Oar

I’ve long enjoyed but am still unable to wrap my head around this album. Certainly the context is interesting. I need to think through it. Whatever. I’m just trying to get through the day, man.

Can understand why this album was admired by indie and alternative artists but I won't be listening to this one again. Little Hands and War In Peace decent

4/10

Just like with Syd Barrett, for someone suffering with schizophrenia or whatever, I expected the music to sound really out-there and wild. But this is just regular ass Psych Pop. Nothing to see here.

I mean just straight up was not a fan. Like no redeeming parts to this for me. I didn't actively hate it, but definitely didn't enjoy any of it. 2 at most?

Bleak.

So depressing in places, I considered taking a bath with the toaster. Then there was the occasional bit that wasn't so bad. There was no flow, no direction and no enjoyment to be had. Weird fucking album. Not 1001-worthy in the slightest.

Sorry but I found this so boring

I'm a fan of psychedelic rock and singer songwriters, but save for a few good moments here I'm not convinced the two go together.

Ok

Just a kind of blah album. Nothing too good or bad but that’s not really what I’m looking for in my psych rock, even if it is on the earlier end.

Poetry set to music by a musical multi-talent. No easy listening; not for superficial entertainment. A deeper understanding of the lyrics requires time and effort.

Got weirder as it went along

Very enjoyable. Clearly some good production choices behind it. Requires more listens to dig into what has been done.

Brilliant and tragic. I can hear Skip in John Martyn’s work…which is news to me!

Yes, it's a bit too long and it's a little weird. But I loved reading about him and it made the album quite interesting

Nearly half way and the worst so far. Excruciating. And just when you think it's over there is 9 minutes of absolute dross. Please give me my life back.

Demasiado oscuro

Personally, I find the story behind why this album exists in the first place more interesting than the album itself, but I don’t hate the album either, despite how dark and depressing it is. To make a very long story short, this guy was drugged out of his mind and tried to axe murder his band. He later gets given a studio and a shitty tape recorder and makes this, an album that’s not only over an hour long, but also sold abysmally at the time of release. It’s also, maybe unsurprisingly, his only album. He was in mental care facilities pretty much the rest of his life after his axe incident. If I was a betting man I would also say that’s why critics love this album. Much like the former frontman for Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, both of them were in the process of legitimately losing their minds when they released their albums. It’s fascinating, it’s sad, and at times it’s somewhat incomprehensible. But it’s not terrible. I can’t decide if it’s a 2 or a 3. But if it’s a 3, it’s a very low 3. I can tolerate it, but I don’t love it. My favorite song was “War In Peace”, and my second favorite was “Grey/Afro”. Definitely wouldn’t return to this album, but I am surprisingly happy that I listened to it, if not only to listen to what someone who’s not quite there would make. It’s quite a weird trip. You know what, I keep flip flopping between a 2 and a 3. For the interesting story behind the album, and for not aggravating me as much as I was expecting it to, I’ll give it a 3. That seems fair. It might at times be incomprehensible, and he might say very strange nonsensical things, but it was at least weird enough to keep listening the entire way through. So yeah, I feel pretty good about giving this one a 3 actually. But the fact that it’s over an hour long and was never supposed to see the light of day for a release just blows my mind. I don’t know how you feel good about releasing this album, knowing how far gone the guy was at this point. He’s not an amazing singer, but he can admittedly play the guitar pretty well, so that makes the whole album bearable. But yeah. His story?? Much more interesting than the album itself.

Late 60s psych rock. Folk rock. Only album recorded by singer after mental hospital stay. Very tame, pleasant.

평범한 느낌의 앨범이었다. It was an album that felt rather ordinary.

