OTIS SPANN BLUES OF OTIS SPANN/CRACKED SPANNER HEAD
Cracked Spanner Head:
Original Released 1969( Decca/Deram LP) (tracks 1-10)
Blues of Otis Spann:
Original Release: 1964 (Decca /Deram LP)
Audio CD May 2008
Number of Discs: 2
Label: Beat Goes On
Format:Flac
This 2 CD set is actually two versions of the same album!.
On the one hand, it makes sense that The Blues of Otis Spann and Cracked Spanner Head should be packaged together and on the other, it makes no sense at all, since they are essentially the exact same album. “Blues “ was recorded in England with Otis Spann on piano and vocals, Little Willie Smith on drums, Ransom Knowling on bass, and an uncredited Muddy Waters on guitar (Waters is simply listed as "Brother" in the liner notes), and was released in 1964. Aside from a couple harpsichord boogies, it was a solid set, with Spann shining on "Sarah Street," "The Blues Don't Like Nobody," the dramatic and moving "Lost Sheep in the Fold," and the wonderful cover of Arthur Crudup's "Rock Me Mama" that opened the album. For some reason, however, producer Mike Vernon went back to the master tapes four years later and overdubbed horns and additional guitar on the tracks, then remixed, reshuffled, and renamed everything to make the album called Cracked Spanner Head, which was released in 1969. ["Keep Your Hand Out of My Pocket" (retitled "Crack Your Head" on the Spanner disc) and Crudup's "Rock Me Mama" (given the new title of "Wagon Wheel") ]
Track List:
Blues of Otis Spann (Disc 1)
1 Rock Me Mama 3:55 
2 I Came from Clarksdale 4:25
3 Keep Your Hand Out of My Pocket 3:25
4 Spann's Boogie 2:05
5 Sarah Street 3:14
6 The Blues Don't Like Nobody 3:33
7 Meet Me in the Bottom 2:58
8 Lost Sheep in the Fold 4:29
9 I Got a Feeling 3:32
10 Jangleboogie 2:56
11 T.99 3:05
12 Natural Days 3:22
Cracked Spanner Head (Disc 2)
1 Crack Your Head 2:56
2 Iced Nehi 2:53
3 Wagon Wheel 3:54
4 No Sense in Worrying 3:22
5 Dollar Twenty Five 3:37
6 Everything's Gonna Be Alright 2:59
7 Lucky So and So 3:06
8 Sometimes I Wonder 4:24
9 Mr. Highway Man 2:56
10 What Will Become of Me 4:27
11 Pretty Girls Everywhere (*) 2:52 (with Eric Clapton)
12 Country Boy (*) 3:32 ( from The Blues of.. Session)
13 My Home in the Delta (*) 4:18 ( from The Blues of.. Session)
14 You're Gonna Need My Help (*) 3:24 ( from The Blues of.. Session)
Line Up:McKinley Morganfield - Guitar Little Willie Smith - Drums Otis Spann - Piano,Vocals Bud Beadle - Baritone Steve Gregory - Sax (Tenor) Spit James - Guitar Ransom Knowling - Bass Roderick M Lee - Trumpet