VA - More Oar: A Tribute To The Skip Spence Album (1999)

1999's More Oar pays tribute to one of psychedelia's brightest lights, Skip Spence. His 1969 album Oar is a psych-folk classic, as well as a collector's item, ranking as one of Columbia's lowest-selling albums when it was originally released. This tribute marks the 30th anniversary of Oar's release and features performances from Spence fans as prominent as Robert Plant, Beck, and Tom Waits, and as underground as the Minus Five, Flying Saucer Attack, and Outrageous Cherry.
More Oar explores the folk, country, and rock elements of the original, ranging from Robert Plant's hushed, acoustic "Little Hands" to the smorgasbord of samples on Beck's "Halo Of Gold." Mudhoney's "War in Peace" and Outrageous Cherry's "Keep It All Under Your Hat" deliver straight-up garage-psych, while the Durocs "Margaret Tiger-Rug" and the Ophelias' "Lawrence of Euphoria" explore the vaudevillian side of psychedelia. Flying Saucer Attack and Alistair Galbraith deliver two of the most darkly acid-tinged tracks on the album, "Grey-Afro" and "This Time He Has Come;" the Minus 5's "Doodle" and Diesel Park West's "All Come yo Meet Her" the sunnier side of psychedelia. Though More Oar was intended as a tribute to the landmark album, Spence's death earlier in the year adds even more significance to this heartfelt, eclectic homage.