But this holds the attention with a mesmeric maze of insights. At other turns, it is downright harrowing. At times, the album so exposes Spence’s vulnerable psyche that it is almost voyeuristic listening. Legend has it that when he was released, Spence got on a motorbike and rode down to Nashville, while still in his hospital gown! He teamed up with producer David Rubinson, and recorded this collection of songs that gave an incredible insight into his mauled mind. The songs on Oar were written by Spence during a six-month stay in a New York hospital after attacking two Grape bandmates with an axe. But unlike Barrett he had one solo album that is utterly compelling. Like the Pink Floyd genius, Spence was plagued by bouts of lucid brilliance and incoherent cries of torment. The one-time Moby Grape man is often compared to Syd Barrett, with good reason. But if the label had done the right thing in 1967, who knows what The Golden Dawn would have achieved. In recent years, this has become something of a cult album. It’s about the dawn of enlightenment, and how that could be corrupted if we’re not careful. While not strictly a concept album, there is a theme running throughout. This album is inventive and inspired, with some crucial guitar timbres from George Kinney, Tom Ramsey and Jimmy Bird. Many reviews unfavourably compared this to the Elevators, when the truth was that The Golden Dawn were the better band. But while the band recorded Power Plant, their debut album, in 1967, its release was inexplicably delayed a year, because the label wanted to put out Easter Everywhere, the second Elevators album, first.Īnd when this remarkable album was finally put out, it was given such a critical mauling that the discouraged band split up. It was the latter who recommended The Golden Dawn to their label, International Artists.
The Texans were both championed and shafted by the 13th Floor Elevators.
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