Description "MUDDY, SAM AND OTIS"  (Rod Stewart / Kevin Savigar, 1995) Oh, yeah, I know, I know...... I remember when I was only seventeen, The bohemian poet and disciple on the streets, Or was I just a little kid, Searching for identity, In '63? Heard it on the radio, on a cold December night, It came burning down the air waves, like a Savior's shining light. All the way from the U.S.A. Across the Atlantic far away, The magic came. The house began to rock with Cupid and his bow, The Hootchie Cootchie Man's lonely harp began to blow, Little did I know, That nothing in my life, Would ever be the same. Stayed up all night playing every forty-five, Trying to sound like you. Strummed my guitar in bed 'til my fingers bled, Trying to play like you. Thank you Sam, thank you Otis, Thank you Muddy, For the sounds you made, Thank you Sam, thank you Otis, Thank you Muddy, For the times we shared, And they carry on. I saw Otis back in 1965, Tears in my eyes, as he sung,"These Arms Of Mine," But the angels needed a soul man, For their celestial blues band, And took him home. Oh, what I'd give to see that red mohair suit, And hear "Dock Of The Bay," Or Sam in his two-tone, singing "Bring It On Back Home," What a show that would be. Thank you Sam, thank you Otis, Thank you Muddy, For the sounds you made, Thank you Sam, thank you Otis, Thank you Muddy, For the times we shared. If I sound sentimental, It's because this blue-eyed soul boy's, Got so much respect, My gratitude to you, Runs deep, proud and true, I will never forget. Thank you Sam, thank you Otis, Thank you Muddy, For the sounds you made, Thank you Sam, thank you Otis, Thank you Muddy, For the times you gave. Thank you Sam, thank you Otis, Thank you Muddy, For the sounds you made, Thank you Sam, thank you Otis, Thank you Muddy, For the times you gave. Thank you Sam, thank you Sam, Thank you Otis, thank you Muddy You'll never, never, fade away. ROD STEWART: "A Spanner In The Works" LP, ULTRA RARE FIRST AND ONLY PRESSING ON VINYL, 29th MAY, 1995. WARNER BROTHERS WHITE & BLACK LABEL WITH A COLOUR LOGO:  9362 - 45867 - 1 SINCE THE MID-1980's, ALL WARNER BROTHERS UK RECORDS WERE PRESSED IN GERMANY, NORMALLY A SPECIFIC  'WE' / 'WEX' PREFIX  CATALOGUE NUMBER WAS ADDED TO COVER FOR BRITAIN.    JANUARY TO SEPTEMBER 1995 WAS THE  LOWEST TIME EVER KNOWN FOR VINYL PRODUCTION IN BRITAIN AND WORLDWIDE, EVEN REPRISE IN GERMANY ONLY MADE THE ONE AND ONLY SMALL PRESSING FOR EUROPE ALONE.  THE COPYRIGHT LAWS ETC. LABEL RIM TEXT, IS PRINTED IN ENGLISH, GERMAN & FRENCH.   In 1994, even Pink Floyd's No.1 "Division Bell" album was pressed in the UK in such small quantities, today the few copies that come up for auction sell for incredible figures, so much so, it has been subject of heavy counterfeiting on ebay.   In fact, those rare most sought after early 1990's albums are now available as counterfeit, more than officially pressed !  A disgraceful fact that ebay are allowing to go happen, anyway, after a long time in preparation, The Beatles were about to restore the balance of CD's threatening to end vinyl completely.  On the 20th October, no less than a triple album titled "Anthology Volume 1" brought a change of mind to those who had given up on vinyl, people without record players bought that and 'Volumes 2 & 3' in moderate numbers. but enough to establish the  demand for vinyl had survived, if by the kin of it's teeth!   Today pressings of new titles and an unbelievable amount of back catalogue albums and singles are available, when Rod Stewart's first studio album for four years was released, the sales were virtually all CD's and cassettes, so few records were pressed I doubt if many even know it was briefly on sale.  