Little Feat - S&D, C/D

Search: "Rock and Roll Doctor", "Oh Atlanta", "Dixie Chicken", "Hate to Lose Your Loving", "Voices on the Wind".

Care very much. I'd search the first 3 albums (Little Feat, Sailin' Shoes, Dixie Chicken) and Lowell George's solo album.

Can't really see the point of the post-Lowell George stuff, but I'm sure it's alright.

Still, classic. Search the first three albums and destroy anything without Lowell George.

The thing is, I really like the way Lowell George played slide, I like his sound. That live album "Waiting for Columbus" has its moments, and I sure admire the *way* they play on "The Last Record Album." I just remembered the other one I like on that one, "All That You Dream." Really nice. And I dig Bill Payne's piano style too, but it seemed to harden into mannerism real quick. This thread has inspired me to dig out "Sailin' Shoes," and I'd forgotten how good it really is, and I sorta like that first album too, Andy.

Little Feat Fuckin' Rocked Tonight!!!!

On the other hand, all Lowell George-era records are not created equal. Time Loves A Hero craps out as far as I'm concerned.

The thing that makes me really appreciate LF, besides the pure chops aspect and George's songwriting and slide-guitar wit, is the weird fiction-making that they were engaged it. They shared it with The Band, and Credence Clearwater Revival, and The Grateful Dead (version 1970), and, to some extent, Dr. John (when he was The Nightripper): There was this imagination and invention of an American musical tradition to which they were the natural successors, but which never actually existed. In LF's case, something like a Disney version of New Orleans, in which Robert Johnson come down from the Delta sat in with Professor Longhair. It was a cousin to Shangri-La or Macondo, a magical source of all stories.

Contemporary Americana by and large doesn't do that (although Uncle Tupelo to some extent did). I miss the ambition, and I miss the fun it created.

Totally. It sounds silly, but I want to drink wine, do speed, smoke weed, and cruise around the high plains of Colorado when I'm listening to Little Feat.

http://www.archive.org/details/lf1974-09-19.flac16

It was recorded for a radio station in Hempstead, NY, in Sept. 1974, and these MP3s were mastered from the only surviving pre-FM tape of the performance, which was salvaged from the radio station archives in 1978. This had been previously released as bootleg vinyl under the title "Electrif Lycanthrope".

There's lots of other live Little Feat on that site too, which I haven't listened to. I burned this one onto a CD-R and listened to it in the car this morning. It put a smile on my face.

The thing that makes me really appreciate LF, besides the pure chops aspect and George's songwriting and slide-guitar wit, is the weird fiction-making that they were engaged it. They shared it with The Band, and Credence Clearwater Revival, and The Grateful Dead (version 1970), and, to some extent, Dr. John (when he was The Nightripper): There was this imagination and invention of an American musical tradition to which they were the natural successors, but which never actually existed. In LF's case, something like a Disney version of New Orleans, in which Robert Johnson come down from the Delta sat in with Professor Longhair. It was a cousin to Shangri-La or Macondo, a magical source of all stories.

That's so right.
Listening to Feats Don't Fail me Now and wondering why Richie Hayward doesn't get the props he deserves. LF were the house band at a hotel where all American music worth the name came to stay - only the Band beat them on this one.

I just downloaded the live concert from up thread, and ohh-boy, is it good... They sound like the Band, if they'd been from New Orleans instead of Canada via Arkansas. Calling this dad rock is misleading. Maybe I could buy it if your dad liked going on month long speed, weed, and wine benders. Funky, weird and filthy.

aww, this is probably one of the first threads I ever started. Sailin' Shoes is so awesome. I wonder if a Little Feat albums poll would generate much in the way of votes/conversation (and if so, if I should include Waiting For Columbus or limit it to studio LPs).

Yeah, that live set totally rules, been enjoying it ever since I found it here.

"Waiting for Columbus best live album ever."

YES!

i can't stress enough how great they all are live to this day. they fuckin' rule. if they are playing some club or county fair near you, GO!

if you've never seen the tv clip from 1975 then damn you are in for a treat... Rock & Roll Doctor

and there is this one from the same show
Fat Man in the Bathtub. Sizzling.

"Waiting for Columbus best live album ever."

YES!

dunno 'bout that. B.B. King- Live @ the Regal tops my live list; but the expanded Waiting for Columbus really improves on an already terrific live set. i agree w/ X'gau that Lowell George wrote more good songs than great songs, but on this set the band is on fire

this is dad rock in the most literal sense ... my dad was a big fan and put me on to them

dug this back out to play "Easy to Slip," and while it's perfect, it actually frightens me more and more every time i listen back, in a solipsistic way. as in yes, it is so easy to fall into nothing at all.

I love "Easy To Slip." That and "Dixie Chicken" were both on the playlist at my wedding.

Fucking great band. I saw them in '90, long after their glory years of course, and they were incredible.

They've done an awesome job reinventing themselves over the last two decades.

Search: Inara George's version of "Trouble" on the Feats' new album Join the Band.

I really like Last Record Album. But i kinda knew them feore i ever heared The Band. I don't know if it worked the other way around.

For me, they kill the Band. The Band is not really my thing at all.

I heart Sailin' Shoes so much.

Don't know why I never posted on this thread - read it a few times over the years. Like everyone else said, Vornado's post about early 70s Americana myth-making OTM. Little Feat, to me, are the dank and dirty roots of it; leavethecapital's "Funky, weird and filthy" captures it wuite well.

What exactly was going on in the late 60s/early 70s with coutryfried-rock? The aforementioned Feat/Band/Dead, Tumbleweed Connection, the Stones, Parsons, Ronstadt, etc. Where did it all come from, exactly? Why then?

don't know if there is a thesis on this thread, but it's all right here:

Can we talk about early-mid70s West Coast post-psych/pop/rock/folk-rock/country-rock?

holy shit, how come nobody ever told me that Robert Palmer's first 4 albums are full of Little Feat covers and backing from members of LF? the "Sailing Shoes / Hey Julia / Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley" medley is incredible, I feel like I just stumbled on a box of records I never knew existed by one of my favorite bands.

Just got done listening the debut for the first time in a long time. It had never crossed my mind before, but is it just me or does "Crazy Captain Gunboat Willie" sound like a letter-perfect parody of The Band, especially the more mythological Robbie Robertson stuff ("The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" etc.)?

never thought of it that way, if anything i thought of it as a vestige of Feat's wacky Zappa roots -- i love that song, though, i think i put it on a mixtape for a friend who's way into stuff like Primus

for personal record: CLASSIC (as fuk). dudes totally epitomized southern carefree-itude in the same way that a lot of rap spawn from the south is doing now. seems like a fun place, if everybody's constantly releasing music under that ~lifestyle mentality~. i think.

I would say "Crazy Captain..." is very, very Band sounding (albeit with George's unique twist).

Little Feat are from Los Angeles, not The South. Lowell George was born and raise din Hollywood.

yeah but the number of references to southern towns/states in LF lyrics outnumbers California references probably at least 10 to 1, so i think they were courting that kind of (mis)perception

Very true! But I would say those references def make them uniquely Los Angeles and that city's tradition of cinematic imagination. George was a Californian who fell in love with New Orleans, it's culture and music. Lyrically, he exuded a rich sense of romance for New Orleans that only an outsider could truly muster. I would say George was more like a classical composer incorporating "folk" touches into his/her compositions. He was kind of like Aron Copland.

(Aaron Copland)

Boogie Rock for the Common Man

that's kind of appropriate since my dad is a huge fan of both Feat and Copland

http://www.littlefeat.net/news.html?n_id=3174

Will these be actual remasters?

I have no idea. Only Waiting for Columbus has been remastered, right? The current discs aren't horrible, but I hope they take this chance to give them the once-over.

cool, there are some of those i haven't heard.
been meaning to get the similarly styled Ry Cooder box set too.

just got this a couple days ago, excited to jump into it:
http://www.amazon.com/Willin-Story-Little-Ben-Fong-Torres/dp/0306821311/

I had no idea that existed. Let us know if it's good.

