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There are a few records that exist entirely in their own universe. Although they can be placed in the context of some sort of musical movement, they are truly unique and offer an insight into the mind of an alien. Oar is one of these records. (I've talked about similar concepts in my discussions of Sun Ra's works.)It's hard for me to write about this, as this music exists in a world completely outside of my own experiences. Listening to it turns me into a reality tourist briefly shedding my overanalytical science perception in favor of a much looser existence based upon floating in melting martian ice caps. Layered vocal tracks, open strings, and reverb create an emergent phenomena that absolutely must be experienced. Dangerous, damaging psychedelia that is orders of magnitude trippier than even the most fuzzed out of all guitar solos.
And I can't help but compare the vocals on "Diana" to US Maple. Oops. Oh and motherfucker was in Moby Grape too. Remember that shit from back in the day?
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Beck's been covering this record as part of his "record club." Basically, he gets his friends together, and they play their favorite records front to back. I think they started with the Velvet Underground and Nico.
http://beck.com/
Yeah dude I stumbled across that when I was trying to find a youtube link to "Diana" and I could only find the Beck cover. Pretty cool, though. I'd join Beck's record club shit. Tell that fool to call me up.
Dear Beck do you like to cover Sepultura
I was a big Moby Grape fan, and discovered this record in a cutout bin in about 1972. This was around the same time that I bought Syd Barretts's two solo albums and Iggy's Funhouse. I wasn't into hard drugs beforehand, but those records changed my life for good and bad. I can feel the joy, confusion, utter terror and final resolve to exist and embrace despair or dissolve. Eventually I changed the way I thought;some did not,and I miss them very much.I still listen to this record, nearly forty years later, and it is still both beautiful and terrifying.
Cool writeup--interesting comparison you draw with Sun Ra...I just reviewed this one too on my blog. Love your site!
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