In 1995 records had been moved into half lit corners and their availability was so minimal, you had to be   determined to secure copies, record fairs were flourishing then and that was the best place to try....not in the record shops! Since joining ebay I have been hunting for a Germany Reprise only pressing of "A Spanner In The Works," thirteen years" later and I am thrilled to have this in such amazing condition, the original shrink wrapping is still 100% present and correct. MAITRIX:  WMME Alsdorf 936 2 45867 -1 - A  / WMME Alsdorf 936 2 45867* -1 - B2   *2 was mistakenly stamped and corrected by over stamping it with '7' by the sound engineer when preparing the Test Pressings. His logo is hand scribed under the centre of Side 2's maitrix, I think it'd 'H G' but the second letter is unclear, this is very important info because such a small pressing means all surviving "A Spanner In The Works" vinyl will have exactly the same error, correction and maitrix indexing.  Counterfeit albums are being made after studying internet sales and obvious rarities, I resent being responsible for that and the least I can do is give definitive identification of authentic rare records.  I have checked, including ebay & Amazon, this will the only "A Spanner In The Works" vinyl being offered for sale on the entire worldwide internet. For once, writing this takes on an acute rarity, the first and the only pressing ever made on vinyl, even as a Rod Stewart fan since 1967, doubling up as a professional record seller, this is also the first time I have sold  "A Spanner In The Works" on vinyl and this is my find of 2014....so far!   I detest terms like 'archive', impossible', 'museum' and all the other negativity certain ebay sellers attach to records, nothing is impossible....unless you think it is.    On the "A Spanner In The Works" inner sleeve is a definition of the meaning of that phrase, John Lennon's 1965 book had a really clever pun of that as the book title; "A Spaniard In The Works".    The inner sleeve has that printed on the side with the picture of Rod Stewart, Rod enjoyed titling albums with wise phrases; "Every Picture Tells a Story", "Never A Dull Moment" & "A Nod's As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse" are good examples, for this stunning come back album, he included this  on the inner sleeve; A Spanner In The Works: (To cause an obstruction or a hindrance) I have lost all connection to itemising the pressing details, that was much more fun, I will go straight to the inner sleeve now! CUSTOM PRINTED  "A Spanner In The Works" INNER SLEEVE, ONE SIDE IS AS ABOVE AND THE REVERSE SIDE HAS COMPREHENSIVE TRACKS AND ALBUM CREDITS ETC.  LINED, BUT MADE FROM QUITE THIN PAPER , AFTER NEARLY 20 YEARS IN STORAGE  IT COULD HAVE BEEN SPLIT OR AGED BY THE ATMOSPHERE.  SHRINK WRAPPING GAVE EXTRA STRENGTH TO THE STANDING EDGE AND SPINE, ESPECIALLY BECAUSE IT WAS NOT OVER TIGHTLY APPLIED AND IT HAS NOT CONTRACT OR SHRUNK.    PLEASE SEE MY PICTURES FOR THE SUPERB, AS NEW CONDITION,  JUST A GENTLE RECORD IMPRESSION, IN UNAGED, UNSPLIT MINT- CONDITION   A CREAM BACKGROUND TO SEPIA COLOUR ARTWORK WOULD HAVE DISCOLOURED WITH USE OR EVEN IN STORAGE. I WAS DELIGHTED TO FIND SHRINK WRAPPING AND EVEN THAT WAS COVERED BY A PLASTIC OUTER SLEEVE FOR EVERY ONE OF THOSE 19 YEARS. I am sure it was imported to England shrink wrapped, that only has light signs of packaging and handling,  any tiny snags are too small to detail.   