Decent book. More of a Lowell George bio.

anyone buy the box? Wondering about remastering and can't find squat online.

^^Was wondering about this myself.

I streamed some of it on Rdio and it sounds better than my old cd rips, but I don't know what "loudness" button they insert in their audio chain.

yeah i dunno. may pick it up just because i don't have most of the albums on CD.

book was flawed but a great read. didn't feel it was anymore about Lowell George rather than the band than it inherently had to be to work.

From Stephen Erlewine on twitter: They seem to be remastered but I’m thinking it was done around the time of the Hotcakes box; individual CDs never were issued.

Guess I'm buying it.

Nice interview with Bill Payne on the Rhino site:

http://www.rhino.com/article/talkin-with-bill-payne-of-little-feat?eml=rn/030614/feat4

These are definitely remastered. They sound good on cd for the first time ever.

Got the (great-sounding) box last week. Been working through it--Let It Roll (the album) isn't very good, is it? Too much Craig Fuller.

i heard it a lot growing up and have a soft spot for "One Clear Moment" and "Listen To Your Heart." Representing The Mambo is the better of of the 2 big comeback albums, though.

one clear moment is nice.

i've been listening to a harry hosono box set a lot recently and I swear there are what sound exactly like hosono/little feat collaborations on there but the liner notes are in japanese.

i don't think LF made a record--at least not in the lowell george period--that didn't have at least one classic track.

how come nobody ever told me that Robert Palmer's first 4 albums are full of Little Feat covers and backing from members of LF? the "Sailing Shoes / Hey Julia / Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley" medley is incredible

certainly one of my favorite 10 minute stretches of music of all time

for the curious, here 'tis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNw8U4aCgjE

that 1974 live Ultrasound Studio set aka "Electrif Lycanthrope" mentioned under the fold is so damn good

one of the interesting things i learned in the recent LF bio is that Robert Palmer and Bonnie Raitt were among the singers they considered to front the new lineup. nothing against Craig Fuller, though, he was good, and apparently crossed paths with Lowell and the band a bit back in the '70s.

just about everything concert they broadcast out of ultrasonic was great. worth searching. wlir was one heck of a radio station.

"every concert"

woke up from an inadvertent nap with "spanish moon" at full blast and it sounded like the best thing in the world!

need to buy that box.

that song would make a great drop in a DJ set btw

the recent Live In Holland 1976 record is pretty enjoyable

I need to pick that up.

Out of curiosity, were the chorus bits about "Whiskey & Bad Cocaine" in "Spanish Moon" added especially for the Robert Palmer version, or were they always there, but just censored for the studio Little Feat version? I first knew the song (with the added lyrics) from Waiting For Columbus, so I mildly shocked upon finally hearing the tamer studio take.

good question, dunno. i don't feel like Warner Bros. was in the habit of removing drug references from records in the '70s, though, least of all with the band whose signature song was "Willin'."

yeah, I wish there was a seven-minute 12" version of that studio version

someone could probably make a great dub out of it

xp Yeah, and on an album with the lyric, "Wait 'till the shit hits the fan" in the midst of equally blatant drug talk. OTOH, "Spanish Moon" was released as single, but...who knows? Along with the single mix of "Spanish Moon", there's a neat outtake on the bonus disk called "Doriville" that George harvested the line about "The night the rain froze to the ground" from.

Wow cool track

It might have been cut for the studio. Here's the Ultrasonic studios version from '74 (in a medley with "Skin It Back"), which has the cocaine line (pun not intended), but at the only at the end of the song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wJRAjS3AGA

http://www.farces.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/lowell-george-linda-ronstadt.jpg

Somehow Willin made Atlanta 97.1 The River's top 500 Memorial Day countdown. Number 268 with a bullet. Literally never heard any song by little feat other than Dixie Chicken in classic rock radio.

I used to hear the live version of "Fat Man In A Bathtub" as a highlighted "deep cut"--same with "Spanish Moon", albeit not near as frequently. And when I was a kid, our area station would throw in "Let It Roll" alongside contemporary Petty, Stones, Floyd etc. under the umbrella of "It doesn't have to be old to be a classic!" Although oddly enough, I never heard the other two big reunion radio hits until I picked up the new box.

I had some friends over out by my pool and we had the River on. I was fucking jacked to hear "Willin" amongst the foreigner, heart, thorogood et al garbage that is on this ridiculous "countdown". Also, "blue sky" by the Allmans was like 276, which shows a lot of respect for one of Duane's last performances on wax. That ones in my personal top 5.

I was joking when I said it showed respect by the way. Yes, I'm drunk.

Friday Music just dropped a slightly expanded remaster of Thanks I'll Eat It Here. Have it in hand and it does sound sweet.

Also the list of Lowell's heavy friends on the sessions is mental: David Foster, Nicky Hopkins, Floyd Sneed (the drummer from Three Dog Night), Jeff Pocaro, John Phillips, JD Southern, Bonnie Raitt, Dean Parks, Stephen Bruton...

Shared by the band's FB page this morning, a rehearsal tape from the first lp's sessions: https://archive.org/details/lf1970-08-00.sbd.unknown.goody.131556.sbeok.flac16

niiice, thanks for posting that

"Crazy Captain Gunboat Willie" has long been one of my favorite 2-minute songs, it's really mindblowing to hear it as a 14-minute epic

Oh excellent. Thank you

I swear Rock and Roll Dr is their greatest track. At least until next week when I decide on another!

this week i was working a shoot and the camera guys started talking about Little Feat. always enjoy striking up a conversation with older folks and alarming them with my knowledge of the band.

Re-upping this great live version of Rock & Roll Doctor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9QxFWnUMCI

The versions of Fat Man in the Bathtub & Spanish Moon from Waiting For Columbus were staples of my classic rock radio station in the late 70s/early 80s. So good.

I think Richie Hayward really hit his stride on the Feats Don't Fail Me record. I love how he plays as _little_ as possible. So refreshing -- and the beat is just so relaxed and tight at the same time.

it's kind of amazing how many totally different styles he did so well, he adapted to so many changes in the band's sound over the years that you'd probably assume listening from album to album that they changed drummers at least once or twice.

Willin4Ever

heard on the radio yesterday: nice piece about their visit to nz in '76

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/nat-music/audio/201827361/under-the-influence-little-feat

"Long distance Love" is so good

"Mercenary Territory" on Columbus...wow

Anybody know if the sound on the Rad Gumbo set is better than that on the original Albums series?
I probably need the first couple of lps at least. So wondering what the best way to get them is.

Would love deluxe versions of the individual lps but looks like such things haven't happened and I'm not sure when the last time the lps were remastered was. Not sure if anybody could say for sure about the Rad Gumbo stuff from what I can remember reading at the time of release.

The first four and Time Loves a Hero are the Japanese remasters from the late 2000s. The Last Record Album is the original cd version. Waiting for Columbus is the Rhino expanded edition. Hoy Hoy, Let It Roll and Representing the Mambo are original cd versions.

The box sounds great. I have no regrets about upgrading from the original cds which are what is used in the Original Albums series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3z-GwdaKrn8

finger lickin' groove

good example of a band's most popular song being one of the ones I always skip

the way hayward turns the beat around after the huge slide solo

in mercenary territory, not dixie chicken

LG played on Robert Palmer's first album? Damn

he kills it on van dyke parks' discover america

LG (and most of the rest of the Feet) are on the first few Palmers.

Seems like this would be right in Ace Records' wheelhouse, but somebody ought to do Lowell George: Session Man Anthology.

That would be ace

No mention of LG on the - discover America - Wikipedia page

There is on allmusic though

LF also backs John Cale on Paris 1919, right?

Yup.