The album is very folk-oriented with psychedelic elements, I find it has very odd melodies and hooks, which I find charming. Spence's vocals apart from the first song were a bit off-putting, just how bass-y it is, combined with a Bruce Springsteen-like groan vocals to words is probably what did me in (though I love Springsteen's voice, just maybe not Spence's inflection.) How the instruments were done are quite odd and eccentric, but I find I liked it most of the time (apart from the obviously weird 60s panning choices.) This album sold so poorly that Columbia deleted it from their archives is crazy overkill for this album. It also put Spence off of music altogether. I'm a bit ambivalent about this one, I think its' very sweet and it's heartbreaking what Spence went through to make this and what resulted from the creation of this album. I believe 3 stars best represents my feelings. Highlight Song/s: "Little Hands"

Was there a note of "White Room" by Cream in here. This was not an enjoyable listen. Top track: "War in Peace"

--Little Hands...jangly folk. repetitive --Cripple Creek...sounds like a gunslinger ballad but I would need to study the lyrics more. some cool acoustic guitar work happening --Diana...the wikipedia article mentions this LP was recorded on a three-track and was intended to be a demo. a demo is exactly what it sounds like. cool things are happening, especially with the guitars, but you can tell this entire endeavor was supposed to have more time in the oven --Margaret/Tiger Rug...this just exists --Weighted Down (The Prison Song)...simple but the recording sounds more polished than what came before --War in Peace...we introduce some electronic guitar --Broken Heart...plodding --All Come to Meet Her...incomplete --Books of Moses...not much of a song but the recording is interesting. there's a thunderstorm --Dixie Peach Promenade (Yin for Yang)...I don't know, for someone just out of the bin it's very middle of the road --Lawrence of Euphoria...well, this is weird. not good but weird --Grey/Afro...nine minute nonsense. I appreciate this list for introducing me to new things but this particular entry seems like a troll

Expected more from this. Fairly dull really. Not a great deal to take away from it.

This is not nearly as bad as you guys said it is although it's a bit long. 3/5

OG crash out artist who played every instrument. I nod my cap

I have to admit, when I saw the cover and read the background story about a stay in Bellevue Hospital, I was skeptical. The lyrics can be dark, but the melodies are good, and I like how Spence presents his songs.

I dunno this album is just boring. It sounds like he's falling asleep while singing. It's an okay album, nothing horrible, it's just a slog to get through. Only made it about halfway through before ejecting.

Was nervous for a brief moment that we were being asked to listen to OAR, at which point I would have stopped this project immediately, found every copy of the book and summarily set it on fire. Anyway, there’s plenty to like on this album and just as much or more to forget or ignore.

Not as bad I I thought it was going to be. Some very emotional songs that grab you. Could have done with editing down to about half a dozen less songs though.

לא הטעם שלי כל כך

Okay this wasn't great but also not as bad as reviews on here say it was. Like not the most uplifting stuff but the music is decent overall.

I didn't like this at all, not even writing a review

Apple Music classifies this as Psychedelic and maybe that fit at one time but after listening to this I think this is more Americana than any other genre.

Maybe interesting/important at the time but really found little to get excited about here

This was a chore. Perhaps if only 45 minutes I would have felt less that way but it just kept going and getting less and less interesting. Normally in this situation I take a few minutes to read up on the album and why it was included. Maybe I’m too busy today but I seriously don’t care to do for this. 1/5.

Boring

Some alright moments and easy background listening but dragged a little by the end

Quite an easy listen but far from exciting.

This list has already sent me down this enjoyable rabbit hole a while back. I love the feel of this album. Given the almost unbelievable back story it is obvs somewhat shambolic and improvised (well it is if you read), but to me this just feels so happy and free (which seems contrary to said story). So, while it’s not very polished, there’s some corkers on here, and tunes like ‘War in Peace*’ and ‘Grey/Afro are fantastic psych pieces. Just an enjoyable album not shackled by any expectations. *Check out Sexwitch’s version of ‘War in Peace’. Possibly better.

When I’m not in the right mood this type of music is infuriating. And I’m rarely in the right mood, so there you go. (ntm.)

Moments of absolute, timeless, and transcendent beauty, like “War In Peace” and “Little Hands.” Other moments with a hokey country accent that remind you of the “honey-dripping hipster” milieu he was coming from.

