Style: Blues-Piano
OTIS SPANN - OTIS SPANN IS THE BLUES - 24-96 vinyl rip
http://www.musicdirect.com/images/product/large/LPUREPL9001.jpg
Pure Pleasure/Candid CJS 9001 180g LP
Recorded: 23 August 1960
Country: USA
Produced by: Nat Hentoff
Engineered by: George Piros
Mixed by: N/A
Mastered by: Ray Staff
Otis Spann is the Blues' was Spann's first solo album, recorded in 1960 after Spann had spent many years as pianist in Muddy Water's band.
The album features some Spann compositions, alongside a number of blues standards. Spann seems to have been very fond of Maceo Merriweather's Worried Life Blues (how many times did he record it??) The version here is superb. Tracks such as The Hard Way, Otis in the Dark and I Got Rambling on my Mind are also particularly strong - although I wouldn't say there's a duff track on the album.
The album is also bolstered by Robert Lockwood Jnr. (Robert Johnson's stepson), who adds some mean guitar licks and/or rhythm to a number of tracks. Things really get going on Great Northern Stomp, where Spann and Lockwood Jnr trade solos.
Otis Spann is the Blues is a cracking album - demonstrating Spann's virtuosity to the full. He isn't a bad singer either! A must-have for any Spann fan, and a great introduction to classic piano blues for anyone else.
Another absolute gem from Alan Bates’s Candid label this must be probably Otis Spann's finest piece of work on wax. He may not have been the blues, but he was sure close to being the blues pianist. Spann provided wonderful, imaginative, tasty piano solos and better-than-average vocals, and was arguably the best player whose style was more restrained than animated. Not that he couldn't rock the house, but Spann's forte was making you think as well as making you dance.
A1 The Hard Way
A2 Take a Little Walk with Me
A3 Otis in the Dark
A4 Little Boy Blue
A5 Country Boy
B1 Beat-Up Team
B2 My Daily Wish
B3 Great Northern Stomp
B4 I Got Rambling on My Mind #2
B5 Worried Life Blues
VINYL TRANSFER PROCESS :
Vinyl cleaning:
ClearAudio Matrix Record Cleaner
(static discharge with Zerostat 3 Milty "gun" before play)
Source:
TurnTable * > Nottingham Analogue Studio - Hyperspace
ToneArm * > Ace Space 10" / UniPivot (Nottingham Analogue Studio)
Cartridge > DECCA Super Gold Moving Magnet
* (with the final 2010 Tom Fletcher mods)
Electronics:
Phono > Bedini Q Series PreAmp
ADC > Edirol FA-66 Firewire Audio Interface
Computer / Software / Monitoring:
MacPro 8-Core
Software > Adobe Audition CS 5.5, SoundTrack Pro 3, iZotope RXII Advanced
Monitoring > Sennheiser HD800 HPhones (via Violectric VT200 HPhone Amp)
All connections:
Vooodooo pure silver wire with Eichmann bullet plugs.
Recorded at 32bit float 192kHz from 1 NEW never played Vinyl LP.
Processing : N O N E !
Just resampled in iZotope RXII Advanced from 32-192 to 24-96
Converted with XLD for Mac from AIF to FLAC.
TheZeitung (July 2011)