Put on your sailing shoes=light it up bro

"Long distance Love" is so good

― calstars, Sunday, December 18, 2016 1:41 PM (four months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is the sweetest song. so many great sounds and melodies.

Yeah! It almost sounds like the blueprint for late 80s adult contemporary Bonnie Raitt. Which would make sense as she used to perform with LF.

Two degrees in bebop, a PHD in swing
He's a master of rhythm, he's a rock and roll king

love the rock n roll doctor.... looking back up thread i see i posted this almost ten years ago. still great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1AWV3F8muI

LG talks a little technique with some German dudes, ya

https://youtu.be/sDF4x1ICbkY

The reason Rock and roll doctor is so great is cause it's a shuffle. Embarrassingly late realizing this.

I guess the "if you like the sound of shuffling feet" line should have tipped me off

this is still the best. peak. all cylinders. the definition of rollicking. anarchy in the u.k.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXsFZjfNCDY

Appreciate your opinion but respectful disagree : )
75 gets my money.

When LG still had his "fighting weight" as some YouTube commenter put it.

I mean slide players weigh in here but ... I find it very interesting that LG doesn't mute the other strings when he plays. I was taught that you should. I play with the slide on my ring finger and my index and middle muting the others. Kind of blown away to see LG playing with the slide on his pinky with no regard for muting.

Mercenary on Columbus is still my fave thing of theirs tho

booming post from vornado upthread

The thing that makes me really appreciate LF, besides the pure chops aspect and George's songwriting and slide-guitar wit, is the weird fiction-making that they were engaged in. They shared it with The Band, and Credence Clearwater Revival, and The Grateful Dead (version 1970), and, to some extent, Dr. John (when he was The Nightripper): There was this imagination and invention of an American musical tradition to which they were the natural successors, but which never actually existed. In LF's case, something like a Disney version of New Orleans, in which Robert Johnson come down from the Delta sat in with Professor Longhair. It was a cousin to Shangri-La or Macondo, a magical source of all stories.

This page has some interesting info on a couple of side projects, including akiko Yano's album and "Chico - the master." Anyone heard this stuff?

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/little-feat-playing-on-japanese-girl.474402/

4 hour road trip with the family and LF will be in heavy rotation. What shouldn’t I leave out of mix?

Put Spanish Moon on there three times in a row.

that'll do er

Rock n roll doctor. Willin’. Two trains.

Stuff from the Lowell solo album ("Easy Money", "Cheek To Cheek", "Honest Man" etc.)

Kind of amazed to discover last night that LG plays on a couple tracks on Kate & Anna McGarrigle.

So it seems that the world keeps on turning but so what

Was always intrigued by their first two albums--they started out as mostly ex-Mothers of Invention, right? Pictured them as living not that far from Beefheart's trailer in the desert. Think some of them played on Bonnie Raitt's excellent version of Chris Smither's "I Feel The Same," and she appeared on at least one of their albums, and there was some talk of her joining the band (a post-LG line-up of LF did very eventually hire a female lead singer, but I don't know how that worked out).

xpost "Long Distance Love" always seemed like a crucial influence on Isbell.

Mike McDonald super backing vox on the funky Red Streamliner...late period greatness

I thought the revive might be about the first Akiko Yano record getting a reissue.

Oh, that’s a good one

Here's a curious artifact

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2jgIQBzQZk

and this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsSl7xOK2Qs

Cool!

While we're sharing vids, here's live in the rehearsal studio one the band made for "Long Distance Love" to air on The Test...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeHlrS-FLH4

Is that the really drugged out one? The boys look tired

How did you wind up getting Lowell George, Bill Payne and Richie Hayward of Little Feat to play on Paris 1919 ?
I loved that album Dixie Chicken. That tone on [George’s] guitar was very sweet. It was the grooves that he had. And after playing me an early cut of that record, [producer] Ted Templeman at Warner Bros. said to me: “Why don’t you use Little Feat as a backup band for Paris ?” He organized it.
one of lots of good tidbits here:https://relix.com/articles/detail/the-shifty-adventures-of-john-cale/
Somewhere else JC mentioned that Wilton Felder, who played bass w the Feats on this occasion (in a studio line-up billed as Penguin), read or at least had the Bible on his music stand during the sessions.

Read more: https://relix.com/articles/detail/the-shifty-adventures-of-john-cale/#ixzz5j8gYBxb4

oops dunno why the link is in there twice oh well

Wilton Felder? Who knew?

"long distance love" is an amazing song, the album it's from gets pretty lethargic in spots though.

half of them have little beady eyes in that vid. v. sad consdering george's fate.

Yeah, it's highly likely all of them are higher than nine sailors on payday in that clip.

It's also weird to see a beardless LG at that late a date.

he even looks svelte? he seems to gain weight pretty rapidly in his last years.

*seemed

40 years since his death this June. Feel like an honorary POV is in order. I’ll submit mine as soon as I sober up

don't know much by this band, but I picked up "Hoy-Hoy!" this week for a coin and have been loving it.
then I see this thread revival, and spot the link to the live bootleg.
looking forward to hearing that.

In the excellent second edition of Ed Ward's Michael Bloomfield bio, updated by ilxor Edd Hurt, the discography incl. sessions incl. MB with Lowell G. and Richie H., also Kaleidoscope's Chris Darrow, and Bloomfield's fellow Butterfield Band alumnus Mark Naftalin on keys---two sets of sessions, both in June '71.
In the first set, they're backing LA actress-singer Teda Bracci: Google her or not, but let's say she's probably pretty spirted on "Jim Dandy, "Jim Dandy {alt.)", "Sweet Thing," and "Wang Dang Doodle." They might be on a Bracci collection, The Lost Tapes, but I haven't found it yet.
The same line-up accompanies Ann-Margaret on "Shine, My Friend" and "Obion Bottom Land"---she's scary-good (feeding on stress) on her solo tracks in There's A Dream I've Been Saving, Light In The Attic's remarkable Lee Hazlewood Industries box (which also has effective duets with Lee)---so I really want to hear her with this crew.
The Bloomfield bio's discography, compiled by William J. Levay, lists all known releases, but apparently these are still in the can, man, at least officially. Is there a Little Feat or LG book?

https://youtu.be/NLFkSJr-PBE
Richie lays it down

I think RnR Dr is maybe their crown achievement
https://open.spotify.com/track/4Dp8KilRsBYHjrklck7Cok?si=fkG7fwIoSCeA6gNV5SXwNg

The same line-up accompanies Ann-Margaret on "Shine, My Friend" and "Obion Bottom Land"---she's scary-good (feeding on stress) on her solo tracks in There's A Dream I've Been Saving,
Interesing. I just looked at the website for this https://lightintheattic.net/releases/963-there-s-a-dream-i-ve-been-saving-lee-hazlewood-industries-1966-1971 and couldn't seem to find those tracks mentioned but maybe this list I am looking at is incomplete.

Ha, I checked that box on Spotify for them too--I think it's just a phrasing fail, stuffing too much information in a comment. I think the tracks in question are post-LHI and unreleased.

I recommend CD4 of the Hotcakes collection. Some hot sh1t. Talking about Eldorado Sam and High Roller. If you’re a head you might imagine what these songs sound like without having heard them, and you’d be right

^^A modified version of that disc (no Factory songs) is included in the big albums box.

Well, yeah

"Doriville" is neat...LG recycled some lines in "Spanish Moon".

xpost you're right; like I said, The Bloomfield bio's discography, compiled by William J. Levay, lists all known releases, but apparently these are still in the can, man, at least officially.

I wish they had a different legacy tune than “Dixie chicken.” It’s decent but

I think both "Sailin' Shoes" and "Willin'" are as well-known & better

"Spanish Moon" has been covered a few times too, seems to be a cover for your jam band groups to do by the Feat.

Always helps having a cocaine shoutout in the lyrics.