It was not sealed but finished on the opening sides, as mentioned, the shrink wrapping did not distort the cover at all, no creases or turned corners, I think my pictures illustrate the 'record shop' appearance and why I never grade   shrink wrapped covers unless there is any kind of damage... which there is certainly not here, all the corners, spine and edges are completely covered.  Talking about the spine, the titles were printed on the sepia colour and through the shrink wrapping that prevented my camera from focusing, but no problem, the top ege is a second spine and that has black print on a light cream background.  So that spine can be viewed as a close up picture, along with the bar code, which was of course black and white. I COULD ONLY FIND ONE ULTRA FAINT SPINDLE ALIGNMENT ON ONE SIDE'S LABEL ONLY, BUT THAT COULD BE FROM FACTORY HANDLING OR JUST A NATURAL PART OF THE TEXTURED PAPER.   EITHER WAY, HALF AN ALBUM HAS NEVER BEEN PLAYED AND FOR THE RARITY, ROD STEWART OR NOT, I MUST OFFER THIS WITHOUT PLAYING IT MYSELF.   I HAD BETTER ADD MY USUAL COMMENT, ANY FACTORY HANDLING IS FEATHER LIGHT TO NEAR INVISIBLE, THE RECORD IS IN MINT CONDITION. SIDE 1 "Windy Town" (Chris Rea) "The Downtown Lights" (Paul Buchanan) "Leave Virginia Alone" (Tom Petty) "Sweetheart Like You" (Bob Dylan) "This" (John Capek / Marc Jordan) "Lady Luck" (Rod Stewart / Carmine Rojas /Jeff Golub / Kevin Savigar) SIDE 2 "You're The Star" (Frankie Miller / Billy Livsey / Graham Lyle) "Muddy, Sam And Otis" (Rod Stewart / Kevin Savigar) "Hang On St. Christopher" (Tom Waits) "Delicious" (Rod Stewart / Andy Taylor / Robin LeMesurier) "Soothe Me" (Sam Cooke) "Purple Heather" (Traditional, arranged by Rod Stewart)   Rod Stewart - lead & backing vocals Jeff Golub - guitar Jimmy Crespo - guitar Tim Pierce - guitar Robin LeMesurier - guitar Davey Johnstone - guitar & mandolin   Steve Lipson - guitar & bass Andy Taylor - guitar Jim Cregan - guitar Michael Landau  guitar Lol Crème - guitar Jamie Muhoberac - keyboards, percussion & piano   Billy Preston - organ Anne Dudley - piano & strings arrangement   Don Teschner - mandolin & American fiddle   Martin O’Conner - accordion   Leslie Butler - harmonica   Rick Braun - horns   Nick Lane - horns   David Woodford - horns   The Kick Horns - horns   John McSherry - bagpipes   Dónal Lunny - bouzouki   Máire Ní Chathasaigh - Irish fiddle   Carmine Rojas - bass Bernard Edwards - bass Guy Pratt - bass Mike Higham - bass & keyboards Kevin Savigar - bass, keyboards & squeezebox Trevor Horn - bass Leland Sklar - bass Dave Palmer - drums Paul Robinson - drums Kenny Aronoff - drums Paulinho Da Costa - percussion   Fred White, Lamont VanHook, Joey Diggs, Joe Turano, Aleisha Irving, Oren Waters, Jossef Powell & Terry Young - backing vocals     Produced By Rod Stewart, Trevor Horn, Andy Taylor, Bernard Edwards , James Newton-Howard, Michael Ostin & Lenny Waronker. "Vagabond Heart" was released in April,1991,  almost to the month, it was four years before a new Rod Stewart album was released   and for mere mortals, that was career threatening, then Rod is hardly your average artist!   He kept busy enough, his Brit Award   response was to release  "Lead Vocalist", as the title said, the album concentrated on the bands he sang for, "I Ain't Superstitious"   from the 1968 "Truth"LP with The Jeff Beck Group, from the Faces;" Cindy Incidentally", "Stay With Me"and "Sweet Lady Mary."     Five new tracks were recorded along with the other seven previously released tracks, they were cover versions , then still in   the retrospective theme, "Unplugged...And Seated".  An acoustic set  with Ronnie backing him for the MTV series, saw an album of   the live set released later in 1993, another tough one to locate on vinyl!   Then an American tour took a whole year and 1994 vanished,   but now Rod knew it was time to produce the goods and deliver a very special album to fill that four year void.     