Little Feat – Aurora Backseat (1973)

Little Feat is an American rock band formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles. George disbanded the group because of creative differences shortly before his death in 1979. Surviving members re-formed Little Feat in 1987 and the band has remained active to the present.

The band’s music is a mixture of rock and roll, blues, country, R&B[7] and jazz.

Guitarist Jimmy Page stated Little Feat was his favorite American band in a 1975 Rolling Stone interview. (wikipedia)

Here is another version of a popular Little Feat show – this one is uploaded by bluebomber.

The bootleg known as “Aurora Backseat” is from this show. Also known as “No Head No Backstage Pass”. This album is of crucial interest to any Feat Heads. This is one of the only known recordings of Eldorado Slim. A cookin’ instrumental that never quite made it on to any official release. Great story from Lowell at the front end and another just before Apolitical Blues. The man was a wag.

My copy had a lot of annoying digi pops and some crackles and clicks/rumble that come from a vinyl record. This is a pretty good soundboard recording with a rare Eldorado Slim played. Thnx to Goldwate for this seed.

Thanks to bluebomber for sharing the show at Dime. (big-o magazine)

Recorded live at the Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA; March 20, 1973. Very good FM broadcast (vinyl rip)

Personnel:
Paul Barrére (guitar, vocals)
Sam Clayton (percussion, vocals)
Lowell George (vocals,  guitar, slide-guitar)
Kenny Gradney (bass)
Richie Hayward (drums, vocals)
Bill Payne (keyboards, vocals)

Alternate front + backcover:

Tracklist:
01. Eldorado Slim (unknown) 13.44
02. Got No Shadow (Payne) 5.42
03. The Fan (Lipsey/Shaw) 4.24
04. Cold Cold Cold (Payne) 4.19
05. Dixie Chicken (George/Martin) 4.01
06. Triple Face Boogie (Hayward/Payne) 4.52
07. Apolitical Blues (George) 4.57
08. Chevy 39 (unknown)  3.26

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More from Little Feat:

The official website:

Little Feat – Sailin Shoes (1972)

Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles. George disbanded the group due to creative differences in 1979, shortly before his death. Surviving members re-formed Little Feat in 1987 and the band has remained active to the present.

Over its 50-year history, the band’s music has remained an eclectic blend of swamp pop, rock and roll, blues, boogie, country, folk, blues rock, soul, New Orleans R&B and swamp rock influences..

Guitarist Jimmy Page stated Little Feat was his favorite American band in a 1975 Rolling Stone interview.

Sailin’ Shoes is the second studio album by the American rock band Little Feat, released in 1972.

Little Feat’s sophomore effort, the Ted Templeman produced Sailin’ Shoes marked a shift from the sound of the band’s first album, Little Feat, to that of their next album, Dixie Chicken. It also introduced the cover artwork of Neon Park to the group, and was the last album appearance of original bassist Roy Estrada.

Highlighted by a reworked group version of “Willin'”, it also featured such enduring tracks as “A Apolitical Blues,” “Easy to Slip” and the title track, all by guitarist and lead vocalist Lowell George, the second co-written with Martin Kibbee, credited as “Fred Martin”, a former bandmate from The Factory, and the first appearance of the “George/Martin” credit on a Little Feat record.

The track “Texas Rose Cafe” is a tribute to a post-Houston concert visit by Lowell George and others to the hippie restaurant/club/beer garden. During refreshments upstairs George had said that he liked the place so much that he was going to write a song about it and it would be on their next album. It turned out to be true and not just so much “beer talk”.

It was the last full Little Feat record to be produced by an outsider until 1977’s Time Loves a Hero, with each of the three interim albums being produced almost entirely by Lowell George.

Noted Los Angeles-based session percussionist Milt Holland played percussion on “Easy to Slip” and “Trouble” and he also played tabla on the follow-up album Dixie Chicken. Ron Elliott of the Beau Brummels played rhythm guitar on “A Apolitical Blues” and Debbie Lindsey provided the female vocals on “Cold, Cold, Cold” and the title track.

In 1972 Van Dyke Parks covered “Sailin’ Shoes” on his album Discover America, while in 1973, the Scottish hard rock band Nazareth covered “Teenage Nervous Breakdown” on their album Loud ‘n’ Proud.

In 1974 backed by The Meters and Lowell George, Robert Palmer covered “Sailin’ Shoes” on his debut solo album Sneakin’ Sally Through the Alley.

In 1988 Van Halen recorded a cover of “A Apolitical Blues” on their album, OU812, although the song is not included on some cassette and some original vinyl copies of the album.