I DJ'd this weekend, and did I spin "Seeds & Stems Again Blues" into the '72 version of "Willin'"?

You bet I did!

Commander Cody is pretty good companion listening to the Feat, even if their "Willin'" cover isn't good as you'd think it'd be.

TWO DEGREES IN BE BOP
A PHD IN SWING

Yesterday's day trip was mostly soundtracked by the expanded Waiting For Columbus.

What a band!

You know who else makes good companion listening to the Feet?

'70s NRBQ.

recommend an LP?

Omnivore's been reissuing a bunch of theirs, also a few recent sets (Terry Adams with an all-this-century line-up, I think) The best reissue I've heard is their s/t debut, from 1969, smokin' Louisville backyards and other spaces. Don't know how many of these have been reissued by now, but I liked several of their 70s, At Yankee Stadium, Kick Me Hard, Grooves in Orbit, and Tapdancin' Bats---oh yeah, All Hopped Up has been reissued, but seemed too or wrongly gimmicky at times; they could be that way (ditto the current crew)
And if you really want to take the plunge, Omnivore's High Noon - A 50-Year Retrospective is pretty refreshing, for the most part---as it damn well better be, with 5 CDs.

I was just listening to Workshop, which is what inspired me to post. I've got it was part of a vinyl two-fer with their prior effort Scraps, which might be a good place to start (Sundazed did individual LP reissues). At Yankee Stadium has them starting to get New Wave-y in a way the Feat never lived to reach, but it's the consensus pick and very much worth your time.

I should point out that where the two bands most overlap is in their wacky sense of humor. NRBQ used the Beatles as a jumping-off point the same way the Feat used the Stones.

And while I'm here, let's look at Commander Cody. Your best bets there are their first two: Lost In The Ozone and Hot Licks, Cold Steel and Trucker's Favorites. The two original lives albums are good stuff. Tales From The Ozone is the fine last gasp of the original band. They covered "Willin'" on the self-titled album before that. It's really Country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-TBiCJQVlQ

Once again the overlap is mainly in the sense of humor. Their style isn't that far removed for the first couple of Feat LPs.

RIP Paul Barerre

It is with great sorrow that Little Feat must announce the passing of our brother guitarist, Paul Barrere, this morning at UCLA Hospital. We ask for your kindest thoughts and best wishes to go out especially to his widow Pam and children Gabriel, Genevieve, and Gillian, and to all the fans who were his extended family.

Paul auditioned for Little Feat as a bassist when it was first being put together—in his words, “as a bassist I make an excellent guitarist”—and three years later joined the band in his proper role on guitar. Forty-seven years later, he was forced to miss the current tour, which will end tomorrow, due to side effects from his ongoing treatment for liver disease.

He promised to follow his doctor’s orders, get back in shape, and rock on the beach at the band’s annual gathering in Jamaica in January 2020. “Until then,” he wrote, “keep your sailin’ shoes close by…if I have my way, you’re going to need them!”

As the song he sang so many times put it, he was always “Willin’,” but it was not meant to be. Paul, sail on to the next place in your journey with our abiding love for a life always dedicated to the muse and the music. We are grateful for the time we have shared.

Yours in music,

Little Feat: Bill Payne, Sam Clayton, Fred Tackett, Kenny Gradney, and Gabe Ford.

Well I’m waiting for something to take place
Something to take me away from this place
From city to city, town to town
Running round in the shoes of a clown
I’m that desperate no good desperado

"Walkin' All Night", "Skin It Back", "Old Folks Boogie", "Down On The Farm", "Over The Edge", "Let It Roll", "Texas Twister", "Rad Gumbo"--All Great Songs.

So it seems. That the world keeps on turning but so what

When in doubt , play the feat

I queued up the Ultrasonic Studios 1973 set about an hour ago. Damn, they were special.

Ultrasonic is nice, no complaints here

There was a woman in Georgia

Skin it back is a backup and damn if it’s better than it’s replacing

Don't forget "Oh Atlanta"!

How nuts is it that Feats Don't...kicks off with a defining masterpiece from each of the three songwriters?

I queued up the Ultrasonic Studios 1973 set about an hour ago. Damn, they were special.

The best. Great sound. A+ studio banter. What a vibe!

Shared by the band via Allan Jones on FB today:

Block Me If You’ve Heard This One Before

# 1 Little Feat

There were some stories that didn’t make the published version of Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down that I’ve been wondering what to do with. Thought I might post a few of them during the current quarantine. It’s something to do that isn’t a fucking jigsaw, anyway.

London, June 1976
Little Feat are due back in London to re-join The Who Put The Boot In tour, after two weeks in Europe during a break between the opening date of The Who tour at Charlton football ground and tomorrow's show in Swansea.
I'm supposed to meet them at 10.30 on a Friday morning at the Montcalm, the swanky hotel in Mable Arch much-favoured in those days by anyone signed to Warner Bros. There's no sign of them when I get there, although they were meant to be catching an early flight from Amsterdam. Eventually, someone from Warners turns up with the news that Little Feat are as we speak being held at Heathrow. The band are in custody and their impounded equipment’s being searched for drugs, flight cases and amps and the like being stripped, much like the group themselves, and thoroughly frisked. He has no idea how long they'll be held, but says if I want to wait, he'll book me a room. There's a well-stocked mini bar and food on room service if I want it.

I could, of course, go back to the Melody Maker office, where work is waiting for me. Alternatively, I could, you know, stay here and have a few drinks, some nibbles and maybe a nap. So I decide to stay and wait, trying not to take undue advantage of the record company's generosity, an intention that fails miserably, the stock of the mini bar much diminished by mid-afternoon, Little Feat still at that point being grilled at the airport.

It's early evening when they finally show up, in remarkably good humour and full of apologies for the long wait I've endured with what I hope seems to them impressive professional stoicism. Anyway, I'm here to interview them individually for a regular Melody Maker feature called Band Breakdown. To which end, they troop one by one into my room. Bassist Ken Gradney's first, followed by percussionist Sam Clayton, both veterans of Delany & Bonnie. Next up is keyboardist Bill Payne, who formed little Feat in 1970 with guitarist Lowell George and drummer Richie Heyward, their ambition, as he puts it, to sound like "a tougher version of The Band". Bill's very funny about Little Feat's early days, playing occasional gigs at strip clubs and generally so poor he ended up sleeping on the beach.

The poverty that's dogged the band ever since is something that subsequently preoccupies somewhat surly guitarist Paul Barrere, who joined them in 1972. He'd been working up to that point as a waiter - "make that a servant" - at a musicians' hang-out called The Black Rabbit Inn while playing part-time with a group called Led Enema. "For the next year and a half," he says curtly, "I made less money with Little Feat than I did as an out-of-work musician and waiter."

I don't really hit it off with Barerre who in a simmering hint of escalating tensions to come grumpily spends most of the interview complaining that Lowell gets too much credit for the band's music, which the moody Barerre clearly resents. I get on like a dream, though, with flamboyantly moustachioed Richie Heyward, who's sharp, funny and has great drugs. "We sent everything ahead of us," he says, explaining why nothing came of the airport bust. "It was all waiting for us when we arrived. Have some more,” he says, busy cutting up lines as long as a baby’s arm.

He starts off by telling me about The Factory, the band he played in with Lowell before Little Feat. "It was electric miasma music," he says. "We had a song called 'Car Crash', which was an instrumental that sounded like every violated water buffalo in the world plugged into a Marshall amp."
He then remembers The Fraternity Of Man, whose line-up also included Lowell. "I spent most of my time bailing them out of jail, where they were paying for their enjoyment of nefarious pharmaceutical pursuits and behaviour sub-standard to the ethic of The Daughters Of The American Revolution. The music was revolutionary. An incitement to riot. Anti-police state and pro-pharmacology. Inane, really."

