A Spanner in the Works

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	C+
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

A Spanner in the Works is a studio album released by Rod Stewart on 26 May, 1995. It is Stewart's seventeenth studio album and ended a four-year gap since his previous studio album. At the time it was Stewart's longest break between albums. It was released on Warner Bros. Records (WEA 9362 45867-1/2) in The United States, The United Kingdom, and Japan. Five singles were released: "You’re The Star", "Leave Virginia Alone", "This", "Lady Luck", and "Purple Heather".

The Album

The album includes covers of Bob Dylan’s "Sweetheart Like You" and The Blue Nile's "The Downtown Lights". The song "Muddy, Sam, And Otis", is his tribute to Muddy Waters, Sam Cooke, and Otis Redding. Track 12, later released as a single featuring the Scottish Euro ’96 Football Squad, "Purple Heather" is a folk song that normally goes by the name "Wild Mountain Thyme". It is often credited as traditional, but was written by The McPeakes. "Leave Virginia Alone" was written by Tom Petty and recorded for his album Wildflowers, but was left off the finished album and given to Stewart instead.

Charts

The album achieved a gold certification in both the US and UK. In those countries it would peak at #35 and #4 respectively.

Singles

Year	Song	Rank
1995	"Leave Virginia Alone"	52 (US)
1995	"You're the Star"	19 (UK) 53 (GER)
1995	"This"	119 (US)
1995	"Lady Luck"	39 (JP) 56 (UK) 65 (GER)
1996	"Purple Heather" (with the Scottish Euro ’96 Football Squad)	16 (UK)

Track listing

1. "Windy Town" (Chris Rea) – 5:12
2. "The Downtown Lights" (Paul Buchanan) – 6:33
3. "Leave Virginia Alone" (Tom Petty) – 4:07
4. "Sweetheart Like You" (Bob Dylan) – 4:54
5. "This" (John Capek, Marc Jordan) – 5:19
6. "Lady Luck" (Carmine Rojas, Jeff Golub, Kevin Savigar, Rod Stewart) – 4:25
7. "You’re The Star" (Billy Livsey, Frankie Miller, Graham Lyle) – 4:39
8. "Muddy, Sam and Otis" (Stewart, Savigar) – 4:42
9. "Hang on St. Christopher" (Tom Waits) – 4:04
10. "Delicious" (Stewart, Andy Taylor, Robin LeMesurier) – 4:43
11. "Soothe Me" (Sam Cooke) – 3:33
12. "Purple Heather" (Traditional, arranged Stewart) – 4:58

• Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 12 produced by Trevor Horn
• Tracks 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, and 12 produced by Rod Stewart
• Tracks 7, 10, and 11 produced by Bernard Edwards
• Track 3 produced by James Newton-Howard, Michael Ostin, and Lenny Waronker
• Track 10 produced by Andy Taylor

Personnel/Tour

• Rod Stewart – lead vocals, backing vocals
• Jeff Golub – guitar
• Jimmy Crespo – guitar
• Tim Pierce – guitar
• Robin LeMesurier – guitar
• Davey Johnstone – guitar, mandolin
• Steve Lipson – guitar, bass guitar
• Andy Taylor – guitar
• Jim Cregan – guitar
• Michael Landau – guitar
• Lol Crème – guitar
• Carmine Rojas – bass guitar
• Bernard Edwards – bass guitar
• Guy Pratt – bass guitar
• Mike Higham – bass guitar, keyboards
• Kevin Savigar – bass guitar, keyboards, squeezebox
• Trevor Horn – bass guitar
• Leland Sklar – bass guitar
• Dave Palmer – drums
• Paul Robinson – drums
• Kenny Aronoff – drums
• Jamie Muhoberac – keyboards, percussion, piano
• Billy Preston – organ
• Paulinho Da Costa – percussion
• Martin O’Conner – accordion
• Anne Dudley – piano, strings arrangement
• Don Teschner – mandolin, American fiddle
• Dónal Lunny – bouzouki
• Leslie Butler – harmonica
• Rick Braun – horns
• Nick Lane – horns
• David Woodford – horns
• The Kick Horns – horns
• John McSherry – bagpipes
• Máire Ní Chathasaigh – Irish fiddle
• Fred White, Lamont VanHook, Joey Diggs, Joe Turano, Aleisha Irving, Oren Waters, Jossef Powell, Terry Young – backing vocals
• Glasgow Gaelic Music Association – choir
• Gavin Wright – orchestra leader

External links

• http://www.rodstewartfanclub.com/about_rod/disco/album_detail.php?album_id=2
• "A Spanner in the Works" at Wiktionary: [1]