I think even Rod's most critical fans will agree "A Spanner In The Works" was as much a masterpiece as his early 1970 solo LP's,   and even those great Faces LP's.  I actually spent 20 minutes deciding which lyrics best represented "A Spanner In The Works",   in the end my love of Otis Redding's music made "Muddy, Sam And Otis" ideal.  What a fantastic song and Rod's lyrics sums up how   the likes of Sam Cooke, Muddy Waters and Otis Redding drastically affected our lives in the 1960's.  Rod did see Otis performing   live, but not in the year he sung about, Otis never came to England in 1965, Rod saw his first UK  tour in the autumn of 1966!   Another of my loved artists has one of his finest songs performed on  "A Spanner In The Works", the great Frankie Miller who   shares Rod's Scottish ancestory.  "You're The Star" can be found on Frankie's"Long Way Home" album and Rod Stewart's version   was so special, it was released as single, no less than five tracks from the album were issued as successful singles.  Another   Scottish connection is in traditional "Purple Heather", what a stunning production that has. My other favourite version was   recorded by the Byrds in 1966 as "Wild Mountain Thyme", comparisons to the early 70's solo albums are because of that perfect   mixture of acoustic instruments with red hot rock performances.  Plus you get a Bob Dylan song, "Sweetheart Like You" is just   superbly performed,  you also have the truly glorious "Lady Luck", complete with mandolins and surely as great as tracks like,   "Sweet Lady Mary" from the Faces "Long Player" album.  "Mandolin Wind,"  "You Wear It Well" and "Maggie May" are also from the   same school of beautiful melodies, performed so exquisitely, you just melt when listening to them.   I have often criticised Rod   for getting involved with "Do You Think I'm Sexy", but when he records an album as incredible as "A Spanner In The Works", all   over the top indulgences are forgiven and forgotten.  His version of Sam Cooke's "Soothe Me", is pure genius and up there with   his r&b dedication to Muddy, Sam and Otis, then he hits you with the surging "Delicious" and you enter the hard rocking type of   music expected from the Rolling Stones circa 1969 -1974.  I could write forever about every track but without playing the record,   I think I should sum up by saying; "A Spanner In The Works" is a joy to hear from a CD but from the very rare vinyl, you really   connect with the music that inspired Rod Stewart and so many others in the 1960's.....Thank you Muddy, Sam, Otis....and Rod!   {Roy}   R & M RECORDS. My lifetime's love of music and records began at a very young age, the arrival of the Beatles and the 1960's decade   in general had a very profound effect. It was only natural to bring all my first hand experience of collecting vinyl   into becoming a professional record seller.  Over twenty years ago now we entered into the wonderful atmosphere of record fairs with the highest possible standards set. When the Internet became the world's new market place for   vinyl, in 2001 it was time to join ebay. Those standards were rigidly adhered to as they will always continue to be, the basics of honesty and integrity were very much part of the era the music I love originated in, so here is our friendly and very efficient service we are proud to provide; EVERY RECORD IS FULLY PLAYED AND COMES WITH A 'NO ARGUMENT' MONEY BACK GUARANTEE.   