Not long after The Fraternity Of Man split, Richie formed Little Feat with Lowell, who'd just left Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention, Bill Payne and former Mothers' bassist Roy Estrada, who eventually quit to join Captain Beefheart's Magic Band. "Beefheart offered Roy 350 dollars a month," Richie recalls. "Which was exactly 350 dollars a month more than Little Feat, collectively, were earning. Man, we were poor."

We suddenly realise we've been jabbering wide-eyed for hours and I still need to speak to Lowell. We go to his room, knock on the door. There's no reply. Richie suggests I meet the band the next day in Swansea, where I can interview Lowell. So the next day I spend a lot of time in Little Feat's trailer, drinking beer, smoking this and snorting that. I have a grand time, thanks for asking. But I still don't manage to get Lowell in front of a tape recorder. It's agreed with someone that I'll meet with Lowell at the sound-check for Little Feat's show on Monday at the Hammersmith Odeon, which is a gas. But Lowell disappears as soon as the sound-check's done. I don’t see him again before the gig, which turns out to be mind-blowing. There's an after-show party for the band, though, at the Zanzibar, a swish cocktail bar in Covent Garden, at which Lowell is finally cornered. We find a table and against much background rowdiness from the partying mob have to shout to make ourselves heard to each other. Lowell’s constantly distracted by a stream of well-wishers and other people he doesn't know, some of them offering him this, others that. A pretty waitress who catches Lowell's eye brings us round after round of exotic drinks, which we knock back like sailors on shore leave.

Lowell's already kind of what you might call out of it, although not as far gone as he looks like he might get. Whatever, for the next 45 minutes, he's great company. There are colourful anecdotes about his time with Zappa, The Factory, Sky Saxon and The Seeds, The Standells, The Fraternity Of Man, Stephen Stills, Peter Tork, Jimi Hendrix and, of course, Little Feat.

"We're like a Jackson Pollock painting," he says. "You know the way a Pollock painting is never really 'finished'? Pollock painted until he came to the edge of the canvas, that's when he had to stop. He then had a painting. When we're recording, we have a deadline to finish by, usually imposed by the record company. When we hit that deadline, we stop recording. It's the edge of our canvas. That's when we have a new album."

Around now, he's finaly dragged away into the seething crowd and the flashing lights, the pulsing maw of the teeming Zanzibar.

The next time I see him, it's June 1979 and I'm in New York with The Damned. The horrid little miscreants have just played a show at Hurrah's that ended with the band at war with the crowd who seemed only to be there to jeer them for not being The Sex Pistols. "You want anarchy?" Rat Scabies had shouted, a drum stick stuck up one nostril, spraying muck from the other at the audience. "You're fucking well going to get it." Captain Sensible, stripped down to his underpants, had by now swapped places with Rat and was banging on Rat’s drums. Rat played the riff from "Whole Lotta Love" on the Captain's guitar, which was probably last in tune when he bought it. Dave Vanian then reappeared, as if out of nowhere, like he'd just dropped down from the rafters. At which point they'd played "Pretty Vacant", someone rushing the stage to wrestle with Rat, who smashed him over the head with what was left of his drum kit, most of which Sensible had already thrown into the crowd, followed by an amplifier that shattered one of the club's wall-to-ceiling mirrors. A rather lively evening, all told.

Hours later, the Captain and I are in a lift at the Gramercy Park Hotel, where the band are staying. Sensible is by now wearing a fluorescent pink rabbit suit compete with ears and both of us are screeching with laughter at something or other. The lift stops at the second floor. The doors open. I look up, still shrieking with laughter, and there's Lowell George, in town for the start of his first solo tour after leaving Little Feat. Lowell steps into the lift, looks disbelievingly at Sensible in his fluorescent pink rabbit suit complete with ears. Before I have a chance to say anything to him, he backs out of the lift, looking baffled, possibly worried that he's having some kind of alarming psychedelic episode, all that acid coming back to terrify him.
Two days later, Lowell dies of a heart attack in Washington, another good man gone. As he boogies up to the Pearly Gates, I hope the last thing he remembers from a previous life isn't a man dressed as a rabbit, swearing his head off in a lift in New York at five in the morning.

Led Enema lol

https://youtu.be/ZimwfhiuR4M

Live Ultrasonic 1973 so good !

First contact:
"Hamburger Midnight" b/w "Strawberry Flats"
Little Feat (Warner Brothers 7431)

This is the masterpiece. This is perhaps the best record I've heard in several months. As usual, Warner's has picked the wrong side as the A-side. "Hamburger Midnight" is indeed a fine song, reminiscent of Johnny Winter, crackling and sizzling through two minutes packed with incredible energy. Yet it pales against "Strawberry Flats," which must be one of thr definitive statements of "where youth is at today." Dig these {partial) lyrics:

Ripped off and run outta town/Got my git-tar burned/When I was clownin'/Haven't slept in a bed for a week/And my shoes feel like part of my feet/ Let me come down/Where I won't be burden to no-one/Let me around/Give me a hole to recline in...
Knocked on my friend's door in Mooody, Texas/Asked if he had a place for me/His hair was cut off and he was wearin' a suit/ He said,/
"Not in my house! Not in my house!"
/It seemed like part of a con-spir-a-cy.

The singer is "six hours out on Strawberry Flats" and trying to get past the school bus Texas roadblock where they're "stoppin' everybody who looks too weird." The music sounds like the Band taken one step further. and it is difficult to believe that they generate so much excitement in two minutes and 21 seconds. This anthem of the Age of Paranoia deserves to be in your collection and on every radio station in the country, although I realize as I write that it is wishful thinking. The group Little Feat seems to have ex-Mother Roy Estrada, a guy named George, and another guy named Payne in it. Warner Brothers says that they have an album coming. but they're not too sure when. Watch for it, and if you don't believe me, invest 77¢ or whatever in the single.
---Ed Ward 11-26-70 from The Rolling Stone Record Review(Pocket Book edition, August 1971)

The sub

He didn't yet recognize "a guy named George" as another Mother. wiki sez:
Formative years

Lowell George met Bill Payne when George was a member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. Payne had auditioned for the Mothers, but had not joined. They formed Little Feat along with former Mothers' bassist Roy Estrada and drummer Richie Hayward from George's previous band, The Factory. Hayward had also been a member of the Fraternity of Man whose claim to fame was the inclusion of their "Don't Bogart That Joint" on the million-selling Easy Rider film soundtrack. The name of the band came from a comment made by Mothers' drummer Jimmy Carl Black about Lowell's "little feet". The spelling of "feat" was an homage to the Beatles.

There are three stories about the genesis of Little Feat. One has it that George showed Zappa his song "Willin'," and that Zappa fired him from the Mothers of Invention, because he felt that George was too talented to merely be a member of his band, and told him he ought to go away and form his own band. The second version has Zappa firing him for playing a 15-minute guitar solo with his amplifier off. The third version says that Zappa fired him because "Willin'" contains drug references ("weed, whites and wine"). George often introduced the song as the reason he was asked to leave the band. On October 18, 1975 at the Auditorium Theater in Rochester New York while introducing the song, George commented that he was asked to leave the band for "writing a song about dope".[3]
The band in 1975

In any version, Zappa was instrumental in getting George and his new band a contract with Warner Bros. Records. The eponymous first album delivered to Warner Bros. was recorded mostly in August and September 1970, and was released in January 1971. When it came time to record "Willin'," George had hurt his hand in an accident with a model airplane, so Ry Cooder sat in and played the song's slide part.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Feat

I can hear barrere on the composition of “feats don’t fail” it’s cool that LG sings it though

Shared by the band on FB today: their 1972 cameo on The FBI (possibly some of the only footage of the original Feat)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DbUKPKHQA8

Cool
Is it just me or does the early stuff have a real stones vibe to it? LG’s voice too and the way he strains the notes could almost be a stand in for mick

I seem to recall somewhere that the original concept behind the group was Rolling Stones + The Band, which is most obvious on the debut.

https://i.imgur.com/7OQlk6N.png

“Closest thing to Dylan” ?

this amazing bootleg is finally coming out officially for record store day:
https://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/14416

Sweet!

