Walking the Blues

Otis Spann | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 11, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 1960
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Candid Records
• ASIN: B00005A86C
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,281 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. It Must Have Been the Devil

2. Otis' Blues

3. Goin' Down Slow

4. Half Ain't Been Told

5. Monkey Face Blues

6. This Is the Blues

7. Can't Stand Your Evil Ways

8. Come Day, Go Day

9. Walkin' the Blues

10. Bad Condition

11. My Home Is in the Delta

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extra tracks, April 16, 2010

By 

Gordon B. Neavill - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walking the Blues (Audio CD)

The CD's of Otis Spann's "Walking the Blues" and "Otis Spann Is the Blues" include extra tracks that aren't listed on the packaging or the Amazon track-listing. These tracks were originally on the Japanese releases on the P-Vine label and on the limited-edition (and long out of print) Mosaic box set, which also includes Lightnin' Hopkins' 1960 Candid session. The Mosaic set includes 6 unissued tracks by Lightnin' Hopkins that as far as I know haven't been released elsewhere.

The 7 extra tracks on "Walking the Blues" are:

12. Talkin' the Blues (take 3) (5:20)
13. It Hurts Me Too (4:56)
14. One Doggone Reason (2:40)
15. Strange Woman Blues (3:51)
16. The Girl I Love (3:47)
17. Come Day, Go Day (take 3) (4:10)
18. Baby Child (take 5) (4:04)

These are classic recordings by Otis Spann (my favorite blues pianist) and Robert Lockwood, Jr. (my favorite blues guitarist), along with vocals on several tracks by St. Louis Jimmy Oden. You can't go wrong.

See my review of "Otis Spann Is the Blues" for the unissued tracks included on that CD.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The greatest blues piano artist ever!, February 28, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Walking the Blues (Audio CD)

Otis Spann was the piano player in the famous Muddy Waters blues band in Chicago from 1953 to 1969. On this record we get a chance to listen to Otis Spann singing and playing the piano solo (accompanied by a guitar only). 40 years have passed since this recording was made. Looking back I have to confess that in my judgement Otis Spann was the greater talent of the two. Today, the music of Otis Spann is still fresh, original and timeless in its deep "soulfulness" while in comparison, the music of Muddy Waters sounds to me dated and somewhat artificial in its heavy reliance on the "electrified" sound of the guitar. According to Waters, Spann "is the best blues piano player we have today. There is no one left like him who plays the real, solid, bottom blues" (a quote from an interview given by Waters in the late 1960's). Waters also liked to emphasize that Spann played the piano "with both hands" (refering to the strong and articulate left hand in Spann's piano playing). Otis Spann died rather young at the age of 40 in 1970 appearently as a poor man, while Muddy Waters continued his successful career until his death in 1983 at the age of 68.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Real life, great stuff., February 28, 2002

By 

James Bradley (New York City) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Walking the Blues (Audio CD)

Otis Spann has a heavenly facility at the keys, and through it he expresses not only the gamut of human feelings, but the combinations and conflicts of feelings that we all experience. I really enjoy this disk.