I USE GOOD OLD COMMON SENSE AS WELL AS A GLOBALLY ACCEPTED GRADING TERMINOLOGY   FROM THE U.K. "RECORD COLLECTOR PRICE GUIDE" BOOK. THERE IT CLEARLY STATES "Sound Quality" AFFECTS EVERY GRADING LEVEL AND THAT IS THE ONE AND ONLY POSSIBLE WAY TO ACCURATELY GRADE RECORDS. i.e. COMBINING A STRICT VISUAL INSPECTION WITH VERY CLOSELY LISTENING TO EVERY SECOND, UNLESS PERHAPS IN THE CASE OF GENUINELY UNPLAYED VINYL.  EVEN THEN WE STILL TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR A RECORD WHEN A CUSTOMER RECEIVES EITHER A SEALED OR AN UNPLAYED RECORD.   MY DESCRIPTIONS WILL ALWAYS BE 100% HONEST AND TOTALLY ACCURATE ON ALL GRADINGS FROM 'V.G.' ( VERY GOOD), TO THE ULTIMATE 'MINT' CONDITION. ANY QUESTIONS ON OUR ITEMS ARE WELCOMED AND WILL BE PROMPTLY REPLIED TO.   WE ARE FULLY EXPERIENCED AT SHIPPING WORLDWIDE AND NO EFFORT IS SPARED TO PROTECT RECORDS AND COVERS ETC.  WE WELCOME BIDDERS FROM ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD. ALL RECORDS ARE REMOVED FROM THEIR SLEEVES AND PLACED INTO NEW PROTECTIVE CARD SLEEVES AND THEN PLACED INTO NEW, HEAVYWEIGHT PLASTIC OUTER SLEEVES. THE GREATEST ATTENTION IS PAID TO MAKING THE PACKAGING EXTREMELY STRONG & SECURE. EVERY POSSIBLE EFFORT IS MADE TO ENSURE A SAFE DELIVERY AND WE ONLY USE THE VERY BEST QUALITY PACKAGING MATERIALS, THE COST OF THE ITEM IS IMMATERIAL, EVERY RECORD IS TREATED EXACTLY THE SAME. WE DO NOT TREAT POSTAGE AS A MONEY MAKING PROJECT, POSTAGE IS LESS THAN COST, USING ONLY PROFESSIONALLY PACKED BOXES WITH SUBSTANTIAL PROTECTIVE PACKAGING THAT DOES WEIGH A LITTLE EXTRA. UNDER PAYPAL & EBAY'S GUIDELINES, ALL RECORDS WILL BE SENT VIA A FULLY INSURED TRACKABLE SERVICE. We have kept all our charges at the same level for years now, but due to the Post Office's new price increases, regretfully we will have to increase the cost of LP's, however, singles will remain unchanged.  Ebay were aware of that happening and have   increased their minimum postal cost for LP's to £7.00, that figure has been enforced by the UK Post Office and it will become our UK First Class, Recorded Delivery cost for albums up to the value of £46.   For LP's valued above £46, the cost will be £9, we are unhappy about either increase but our high standard of packaging has meant in 12 years of ebay trading, there has not been one record damaged, we are determined to maintain that in the present and future. IN THE UK RECORDS UP TO THE VALUE OF £46 WILL BE SENT RECORDED DELIVERY, OVER £46 WILL BE SENT SPECIAL DELIVERY.   FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD ALL RECORDS WILL BE SENT VIA 'INTERNATIONAL SIGNED FOR.' POSTAGE  COST FOR LP's UK: UP TO VALUE OF £46, FIRST CLASS RECORDED DELIVERY  £7.00 UK: OVER VALUE OF £46, FULLY INSURED SPECIAL DELIVERY £9.00 EUROPE: FULLY INSURED VIA INTERNATIONAL SIGNED FOR  £15.00 USA,JAPAN & REST OF THE WORLD FULLY INSURED VIA INTERNATIONAL SIGNED FOR £20.00 POSTAGE COST FOR EP's & 7" UK: UP TO THE VALUE OF £46 FIRST CLASS RECORDED DELIVERY £3.00 UK: OVER THE VALUE OF £46 FULLY INSURED SPECIAL DELIVERY £6.00 EUROPE: AIR MAIL VIA INTERNATIONAL SIGNED FOR £10.00 USA, JAPAN ETC. AIRMAIL VIA INTERNATIONAL SIGNED FOR £12.00 PAYMENT DETAILS. WE WILL SEND ALL WINNING BIDDERS AN INVOICE WITH THE FULL PAYMENT AND POSTAL DETAILS, AS NEAR TO THE AUCTION ENDING AS POSSIBLE. OUR AIM IS TO MAKE YOUR PURCHASE SMOOTH AND TROUBLE FREE. FOR UK BUYERS; WE ACCEPT:  PAYPAL, CHEQUES, POSTAL ORDERS & BANK WIRES. FOR OVERSEAS BUYERS; WE ACCEPT:  PAYPAL, INTERNATIONAL MONEY ORDERS IN POUNDS STERLING ONLY. OR BANK TO BANK WIRE TRANSFERS. WE WILL NOT MAKE FALSE STATEMENTS ON CUSTOMS DECLARATION FORMS AND WILL ALWAYS CONDUCT ALL OF OUR BUSINESS WITH TOTAL HONESTY. AS MUCH AS WE SYMPATHISE WITH THE WAY SOME COUNTRIES CHARGE SUCH HEAVY IMPORT DUTIES, WE WILL NOT LIE.   Pay me with PayPal. I don't charge my buyers extra!