That looks fantastic and I really hope it gets a wider release later because those 5000 copies aren't going to go far.

Yeah, but it's gonna list for $75 or something...

Probably true. In a perfect world it'd also get an affordable CD release in a few months time.

I heard you the biggest HOO
The biggest truck in town

Is every song on the first Little Feat album about long-haul truckers?

"Brides of Jesus" = Jesus Was A Truck-Drivin' Messiah

Companion Piece:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/Commander_Cody_Hot_Licks.jpg

They would later cover "Willin'"

In other news, the current lineup of Little Feat will be doing a 45th Anniversary tour doing Waiting For Columbus front-to-back next year.

They would later cover "Willin'" Yeah, but I think Ronstadt's version is better. They certainly had their moments though. They should: they spent the 60s entertaining Ann Arbor, then, having run out of financial opportunities for professional students etc., they jumped to Berkeley, became student bar faves there, and then opening act for the Dead---especially popular because they didn't jam, I've read---and maybe encourage the Dead to play more country etc. They mixed that with rockabilly, western swing, other compatibles (incl. originals, like the one about being down to seeds and stems again. Also known for attracting a mix of hippies, old trad country fans, younger suits (so also suitable for that era of Austin, Armadillo World Headquarters and so on).
I tend to prefer some of the covers, like their Greatest Hit, "Hot Rod Lincoln," also "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette." Liked most of the first two LPs, 1971's Lost In The Ozone and the next year's Hot Licks, Cold Steel and Trucker's Favorites, also some of the live album. Not so muchthe '75 s/t, which was supposed to be their major move, the punchline of an amazing book, Star-Making Machinery: Inside the Business of Rock and Roll, by the late great Geoffrey Stokes, from a lost world of music, money, dreams, and delusions---familiar elements, but mixing a strange brew, man.

https://i.imgur.com/OFOxCUX.jpg

Yeahhh…now I have this one and Columbus 😎

Analog willin

In a perfect world it'd also get an affordable CD release in a few months time.

― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, September 30, 2021 5:32 PM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

Since this world is far from perfect, there's going to be a more limited edition CD version of the RSD Electrif Lycanthrope.

https://recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/14415

https://www.discogs.com/release/9864342-Little-Feat-Little-Feat

Roll right through the night

I said roll

That RSD CD is already going for sick $$$ on eBay.

Let’s crowd source that shit

there's one on discogs for a somewhat reasonable price.

Lucked out and was able to grab an Electrif Lycanthrope CD for list (plus shipping + tax) on eBay right before Xmas. Just digging in now and HOLY SHIT what a good job Rhino did on this. Sounds like you're right there in the audience. Sucks that if this were 5-10 years ago it would have been a regular release instead of this RSD bullshit.

Very nice !

The Electrif Lycanthrope remaster is now up on streaming services.

Yasss

hello i just discovered Little Feat :D

seriously had never heard them before! they are great & right in my countryfied classic dadrock wheelhouse

Welcome to the fold veg

I was trying to find out about the Electrif Lycanthrope bootleg just recently, the title has always bothered me and I found this on a 100 Greatest Bootlegs Blog.

"Yesterday I received this e-mail from someone who wishes to remain anonymous. They used a temporary email address to protect their privacy but had difficulty posting it in the comments section. I reproduce it below:

Greetings thebasement67 and all:

To begin with, it is very, very kind of you to list 'Electrif Lycanthrope' as one of The 100 Greatest Bootlegs. This is especially delightful considering it began its Fifth Decade Of Providing Listening Joy a few years ago.
And anyone who has not followed your suggestion to get the broadcast is missing an extraordinary opportunity to get a pristine transfer of this performance.

At the time of 'Electrif Lycanthrope''s release, LITTLE FEAT were the definition of A Cult Band. Radio, even FM Radio, rarely played them. Probably more people saw them performing live during those years than ever had ever purchased 'Salin' Shoes' or 'Dixie Chicken". This would, happily, change over the next few years with the next few releases but when 'Electrif Lycanthrope' was originated and released they were far closer to A Well Treasured Secret than Indispensable To Any Record Collection.
Over the years, I have read many interpretations about the packaging. Especially the title. As you have been so very kind in your words about this work, I thought, if you do not mind, I would use this ability to comment here to answer some questions about it.

'Electrif Lycanthrope' contains no misspelled words. It appears exactly as intended. The title was inspired by a motion picture that was been broadcast as the cover was being assembled. Way back when, the US television network ABC ran movies and other odd programming late at night. This night there was a movie about a teenage werewolf that was created by Dick Clark Productions. It was a silly movie but the word "lycanthropy" was repeatedly used throughout it. I liked the overall sound of that word very much. For the cover it was changed to be a singular noun. It was used to represent the transformation we hoped would soon take place to change those who never listened to LITTLE FEAT into those who always listened to LITTLE FEAT. The word 'Electrif' was a portmanteau of two words: 'Electric", for the guitars being played, and 'Terrific', for the way LITTLE FEAT music made us all feel.

The subtitle '(Be-Bop Deluxe)' was not an error and was not listed as a reference to the English band of the same name. It was included as a reference to a genre of music, bebop, with a superlative added and was a phrase used by someone at the Anytown Office to reference any music she thought was "irresistibly cool". Its inclusion as a subtitle was the first of three clues to appear on three different LITTLE FEAT titles on Kornyfone.

The artwork on the cover of 'Electrif Lycanthrope' was from a calendar made, printed and given away by A Local Record Store. It was used because, first and foremost, it was by Neon Park and, just as importantly, the original calendar could be trimmed so that the art would fit the available space on the cover. That the art contained a Rin Tin Tin with antlers and an El Camino Real bell with a quizzical face, both entities seemingly also having transformed, just made it all the better.
It took about two hours to assemble the cover and get it camera ready. Letraset for the titles. A bottle of ink and a drafting pen, as always, for the handwritten text. The final printed piece does not have the Neon Park art in its intended position as the printer changed it after the final camera ready art was delivered. But other than that, it was printed as intended.

By the way, the seemingly nonsensical notes under the song titles, written in and around The Amazing Kornyfone Record Label ongoing mythology, do reference real places and real people. And do tell a little more about the album's creation. For example, the source for "Willin'" was supplied by someone who was, at the time, a Railroad Engineer. And the reference to Second Street was a reference to an actual Second Street and to actual people who gathered in various establishments along it to listen and, particularly, to dance to LITTLE FEAT. Girls dancing are, by definition, A Natural Wonder. And Girls dancing to LITTLE FEAT are far, far closer to Answered Prayers.

I hope this brings a little enlightenment about a few things. And, if nothing else, will answer the questions about the origin of the title once and for all. Thanks again for all of your kind words.

If It's Too Loud, You're Too Old.

Cheers,
THF"

'waiting for columbus' reissue w/three complete live shows...

https://store.rhino.com/waiting-for-columbus-8cd-7.html

How much coke can you buy for $109.98

Little Feat looks like the cast of a dramedy about the teachers at a boys school for the arts that aired for six episodes on CBS in 1987. pic.twitter.com/fGwp96uJPY

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) July 25, 2022

"Catch 'Hangin' On To The Good Times'...Friday Nights Before 'Dallas'!"

lol

special guest star this week: Meredith Baxter-Bierney

It looks like Rhino's official release of Electrif Lycanthrope is getting legitimately rolled out on a standard CD release. (It's available in Europe...I'm guessing in the U.S. soon.) Don't pay too much for it!

