Oar (Skip Spence album)
| Oar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
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| Studio album by Skip Spence | ||||
| Released | May 19, 1969 | |||
| Recorded | December 3–12, 1968 | |||
| Genre | Rock, folk, psychedelic rock | |||
| Length |
44:38 65:13 (1999 reissue) |
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| Label |
Columbia EdselUK (reissue) Sundazed (reissue) |
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| Producer | Alexander Spence | |||
| Skip Spence chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
  |
| Crawdaddy! | (favorable) |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable) |
| Robert Christgau | C– |
44:38
Oar is a 1969 solo album by Moby Grape co-founder Skip Spence. It is Spence's only solo album, recorded over seven days in Nashville, on which Spence plays all of the instruments.
Described as "one of the most harrowing documents of pain and confusion ever made", the album was recorded after Spence had spent six months in Bellevue Hospital. Spence had been committed to Bellevue following a delusion-driven attempt to attack Moby Grape bandmates Don Stevenson and Jerry Miller with a fire axe.
At the time of Spence's release from hospital, he had written a number of songs that he wanted to record. Producer David Rubinson suggested that Spence record at the Columbia studios in Nashville, where there was a particularly patient recording engineer, Mike Figlio. Rubinson instructed Figlio to keep the tapes running at all times, to record everything that Spence did. The majority of the tracks were recorded using a three-track recorder. Rubinson chose to stay away from the studio, concerned that Spence's recording activities would be distracted by the presence of a producer.
According to Spence, the Nashville sessions were intended by him to only be a demo, which he gave to Rubinson with the intent that the songs would be fleshed out with full production for the actual album. Instead Rubinson had the demo recordings released by Columbia.
When first released, Oar was not promoted by Columbia Records, despite pleadings from Rubinson. It was at the time the lowest-selling album in Columbia Records history, and was deleted from the Columbia catalogue within a year of its release.
In June of 1968, Alexander "Skip" Spence was admitted into the Psychiatric Ward of New York's Bellevue Hospital in lower Manhattan, putting an end to a highly creative period of his life. Oddly, it also signaled the beginning of his most prolific writing cycle. Unbeknownst to everyone involved with his career at that point, Bellevue provided Spence the safety he needed and the time to create what was to become his best-known work.
As described by critic Ross Bennett:
Combining the ramblings of a man on the brink of mental collapse with some real moments of flippancy and laughter, Oar is a genuinely strange record. Unsurprisingly, the journey from "Little Hands"' Grape-esque guitar grooves to "Grey/Afro"'s terrifying nine minutes of mantric drone, isn't an easy one. Even when Spence builds his songs around a familiar sound (primarily minimalist country-folk) unsettling oddities and ominous modulations creep in.
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Wikipedia