It was nice to revisit this album with a more analytical mindset. When I first heard it over 10 years ago I didn't have patience or interest to spend the hour digesting it all. "Oar" is pretty weird at its surface but upon further exploration this listener found that specific 1969 "early Floyd" sound that he loves so much. In his solo performance 'Skip' is able to create something much more authentic than what was presented in Moby Grape. The deep hollow voice mixed with cheap acoustic strings creates this warm psychedelic Americana sound that appeared for such a brief moment in time within the exploding 60s. Light drums and soft bass keeps the tempo as a man experiencing constant unwelcome psychic change shares his words. "Diana" and "Weighted Down (The Prison Song)" were favorites this time around.

I appreciate and sympathise with what this record was going for. The background info is pretty harrowing, and I'm made a little uncomfortable by all the tongue-in-cheek sanist jokes scattered throughout some of these reviews. That being said, this is not something I'll be returning to often. The instruments and lo-fi ambience were nice, but the album itself is quite bloated and meandering.

Interesting story about the album, but not an interesting album Standout song Little Hands

Good voice. Nice mix concidering its only ment as demo's. Later half of the album iss less compelling for sure.

Quite possibly the most depressed album I’ve ever heard.

OK

This album can get fucked.

A lot of rambling single artist 60s music, it's chaotic unorganized garbage. Boring at times, unpleasant at others, this album is just a chaotic and unpleasant throughout. Boooooo

It seems like everyone in the 60's felt the need to make a crappy folk rock album, and this artist added a little spice to his by being a crazy guy. What a visionary! There's truly nothing of musical significance about this album, but it's great that Skip played all of the instruments so the listener gets a taste of how much he sucks in all realms of music making beyond singing and song writing.

Interesting story about this one. Shame that the music is by and large pretty dull.

I thought this might be OK but then I got past the first track 🤦🏻‍♂️ What on earth is this doing on the list?

Tedious AND self-indulgent? My favorite!

Pretty good sure

Time travel stuff here, sounds like the aughts, had no idea.

Day 63 Literally unlistenable. Will listen again Fav track: Diana

It was a bit of a strange one. Various styles. There was something a Syd Barrett feel to a couple of tracks. I heard strains of The Incredible String Band all mixed in there as well. The guitar had me hearing strains of Ocer the hills and far away by Zeppelin. I enjoyed it very much. I dont think it should be on the list though.

This album is like the textbook definition of an "album you should hear before you die." Songs written while in a hospital by a dude who went crazy and tried to kill his band mates with an ax. Not to mention that it was not promoted and the the record company deleted it from their catalog. The whole time I was listening to it I couldn't help but think I was doing something wrong. The funny part is that the digital album has all this material not released on the original release so at some point they clearly embraced this album. Unfortunately, I found the songs on this album to be lack luster when compared to the back story of the album its self. Not bad, but not memorable in any way. I am glad I looked up where the original release ended so I didn't have to listen to over an hour of demo quality music. 2/5

This was terrible. I hung in there as long as I could, but it was tough. As far as I can tell the only thing Skip has going for him is a likeable last name :)

This was an album made by a 22 year old, while he looks like a 42 year old, and sang like an 82 year old. Nothing redeemable about this. No more grandpa rock, please and thank you.

I expecting something a little less boring from a guy who attacked his bandmates with a fire axe. This man's Wiki page reads like a bad Tarantino movie: "Skippy was just hanging around. He hadn't been all there for years, because he'd been into heroin all that time. In fact he actually OD'ed once and they had him in the morgue in San Jose with a tag on his toe. All of a sudden he got up and asked for a glass of water. Now he was snortin' big clumps of coke, and nothing would happen to him. We couldn't have him around because he'd be pacing the room, describing axe murders. So we got him a little place of his own. He had a little white rat named Oswald that would snort coke too." How can someone whose rat snorts cocaine write music this dull?

Snooze. I wasn’t mortally offended by it so not sure but I also got so tired of listening so fast.