To be fair, the photo above looks like it was taken in 1987 too. Here's what they look like now:
https://www.ajc.com/resizer/95ji6KMOR1uiC4vbleyD8PM_oLA=/814x458/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/ajc/G3IOXKTBVNF53JXPRJFMF3637U.jpg

pic.twitter.com/FYZxLbCuLn

— SNL Hosts Introducing the Musical Guest (@snlhostsintro) August 9, 2022

This might be one for the ThingsYouCan'tFindOnTheInternet thread, but...
There used to be a show on NHK radio called Weekend Sunshine, and for a while the DJ, Peter Barakan was using this ridiculously funky instrumental as the opening theme...
Somehow I learned that it was by a band that was a sideproject of the LittleFeat horn section? Maybe just a single album?
I can't remember any names (this was about twenty years ago), but the tune was brass-heavy and at least part of it was in 5/4 or 7/8 or something...

The Little Feat horn guys were actually the Tower of Power horn action, if that helps.

I mean, have you tried messaging the DJ? He's on twitter and instagram and his website even has an email address listed as well ( p✧@peterbara✧✧✧.n✧✧ )

Ha!
Thanks JDHH, I did do a safety google before posting in case the info was somehow online since I last checked (it's been years...), but I didn't think to just go straight to the source... I will try email and report back....

Any chance it's something from this?
https://www.discogs.com/master/453484-%E7%9F%A2%E9%87%8E%E9%A1%95%E5%AD%90-Japanese-Girl-%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E5%B0%91%E5%A5%B3

Little Feat was the backing band on one side

Barakan is a lovely guy, I'm sure he'll message you back.

....aaand Mr Barakan has already replied... what a mensch...

Turns out the theme was and still is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeH3OdgGHso

"Sunshine Day" by Osibisa...

Not at all related to Little Feat (or in 5/4, or an instrumental!), but a stone groove all the same...

New willin'/bogart columbus promo video from rhino this week:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyFKiEDTDJg
It's a bit too literal and clip-arty for my taste, but cool to see the routes from Tuscon to Tucumcari and Tehachapi to Tonopah mapped out.

Holy windows movie maker Batman! Sort of expected Clippy to make a cameo

LOL, would love to see Clippy make an appearance in an IT gig worker parody of Willin' - if'n you give me a PC, coffee and a login ID, and you show me a spreadsheet, I'll be willin' to be computin'...

And I’ve been from SUMIF to ODBC, auto-fill to bring to front

"Sunshine Day" by Osibisa...

Not at all related to Little Feat (or in 5/4, or an instrumental!), but a stone groove all the same...

― m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Wednesday, August 10, 2022 9:11 PM (two days ago)

In the Little Feat Spreadsheet Multiverse, this time signature defaults to May 4

Wow, Night Music delivers...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq5uJOCneJg

^^Maria McKee, SRV, and others doing a "Coco Tree" version of "Sailin' Shoes"

Van Dyke Parks too!

Wow, didn't know about this Feat/EWF connection (from FB):

With 2023 and all that portends for the hope and promise for Little Feat, we were reminded recently of our past by the passing of one who brought a lot of joy to our lives. Freddie White played drums with us for a brief while in the 70s. He brought a great feel to the band, along with some memorable jams he and I had that provided a musical form for “Day At The Dog Races.” Freddie went on to play with his brothers in Earth, Wind and Fire. And while Little Feat morns his loss, we also salute him as having been one of our brothers, too. With all love and respect to Freddie White (67 years old).
Bill Payne

checking out this reconstruction of a 1977 episode of The Midnight Special hosted by the Feat & Emmylou Harris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQAW9fsauT8

Neil & The Horse! Weather Report! Dancin' Jesse Winchester!

Bonnie Raitt!

Awesome!

That sounds cool, will watch later.

Little Feat announced details of their upcoming Fall Tour 2023 which will consist of two-night stands in each city they visit in September and October. The legendary band will perform their classic albums Sailin Shoes and Dixie Chicken at each stop of the tour.

Along with The Albums Tour announcement, Little Feat confirmed deluxe reissues of Sailin’ Shoes, which originally came out in 1972, and Dixie Chicken, which marks the 50th-anniversary of its release this year. The new versions of the two albums will be released by Rhino Records on June 23 with Sailin’ Shoes expanding to include a live performance taped in 1971 and Dixie Chicken filled out with live recordings from 1973, along with other rarities and unreleased tracks.

a couple of bonus tracks have been uploaded:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kHLCx_n1pA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqCTC2bZAZA

Waiting for Columbus t shirt spotted in the wild what are the chances

'waiting for columbus' reissue w/three complete live shows...

anyone pick this up? just picked up the SS 2cd. haven't listened to all of it yet but disc 2 is delivering

Margo Price *isn't* on this!? #onethread

https://www.sweetrelief.org/news/sweet-relief-is-proud-to-announce-the-long-distance-love-a-sweet-relief-tribute-to-lowell-george-album-via-flatiron-recordings

Trouble - Mike Viola
Cold, Cold, Cold - Joachim Cooder
Long Distance Love - Elvis Costello
Heartache - Bedouine
I've Been The One - Bhi Bhiman
Rock 'n' Roll Doctor - Miles Tackett
Be One Now - Lady Blackbird
Love Needs A Heart - Madison Cunningham
Easy To Slip - Jonah Tolchin
Dixie Chicken - Eleni Mandell and Milo Jones
Roll 'Um Easy - Ben Harper
Lafayette Railroad - Larry Goldings
6 Feet Of Snow - Jack Shit
Cheek To Cheek - Gaby Moreno
Two Trains Running - Chris Seefried
China White - Chris Stills
A Apolitical Blues - Dave Alvin
Feats Don't Fail Me Now - Sugaray Rayford
Sailin' Shoes - Taylor Goldsmith
Spanish Moon - Inara George
Rocket In My Pocket - Sam Morrow
Willin' - Jonathan Wilson
Teenage Nervous Breakdown - The Bird and the Bee
Crazy Captain Gunboat Willie - Andras Jones
20 Million Things To Do - Gus Seyffert

yeah but Jack Shit is

For comparison:

The '97 tribute album

Bonnie Raitt And Little Feat–Cold, Cold, Cold
Taj Mahal–Feets Don't Fail Me Now
J D Souther–Roll Em Easy
The Bottle Rockets And David Lindley–Rocket In My Pocket
Randy Newman And Valerie Carter–Sailin' Shoes
Jackson Browne–I've Been The One
Allen Toussaint And Leo Nocentelli–Two Trains
Keisuke Kuwata With Merry Clayton–Long Distance Love
Eddie Money And Buddaheads–Rock And Roll Doctor
Chris Hillman And Jennifer Warnes–Straight From The Heart
Little Feat–Honest Man
Phil Perry (2), Merry Clayton And Ricky Lawson–Spanish Moon
Inara George–Trouble
Lowell George–Untitled

vs.

Little Feat's Join The Band duets set, 2008

"Fat Man in the Bathtub" (Lowell George) featuring Dave Matthews and Sonny Landreth
"Something in the Water" (Al Anderson, Jeffrey Steele, Bob DiPiero) featuring Bob Seger and Brad Paisley
"Dixie Chicken" (Lowell George, Fred Martin) featuring Vince Gill and Sonny Landreth
"See You Later Alligator" (Robert Guidry)
"Champion of the World" (Will Kimbrough, Gwil Owen) featuring Jimmy Buffett
"The Weight" (Robbie Robertson) featuring Béla Fleck
"Don't You Just Know It" (Huey "Piano" Smith)
"Time Loves a Hero" (Paul Barrère, Kenny Gradney, Bill Payne) featuring Jimmy Buffett
"Willin'" (Lowell George) featuring Brooks & Dunn
"This Land Is Your Land" (Woody Guthrie) featuring Mike Gordon
"Oh Atlanta" (Bill Payne) featuring Chris Robinson
"Spanish Moon" (Lowell George) featuring Craig Fuller and Vince Gill
"Trouble" (Lowell George) featuring Inara George
"Sailin' Shoes" (Lowell George) featuring Emmylou Harris, Sam Bush and Béla Fleck
(Bonus Track) "I Will Play for Gumbo" (Jimmy Buffett) featuring Sam Bush

Lot of songs here I don’t recognize, need to remedy that

no one wants to cover "the fan"?

