"The music explodes off the grooves, and this posthumous release may be Spann's greatest achievement".

Pure Pleasure has now reissued this great LP to sit alongside its earlier reissue of ....Is The Blues. It doesn't get any better than this.  

 Recording 9/10 Music 10/10 Dennis Davis HIFI + Jan 2015

While not as universally popular as guitarists, blues piano players had a significant impact on the genre’s development. Names like Roosevelt Sykes, Memphis Slim, Pinetop Perkins, Sunnyland Slim, Dr. John and Ray Charles dot the landscape, but none eclipse Otis Spann. As a long-time member of Muddy Waters’ group (fifteen years), he was an iconic figure on the Chicago scene.  He worked with Howlin’ Wolf, Bo Diddley, Junior Wells, Lonnie Johnson, Fleetwood Mac (the blues version), Eric Clapton, T Bone Walker, Big Mama Thornton and Buddy Guy. As a solo artist he recorded with a variety of labels from 1960 to his death in 1970. His signature style of gritty rhythm and passionate improvisation (always within the blues structures) has become a template for modern rock and roll piano.

 

Pure Pleasure Records has re-mastered the classic Otis Spann 1963 album, Walking The Blues to audiophile vinyl. With some assistance by guitarist Robert Lockwood Jr. and legendary vocalist St. Louis Jimmy (James Oden), seminal blues comes to life in modern technology

 

Pure Pleasure Records continues to be the leader in re-mastering blues records. This vinyl pressing is devoid of surface noise and hissing. The tonality of Spann’s piano is sharp, maintaining the percussive essence. His voice is emotional, with considerable warmth. Lockwood’s guitar is not always prominent in the mix, but this does not mitigate the resonance of the music. Walking The Blues is an essential American blues album!.

 

 

Pure Pleasure Records
The Restoration of the Art of Sound
180g Vinyl Mastered From The Best Available Sources

At the beginning of the 90s, in the early days of audiophile vinyl re-releases, the situation was fairly straightforward. Companies such as DCC, Mobile Fidelity, Classic Records and, of course, Pure Pleasure all maintained a mutual, unwritten ethical code: we would only use analogue tapes to manufacture records. During the course of the present vinyl hype, many others have jumped on the bandwagon in the hope of securing a corner of the market. Very often they are not so ethical and use every imaginable source to master from: CDs, LPs, digital files, MP3s – or employed existent tools from the 80s and 90s for manufacturing.

A digital delay is gladly used when cutting a lacquer disc because tape machines with an analogue delay have become quite rare and are therefore expensive. When cutting the lacquer, the audio signal is delayed by one LP revolution against the signal, which controls the cutter head, and for this a digital delay is very often employed. Of course, the resultant sound signal is completely digital and thus only as good as this delay.

We should like to emphasize that Pure Pleasure Records on principle only uses the original master tape as the basis for the entirely analogue cutting of lacquer discs. In addition, the pressing tool is newly manufactured as a matter of principle. We only employ existing tools for manufacturing if an improved result is not forthcoming, e.g. the title Elvis Is Back, which was mastered by Steve Hoffman and Kevin Gray, or several titles from our Philips Classics series, which in any case Willem Makkee cut from the original masters at the Emil Berliner Studios in the 90s. It goes without saying that we only used the mother and that new tools were made for our production. To put it in a nutshell: we can ensure you that our releases are free from any kind of digital effects and that the lacquer discs are newly cut.

There really is nothing quite like it.  It’s the touch, the feel, you have to stop and stare, the cover,  the real thing, even the smell.

Its tangible, you can feel it, see it, study it,   muse/dream over it, it’s real, someone  has spent hours and hours over its construction and presentation. Pure Pleasure Records is just that, Pure Pleasure and that is what it has set out to be.  

The music and the physical record.  Something to keep, treasure, admire and above all enjoy.Of course with vinyl it’s not just a record, it’s the cover,  the sleeve notes, you are  holding a unique package, produced by craftsmen.

Pure Pleasure  Records bring you vinyl albums of quality Jazz - Blues - R+B - Soul - Funk, remastered by some of the best engineers in the world and pressed on 180 gram audiophile vinyl at what is probably the best pressing plant in Europe 

Pure Analogue Audiophile Mastering
 
Plated and Pressed at Pallas in Germany on 180 Gram Virgin Vnyl
 
Released in Limited Quantities

PALLAS