הרוב טוב. מקורי ואותנטי. היה לי קצת ארוך

alright

I’d never heard of Alexander “Skip” Spence or Oar before today. After a little research, I discovered that he had been a member of Jefferson Airplane, a band this challenge introduced me to and that I’ve really enjoyed, so that gave me some hope going into this. Unfortunately, it never really happened for me. There were moments where I thought the album was finally going to kick into gear and become something interesting, but it never quite got there. Overall, I found it long, boring and at times different simply for the sake of being different. I saw Oar described as “one of the most harrowing documents of pain and confusion ever made.” I’m guessing they meant for the listener! There are ideas in here that feel like they could turn into decent songs, but too often they just drift along without really going anywhere. I appreciate that the album is very personal and clearly comes from a difficult place, but that doesn’t necessarily make it enjoyable to listen to. For me, it was more exhausting than interesting. Favourite track: I guess “Little Hands” was quite a nice song and probably the highlight. Least favourite tracks: There’s some real crap on here. “Grey/Afro” and “Keep Everything Under Your Hat” were particularly hard work. Album artwork: Odd album cover. Not entirely sure what to make of it, which probably sums up the album quite well.

Navel gazing 60s slop disguised as e enlightening.

Horrible country music

This shit was hardly music. Some songs were almost interesting, like You Know, but those were like pieces of corn in excrement.

woah, listening to this feels like what's left when you suck all air and all tension out of a country album. it's not as horrible as i've expected it to be halfway through. but definitely an experience i don't want to relive.

I guess it’s not terrible. Reviews of it make it sound like it’s trying to do something interesting- successfully or not. I don’t hear that. I hear someone trying to be the next Gordon Lightfoot or Phil Oakes and failing. It’s just boring.

Maddening and frustrating. The first song seems ok -- kinds like this. Hmm. By the third song, it's -- How much wobbly guitar playing and incompetent singing are we supposed to sit through? Plus, bleeping stupid "word play" in the lyrics. Gaaaahhhh. Books of Moses -- hey, that one is actually pretty good. But Lawrence of Euphoria is inexcusable. (Clocks in at only 1:31? As Kumail Nanjani said to John Oliver in that HBO promo years ago, It feels longer.) Grey/Afro is a game changer. That is actually good. Remarkable. Really, really good. Except ... I thought this was going to end two minutes ago. What's happening? 9:38 ?!?!?! Good Lord. Then it feels absolutely interminable because is rolls right into This Time He Has Come, which I thought was still the same song, and so adding another 4:42 ... it's like a 14 minute suite. Holy something or other. Too Much !!!! I didn't understand why this is so long, but now I'm looking at the Wikipedia page, and I'm well into the bonus tracks. So, that's on me at this point. The real mystery is how it has maintained this mystique over the years. It seems like you have two factors that may be active here: the legend around the recording -- people just love a magnum opus delivered from the farther shore, delivered from beyond the limits of sanity (see: persistent efforts to believe Syd Barrett did something revelatory after he was dropped from Pink Floyd). And then we could place this album among a modest but substantial group of recordings in which artists discover possibilities -- DIY, raw / simplified, radically beyond questions of technical excellence ... etc. There are things that inspire artists by suggesting new possibilities, by departing so thoroughly from the surrounding contemporary landscape. This is a different question from, Is this a good album that one enjoys listening to? Anyway ... always good to learn of a fresh historical curiosity, but ... I dunno. This feels like a practical joke played on its audience by The Book. 2.5 stars

this album made absolutely no sense to me.

I'm truly perplexed how to rate this album numerically. I gathered from the group chat that everyone hated this. But I was intrigued by it. And I guess I'd rather be intrigued than bored (sorry Fleetwood Mac/Byrds). I find this whole album super weird and I completely understand why Beck and Jeff Tweedy and others are fascinated by it and decided to cover the songs. Of course the 1001 community mostly hated this which is understandable. One memorable review pointed out that if a woman had recorded this (especially in 1969) it could never have been released. True. The production seems insane--it literally sounds like a demo tape recorded in a motel bathroom. And yet... I was kind of taken by the first song. It was so weird and I found it hard to stop listening to it and the whole rest of the record. I don't know that I liked this album and I don't think I ever want to listen to it again in its entirety. But I will definitely seek out the Beck-sponsored cover album. I guess it's yet another entry in the three star category. I can't rate it higher because I don't really want to hear it again. But I can't dispense with it because I found it too interesting. It's kind of like seeing a movie where the director took a huge swing but it didn't really work. I have a soft spot for those types of artistic ventures.

not as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue

Not really for me. Was not helping my depressive state this morning 😐 Strong 5

Pretty interesting album

It's pretty good.

