With popular acts such as Wilco, Robyn Hitchcock, the Flaming Lips,

Mudhoney and Son Volt lining up to record tracks on a new tribute album,

you'd expect the artist they are honoring to be a household name.

So, then, who is Alexander "Skip" Spence?

If the name doesn't ring a bell, you'd be excused for not remembering the

former Moby Grape singer/guitarist, who recorded his wild, experimental, psychedelic solo

album, Oar, in 1969 after leaving the pioneering San Francisco rock band

because of a chronic

mental illness.

"I've listened to this album [Oar] a million times and still not

understood what

it's exactly about," said Bill Bentley, producer of the upcoming More Oar:

A Tribute to Alexander "Skip" Spence. Bentley's fascination with obscure

but highly influential rock artists was also the fuel behind the wiggy 1990

tribute to Texas psychedelic master and former 13th Floor Elevators leader

Roky Erickson, Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye, which featured tracks

from R.E.M., ZZ Top, the Jesus and Mary Chain and the Butthole Surfers. (The 13th

Floor Elevators are best known for their improbable mid-'60s Top 40 garage-rock

masterpiece,

"You're Gonna Miss Me.")

Bentley said he was inspired to launch the Oar project a few years ago

when he

found out that Spence, who before joining Moby Grape played drums

for the Jefferson Airplane,

was in financially dire straits. "I felt he could probably use a boost from

the

publishing money," Bentley said. "And maybe spiritually from the knowledge

that people would still love to hear his songs." The Reprise Records

publicist said he first bought the album in 1969 because he was fascinated by

the fact that Spence performed every bit of music on his first solo effort.

Bentley said it wasn't too hard to find

musicians who felt the same way about the music on the record and who were

equally eager to expose new fans to Spence's music and lend him a hand in

the process.

Although Bentley hasn't spoken about the project to Spence, who he said is

currently living with his girlfriend in a mobile home in Santa Cruz,

Calif., he said the singer's publishing representative has been acting as

a go-between, helping to decipher the album's lyrics. "He [the

representative] basically calls Skip up and, slowly but surely, he remembers

the lyrics to the songs and I pass them along to the artists."

The only

snag, so far, is that even Spence can't recall the words to the track

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Spence,_Alexander_Skip/Grey_Afro.ram">

"Grey/Afro" (RealAudio excerpt of original), which Bentley said

might be

turned into an instrumental, since no one can seem to figure out what

Spence was saying. "I've listened to it a million times and I still can't

quite get the lyrics," Bentley explained.

The album, which is scheduled for release in the fall of this year on Birdman

Records, is also slated to feature tracks from Flying Saucer Attack,

Alejandro Escovedo and producer/musician Jim Dickinson [Big Star, Rolling Stones, Replacements] as

well as a mid-1980s

version of

"Lawrence of Euphoria" by San Francisco's Ophelias.

"I'm a huge fan, and Skip really wants it to happen," said David

Katznelson, 28, CEO

of Birdman and vice president of A&R at Reprise. "And we find out every day

about

people who are big fans."

Katznelson cited Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant

as just the

latest big name to express admiration for Spence's work.

Also on Katznelson's wish list is "Land of the Sun," the only track Spence

has recorded

since Oar, which was intended for inclusion on last

year's Songs in the Key of X-Files album, but didn't make the final

cut. The song, which Bentley said was "too weird," features

Spence repeating the title over and over on top of an eerie drone created by

Spence's drumming and former Jefferson Airplane member Jack Cassidy's

bass.

Katznelson also considered finding someone to cover the five "bizarre" bonus

tracks that appeared on the re-issued version of the Oar CD, he

said. "My hope

is that people will listen to this and be inspired and search out Oar

and maybe some Moby Grape albums too, because they're worth it."

Color="#720418">[Fri., Jan. 9, 1998, 9 a.m. PST]