It was voted number 469 in the third edition of Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).

With his design for a “sailing shoe” of a cake swinging on a tree swing, the album’s front cover by Neon Park seems to be an allusion to The Swing by painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Park himself said of the cover: “The Sailin’ Shoes cover was inspired by Louis XIV. I’d just seen Rossellini’s film about Louis XIV. And it seemed to relate a lot to Hollywood. A situation ruled by someone who kept everybody under his thumb by keeping them in hock from buying fancy clothes seemed to relate to Hollywood somehow. Actually, the only thing that was missing was the Hollywood sign, which I was going to put in the background. I thought that would be gauche. But I had a chance to pick up on that later with The Last Record Album.”

The cover design also includes a giant snail and Mick Jagger dressed as Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy – Park had been inspired by the film Performance. (wikipedia)

Little Feat’s debut may have been a great album but it sold so poorly, they had to either broaden their audience or, in all likelihood, they’d be dropped from Warner. So, Sailin’ Shoes is a consciously different record from its predecessor – less raw and bluesy, blessed with a varied production and catchier songs. That still doesn’t make it a pop record, since Little Feat, particularly in its first incarnation, was simply too idiosyncratic, earthy and strange for that. It is, however, an utterly thrilling, individual blend of pop, rock, blues and country, due in no small part to a stellar set of songs from Lowell George. If anything, his quirks are all the more apparent here than they were on the debut, since Ted Templeman’s production lends each song its own character, plus his pen was getting sharper.

George truly finds his voice on this record, with each of his contributions sparkling with off-kilter humor, friendly surreal imagery and humanity, and he demonstrates he can authoritatively write anything from full-throttle rock & roll (“Teenage Nervous Breakdown”), sweet ballads (“Trouble,” a sublimely reworked “Willin'”), skewered folk (“Sailin’ Shoes”), paranoid rock (“Cold, Cold, Cold”) and blues (“A Apolitical Blues”) and, yes, even hooky mainstream rock (“Easy to Slip,” which should have been the hit the band intended it to be). That’s not to discount the contributions of the other members, particularly Bill Payne and Richie Hayward’s “Tripe Face Boogie,” which is justifiably one of the band’s standards, but the thing that truly stuns on Sailin’ Shoes is George’s songwriting and how the band brings it to a full, colorful life. Nobody could master the twists and turns within George’s songs better than Little Feat, and both the songwriter and his band are in prime form here. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

Personnel:
Roy Estrada (bass, background vocals)
Lowell George – guitar, vocals, harmonica, saxophone, drum machine)
Richie Hayward (drums, percussion, background vocals)
Bill Payne (keyboards, accordion, vocals on 10., background vocals)
+
Ron Elliott (guitar on 06.)
Milt Holland (percussion on 01. + 03.)
Sneaky Pete Kleinow (pedal steel guitar on 05. + 11.)
Debbie Lindsey (background vocals on 02. + 07.)

Tracklist:
01. Easy To Slip (George/Martin) 3.23
02. Cold, Cold, Cold (George) 4.01
03. Trouble (George) 2.19
04. Tripe Face Boogie (Hayward/Payne) 3.16
05. Willin’ (George) 2.58
06. A Apolitical Blues (George) 3.28
07. Sailin’ Shoes (George) 2.53
08. Teenage Nervous Breakdown (George) 2.14
09. Got No Shadow (Payne) 5.09
10. Cat Fever (Payne) 4.37
11. Texas Rose Café (George) 3.43

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More from Little Feat:

 

Little Feat – Live At Winterland (1976)

Few bands that formed in the early 1970s have managed to survive and continue touring to the present day. Little Feat is one of the few that have, in no small part due to their outstanding musicianship and the idiosyncratic songwriting of founding member, Lowell George, which has stood the test of time.

This 1976 Winterland performance is one of the finest examples of Little Feat during the prime years of Lowell George, when the group had established a reputation as one of the most exciting and original bands on the planet. Lowell George’s innate ability to craft songs with sophisticated melodies and intriguing lyrics, as well as the high production standards on the groups studio recordings, were key to the group’s popularity and longevity. However, it was concert performances, such as this one, that truly established such a dedicated fan base that remains to the present day.

This concert, when Little Feat was opening for Electric Light Orchestra, remains one of their most legendary performances. Broadcast live on KSAN radio, parts of this performance were immediately bootlegged to vinyl and rapidly began circulating under various titles, the most common being “Rampant Syncopatio” and “Chinese Bejeezus,” titles rumored to have been supplied by Lowell George himself.