I went into Oar expecting to like it, especially given its reputation, and the beginning actually worked pretty well for me. There’s something intriguing about the stripped-down sound and the raw, almost fragile quality of the recordings. It also reminded me quite a bit of Nick Drake, at least in the sense of the intimate acoustic arrangements and melancholic atmosphere. Unfortunately, I found it much harder to stay interested as the album went on. What initially felt haunting and personal gradually became repetitive and, eventually, pretty unbearable. The songs started to blur together, and the lo-fi quality that was interesting at first began to feel more exhausting than affecting. I can understand why Oar has become such a cult record, and there are definitely moments where you can hear the appeal. But for me, it felt like a much rougher and less compelling version of what I like about Nick Drake. Interesting in small doses, but by the end I was mostly waiting for it to be over.

(i went off and read wikipedia for this part because i was puzzled at not knowing who this guy was given the music i was hearing) apparently skip was a member of sixties san francisco group moby grape and spent six months in bellevue after trying to kill two of his fellow band members with an axe.  he wrote these songs while he was in bellevue and recorded them immediately after being released.  the album is actually just the demos he recorded (which explains a lot about the production quality), the record company it as is and it was their worst selling album ever.  soon they completely deleted it from their catalog.  then in the late 80s/early 90s someone released it again and it influenced a shit ton of people to make country-folk music, wilco in particular as near as i can hear.  tom waits?  probably.   anyway, it's a very sad lo-fi album made by a man in a very low place.  production not the greatest quality (demos after all), but very intimate and haunting.  country, folk, psychedelic.  i listened to the tracks that were only on the original release, apple music has a deluxe version that's longer.  i added it to my library and it's a 5/5 for me.  standouts for me were "war and peace" and "grey/afro"

Woefully unimpressive. Long, drawn-out psychedelic folk that didn't go anywhere, was brutally long, and didn't stand out all that much. Favorite Songs: Little Hands

709/1001 2026.09.24 🌕🌕🌑🌑🌑

God this is chaotic, in a good way but chaotic all the same. Songs meander and Melodies fade in and out. It’s evident even from these half formed sketches that he’s a decent song writer and guitar player, and sometimes like on Little hands it all comes together excellently. Sadly, sometimes like Grey Afro it’s kind of falls apart…

THIS MAN is called "Skip" for an AMAZING reason!

Das kann man nicht am Morgen hören, man schläft sofort wieder ein! Öde!

A wide pole used for steering canoes.

60’s

Folksy late 60’s

“Skip” is right!

A great find. This is a beautiful, raw, harrowing album. Reviewers seem to have rated this low. You’re wrong.

This is a story of the depths of human depravity - and by that I don’t mean the mental health issues Alexander “Skip” Spence was apparently suffering from at the time. Those are, of course, very evident in the recordings, but what truly horrifies me is the behavior of producer David Rubinson. It wasn’t enough that he left the recordings entirely in the hands of his engineer. No, he simply had this demo - in the artist’s view - released unfiltered. This kind of forced emotional exhibitionism would certainly lead to a major public controversy today, and this blatant abuse of Spence’s privacy rights would be called out as such. Needless to say, the album was a commercial flop, but: what on earth was Robert Dimery thinking when he included “Oar” in his book?

2.5 stars. A better story than it is a listen. Laurence of Euphoria is a banger tho.

Mucha mejor historia que disco. Se me ha hecho laaaaaargo.

Very average!

Oar isn't terrible, but it isn't for me either.

Psychedelic Folk is the musical fusion I didn't know I needed in my life. Because I don't. Boring.

As someone else here said, if a woman made this it would have no chance of being on this list. His voice is pretty good sometimes but overall nothing special in here

No description has ever made me more intrigued to listen to a record than this one has. Rubinstein’s actions were clearly exploitative, as he definitely saw something evocative of a mind in turmoil and tried to harvest it (though apparently in vain, if his goal was material reward). The record itself has some moments of brilliance, particularly in “War In Peace” and “Cripple Creak”.

Brutal