Inara George covered "Trouble" on both of the older ones.

“The fan” is great

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1acnV8OmlPcxKCKhXxWjWC?si=3Vd2G2R9Qm26r6QI9i3XGg&pi=u-cfaAwoX0RFKq

Made a playlist of the lesser known (to me) songs from the tributes

Some classics in there.

Glen Campbell covered "Roll (Um) Me Easy" in the mid-'70s on an album otherwise made up of Jimmy Webb songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gzh3UEjfCk

Four CD reissue of Feats Don't Fail Me Now:

https://store.rhino.com/en/rhino-store/artists/little-feat/feats-dont-fail-me-now-3cd-bundle/081227814588.html

The fourth disc I guess is a website exclusive?

(xp) I'd rather have had an entire album of Jimmy Webb songs (there was also a song by Jimmy Webb's sister Susan on the album too tbf).

I don't usually advise to look into the comments sections, but Fred Tackett chimes in on that Campbell video discussing Webb & George's friendship.

1974!

JoBo has Lowell's last amp:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62fkBF9qeIA

pretty cool!

i went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame two years ago and was pleasantly surprised to see a display case with one of Lowell's guitars AND the famous socket wrench case he used as a slide:

totally didn't expect to see not only lowell george's guitar but also the socket wrench case he used as a slide pic.twitter.com/iz93itIInl

— Al Shipley (@alshipley) July 3, 2022

i interviewed Bill Payne and Kenny Gradney for something really cool recently, will link it when it's up

cool

random fascinating tidbit from Gradney that did not make it into my piece: “I remember management trying to break us up. They wanted to put Lowell in a superstar band with Jackson Browne and [Lovin’ Spoonful frontman] John Sebastian.”

Terrible idea

well, i certainly wouldn't want it at the expense of any peak Little Feat records, but i'd love if there was a whole album of Jackson Brown and Lowell George playing together.

There's probably loads of great stories from that era. about trying to make the the next CSN(Y).

nice to see ya posting, some dude, yes please link here!

^^^

Thanks for the memory aid, some dude---not to derail, I posted Browne live w CSN on his own thread.

oh cool, will check that out

Just because he needs all the vocal help he can get---some kind of group was not a bad idea, although Sebastian might have already been burnt out by then.

“A doctor of the heart and a doctor of the mind…”

Feats Don't Fail Me Now will be officially 50 years old on Friday and my interview with Bill and Kenny is up:

https://www.thebaltimorebanner.com/culture/music/little-feat-maryland-recording-songs-4NNB5P2WAJHKPJRNCWOOWXYHRI/

Nice read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHuNqqOHl0g

Damn

YouTube recommended this to me: A (mostly female) School of Rock group doing "Let It Roll"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgOX_Z6ryVA

The do right by it, but the lead singer could wail a little less.

https://open.spotify.com/track/1L5TjsKRv0OVhqKpIaFlwo

Live skinnin’

“Don’t you know / I’m playing loco?”

I can’t figure out what it is that makes Rock and Roll Doctor so irresistible. It doesn’t have a chorus. The lyrics are about … the power of rock I guess? It doesn’t even really have a hook to speak of. I guess I just like the sound of shufflin’ feet?

It has a whole lot of chords

A doctor of the heart and a doctor of the mind

Sometimes I get the impression he’s talking about a drug dealer friend

Plus it’s in E

Sounds suspicious. Imagine what the world would have been like if Lowell George hadn't discovered a connection between drugs and rock n roll.

Ptob s lot less fun

LG would have been 80 today

From FB:

I was 30 years old when Lowell passed away at age 34 in 1979, and he remains just as I remember him. Today, he would have been 80. The celebration of his life has ebbed and flowed with the years, as his genius is forgotten and rediscovered by subsequent generations of music lovers, but those close to him will always have him in their hearts, and fans will always be reminded of who he was when they hear one of his songs.

For those unfamiliar with Lowell, I can tell you he was a consummate musician, singer, and songwriter, whose talents were immeasurable to those he affected throughout his life, and beyond that short span he was with us. He was complicated. Most artists are. Being an artist requires living a life full of contradictions, while being able to divine how to convey those battles of the soul to those interested enough to hear the tale. Lowell George did it through his personality—he could convince almost anyone that he could see inside you, that he knew your pain, your happiness. He could be a great listener. He could drive you crazy, too. The ultimate window to view him through those layers of complication, though, is his music and lyrics. Listen to “Roll Um Easy” and “Trouble.” Listen to “Fat Man in the Bathtub” and “Mercenary Territory.” Finally, give “Long Distance Love” and “Willin’” a listen. Songs with depth and endless horizons.

Lowell knew love and heartache. His sense of humor was something to behold. It could be sophomoric, mischievous, self-effacing, and easy going. He could sing like a bird, and played slide guitar beautifully, powerfully. His phrasing in both was impeccable. There was a price, however, that came with that innate genius.

He was vulnerable in the long run. That is not a crime. That was where his intimacy lived. His songs convey that vulnerability. That’s what made him human, made him attractive to others.
I invite you to celebrate Lowell’s 80th with some of this in mind. We are lucky to have him at our disposal anytime we want or need him. Send some good thoughts his way with a Happy Birthday wish. I certainly will.

Bill Payne

34. Damn

LG seemed like one of those old souls, like he was 55 when he was 31

listened to an advance of the new LF album Strike Up The Band the other day, some nice tunes on there.

the subject of "Rock and Roll Doctor" is Allen Toussaint! there's a great story about how Lowell created the song's weird structure and rhythmic shifts by splicing together tape from different demos, and then handed that to Bill and asked him to teach it to the band.

I’ve been Feat-ing it up for a few weeks now after politely enjoying the debut for more than twenty years. And I have some observationz.

I can’t figure out what it is that makes Rock and Roll Doctor so irresistible. It doesn’t have a chorus. The lyrics are about … the power of rock I guess? It doesn’t even really have a hook to speak of. I guess I just like the sound of shufflin’ feet?

Spanish Moon is another one. Here again the groove (what the fuck is that filtered delay on the beat?) is just this colossus. Here again, there’s no chorus. Like at all. Meanwhile Lowell seems to be singing about the druggiest, haziest bordello in history. I’m willing to bet 99% of their songs are about dope actually.

Sailin’ Shoes I knew from Van Dyke Parks and the Palmer medley. While I love the slinky version they laid down here, if I was Mo Ostin I’d have fired Ted Templeton on the spot for turning what should’ve been a surefire hit into the sly stumbling miniature it is here. By the time we get to Waiting for Columbus, the tune has been completely subsumed into an arrangement resembling the slowest 12-bar blues in history.

Teenage Nervous Breakdown deserves way more props than it gets. This is some punk shit.

Ultrasonic ftw

"Teenage Nervous Breakdown" kicks ass. I love how on Hoy-Hoy they sequenced the slower early version of the song before a faster live recording, it's almost like they reverse-engineered something like the Ike & Tina version of "Proud Mary."

“Did my time in your rodeos…”

Yes, some dude! I was completely confused when I first heard it. But it’s awesome.

Roll Um Easy is another kind of fascinating miniature. I’ve known the horribly overwrought version Glen Campbell did on the Reunion album with Jimmy Webb (titled “Roll Me Easy” for some reason). This has a bit of the debut’s solitariness in it, all acoustic picking and yearning slide, with an exquisite George vocal and lyric.

I find it often hard to separate what George is singing about with how he sings them – neither seems on its surface to be particularly extraordinary but together he has this ability to turn a simple or even cliche or stock turn of phrase into something resonant. And it feels like (perhaps from Zappa) he has just enough oddball literacy that he knows how to drop a line like how eloquent profanity rolls right off his tongue.