skip" Spence with ‘stuff to check out’. 12 hours ago
- nova81 and Magxxx added Alexander "Skip" Spence to their libraries. Wednesday afternoon
- roapte tagged Alexander "Skip" Spence with ‘psychedelic’ and ‘singer-songwriter’. Tuesday morning
- nooneastern, tommyfitz, nickdetroit and 9 other people added Alexander "Skip" Spence to their libraries. Monday evening
- Zer0_II tagged Alexander "Skip" Spence with ‘folk’. 16 days ago
- williamhigham, brutalandkind, denialcore and 1 other person added Alexander "Skip" Spence to their libraries. 16 days ago
- the_savage wrote about Alexander "Skip" Spence in a deleted journal. 18 days ago
- adwelis, djlavezzi, inf0saurus and 12 other people added Alexander "Skip" Spence to their libraries. 19 days ago
- the_savage connected Alexander "Skip" Spence to the group I Eat My Own Shit. last month
- awaycaboose, rickenbacherjo, buboes69 and 5 other people added Alexander "Skip" Spence to their libraries. last month
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