AOTW 1.13.14: Little Feat

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Championed by everyone from Led Zeppelin to Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Peter Frampton and Bonnie Raitt (among others) in their heyday and having turned in one of the best live albums of all time with Waiting For Columbus, Little Feat are one of the true underdogs of rock n' roll.

I stumbled upon this excerpt from a vintage Old Grey Whistle Test performance the other day. I'd love to see the whole thing.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

I have most of these, including the expanded edition of Waiting For Columbus as well as the Hotcakes and Outtakes box but it still looks like a nice collection.

Little Feat announce 13 disc box set

[sactochris]

Dixie Chicken is an amazing record.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Dixie Chicken is an amazing record.

This is one of my all time favorites of theirs from Time Loves A Hero, the first album I remember hearing from them. It was on an old homemade 8-track passed down from one of my older brothers that also included Pure Prairie League's Two Lane Highway.

[Flea]

one of the best live albums of all time with Waiting For Columbus,

An argument could be made for THE best. I could listen to the version of Spanish Moon from WFC on loop.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

one of the best live albums of all time with Waiting For Columbus,

An argument could be made for THE best. I could listen to the version of Spanish Moon from WFC on loop.

That song (and album) never get old for me either. That's not something I can say about every live record in my collection though there's a few that come close like Old and In the Way.

[RevMatt]

Love Little Feat. Been taken to task on this site because I've said that I like them more than The Band. (Love The Band, though.) I also love that their album covers in the seventies were done by the same artist.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

It's all about mood and being in the moment for me. Favorite bands, songs, albums, etc. constantly shift and have never been set in stone. That said, I think the Band, Little Feat, the Grateful Dead and the Gourds have a lot in common in the way they mixed so many musical styles together so effortlessly and seamlessly. Not just anyone can pull that off.

[4sooner]

Just now saw this thread. I had the pleasure of seeing them live as they were touring behind WFC. Braved an ice storm that night to go the 50 miles to Norman. I WAS NOT gonna miss Little Feat. Arena was about 1/4 full so we just high-tailed it right up front. Nicolette Larsen was slated as opening act but was not able to make it into town due to the weather. Lowell & Co played close to 3hrs. Great show.
And let's not forget the liner notes while we're talking album art. Rambling notes with no caps, punctuation, or structure. Just one word after another.
I miss that band.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Just now saw this thread. I had the pleasure of seeing them live as they were touring behind WFC. Braved an ice storm that night to go the 50 miles to Norman. I WAS NOT gonna miss Little Feat. Arena was about 1/4 full so we just high-tailed it right up front. Nicolette Larsen was slated as opening act but was not able to make it into town due to the weather. Lowell & Co played close to 3hrs. Great show.
And let's not forget the liner notes while we're talking album art. Rambling notes with no caps, punctuation, or structure. Just one word after another.
I miss that band.

I can't recall ever having a chance to see the original band. I was out in New Mexico in my brother's traveling medicine show when I got the news of Lowell's passing a week or two after it had actually happened which I read about via an issue of Rolling Stone. Being removed from most media at the time, it still doesn't seem real. I did see the early version of the current band when they regrouped with Craig Fuller fronting them in the early 90's. They opened for the ABB at Walnut Creek in Raleigh, which I enjoyed, especially the full on horn section breakdown during "Dixie Chicken" (not sure if it was Tower of Power or not). Lowell is one of those people that can never be replaced but I do believe they stay as true as possible to the original spirit of the band and the line up is as intact as it can be. With the loss of Richie Hayward, they were robbed of their heartbeat. Truly one of the most unique bands I've ever heard in my lifetime.

[Clams]

Hey kudzu, this would be a perfect artist of the week thread. Can you change the title to add aotw? Our can a mod do it?

[Clams]

Thanks kudzu.

[Smitty]

My first real concert (away from my parents, anyway) was Volunteer Jam in 98 (ish) with Little Feat, Bocephus and CDB.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

I'll always prefer the Lowell George era but on the Craig Fuller tip, this is footage of the Feat from the Jazz & Heritage Festival circa April 28, 1990, roughly around the same time I saw 'em open for the Allmans in Raleigh.

[Slipkid42]

I loved Little Feat. They were very big in the D.C. area. I never got to see them until it was too late. My buddy Greg saw Lowell solo @ Lisner Auditorium the night before he died. I was living in California @ the time. I heard they were gonna have a tribute show for him in L.A. It sold out in a few hours; but I scrimped together enough moola to buy some scalper tickets. Me & my ex took her sister & my 9 month old son up to the show. I'm glad we made it. It was among the most memorable concerts I ever attended.

I saw a lot of tears during this one (mine included):


Lowell had a lot of friends:

[ramonz]

Love Little Feat. Regrouped band played a outdoor summer festival in Steamboat (CO) in '92 that was sort of my last hurrah as a college kid/grad moving into adulthood. Never forget it. No Lowell, obviously, but they kicked serious ass that day.

Interesting tidbit that some of you know: Lowell George produced GD's Shakedown Street. New book by RS's Ben Fong-Torres, Willin', looks pretty good: http://www.sfgate.com/books/article/Willin-The-Story-of-Little-Feat-by-Ben-5089147.php

[Kudzu Guillotine]

On the Shakedown Street tip, here's an alternate take of "Good Lovin'" from the expanded edition from 2004 that features Lowell:

[Kudzu Guillotine]

I've always enjoyed Linda Ronstadt's take on Little Feat songs, here's a couple.

[Hud]

Lots of great shows on archive......like this 77'' show




https://archive.org/details/lf1977-08-0 ... eok.flac16

[Hud]

On the Shakedown Street tip, here's an alternate take of "Good Lovin'" from the expanded edition from 2004 that features Lowell:

Bill Kreutzmann commented in an interview;... Lowell was really like a member of the band more. If we were working on a song and he didn't feel it was going right, he'd just grab a guitar and come into the studio and show us how he felt it. That was one of the ways he'd communicate, and it worked great. I had a tremendous amount of respect for him. The recording was interrupted by the Egypt tour in 1978. After that tour the Dead cancelled shows in the UK to finish Shakedown Street so that it would be released for their tour in the US in late 1978. Lowell George was not available for the final stages of putting together the album and the production work was completed by John Kahn

[Gaetzi]

Cooley could do a great Willin'

It's funny, for such an underrated band everyone that knows them loves em. I've never heard anyone say, 'Yeah, those guys were ok". I have to agree that WFC is the best live album of all time and those first three Feat albums are all amazing. First saw them as a middle school kid in '91 (?) opening for the Dead at Giants Stadium.. 'Dead Feat'- First parking lot shirt I ever bought, can't say I remember their set <-- That's not the 'shocked' emoticon either.

I believe Ben Fong Torres just wrote a book about LF.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

I believe Ben Fong Torres just wrote a book about LF.

Indeed he did, I believe it was mentioned a few posts back.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Where Do I Start With Little Feat?


A publicity photo of Little Feat taken in 1975
Warner Brothers

[Kudzu Guillotine]

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Live In Holland 1976 drops on April 22, 2014 and includes Little Feat's performance at the Pinkpop festival from June 7th, 1976.

[Kudzu Guillotine]

Newly unearthed clip of Little Feat performing on Musikladen in Bremen, Germany from 2.5.75 that was just uploaded to YouTube a few days ago.

[RMD]

Cool. Looking forward to that live release.

[Flea]

Nice!

[Rocky]

Reading this thread inspired me to go listen to some soundboards from '73 / '74 on Live Music Archive. When you have some free time go check out a few. Uhh, wow.

[dime in the gutter]