It’s no wonder that this performance became so popular, as it captures the band at the peak of the “Lowell George era,” promoting the release of The Last Record Album. This album signaled the emergence of jazzier elements being incorporated into the bands sound, as well as stronger contributions from guitarist Paul Barrere and keyboardist Bill Payne, which added greater diversity to the group’s material.

The recording kicks off with a smokin’ version of “Apolitical Blues,” followed by a double dose of funky New Orleans flavored rock, with sizzling takes of “Skin It Back” transitioning into “Fat Man In The Bathtub.” This establishes a deep groove that continues to intensify as the set progresses.

The middle of the set features several outstanding new songs by Barrere and Payne, “One Love Stand” and “All That You Dream,” proving them a songwriting force to be reckoned with. Sandwiched between is an outstanding performance of Allen Toussaint’s classic “On Your Way Down.”

As great as this aforementioned material is, the set rises to another level entirely, when the band launches into “Cold, Cold, Cold.” This is Lowell George at his most astounding; not only singing like his life depended on it, but playing devastatingly great slide guitar. His slide guitar technique, which utilized a Sears & Roebuck 11/16ths spark-plug socket wrench rather than the traditional glass or steel finger tube, is absolutely incredible here and utterly unique.

“Cold, Cold Cold” gives way to the ever popular “Dixie Chicken,” one of the bands most popular songs, here featuring an extended jam that lets the band stretch out a bit. This eventually builds in intensity and transforms into a searing version of “Tripe Face Boogie.” A solo section, first showcasing the percussion stylings of Sam Clayton and Richie Hayward, followed by an impressive keyboard improvisation by Bill Payne, is featured before they finish pummeling the audience into submission with the conclusion of “Tripe Face Boogie.”

Seemingly in no hurry to hear the headliners, Electric Light Orchestra, the Winterland audience clamors for more. The band returns to the stage and Lowell leads them through the composition that helped facilitate him leaving The Mothers of Invention and forming Little Feat in the first place, “Willin’.” (He elaborates on this prior to beginning the song.)

They close this incredible set with a ferocious take of “Teenage Nervous Breakdown.” (wolfgangs.com)

We are being treated so-well-of-late with the influx of live LITTLE FEAT from the 1970’s being re-issued for us, & often now as legal tender, officially released bootlegs…I didn’t use the word re-release, as often these gems are being retitled, so be prepared for these realities to make identification very complicated even now, yet alone in the future…It would be very much worthwhile to check the recording dates etc & compare with other similar titles already in print, or freely available from the LITTLE FEAT Archive, to save your hard-earned money from being poached, as it’s really all up to you !

So, what do we have here ?…This is I believe is the first known CD release of a bootleg that was circulated back in the mid-70’s with amongst other titles, called “Rampant Synchopatio”… Only here, I dare say, you receive the whole show, with over approx 70-minutes of great music, as evidenced by the mixing-in of instrumentation during the opening track of Apolitical Blues. This was needed for the Radio Broadcasters to balance-out the bands sound, & once finished & settled in, you would agree that KSAN – Radio did a fine job ! (by Gregster)

Personnel:
Paul Barrére (guitar, vocals)
Sam Clayton (percussion, vocals)
Lowell George (guitar, vocals)
Kenny Gradney (bass, vocals)
Richie Hayward (drums, vocals)
Bill Payne (keyboards, vocals)

Alternate front + backcover (9 tracks only):

Tracklist:
01. Introduction 1.08
02. A Apolitical Blues (Barrére) 3.29
03. Skin It Back (George) 5.26
04. Fat Man In The Bathtub (Payne/Gradney/Barrére) 5.33
05. One Love Stand (Payne/Gradney/Barrére) 4.16
06. Rock And Roll Doctor (George/Martin) 5.15
07. On Your Way Down (Toussaint) 7.23
08. All That You Dream (Barrére/Payne) 5.05
09. Cold Cold Cold /George) 6.03
10. Dixie Chicken (George/Martin) 8.22
11. Tripe Face Boogie (Payne/Hayward) 7.39
12. Willin’ (George) / Band introduction 5.08
13. Teenage Nervous Breakdown (George) 4.18

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More Little Feat:

Little Feat – Highwire Act – Live In St. Louis 2003 (2003)

Highwire Act: Live in St. Louis 2003 is the fifth live album by the American rock band Little Feat, released in 2004. (see 2004 in music). There was also a video of the same performance released on DVD.

Essentially, this double-disc set is the soundtrack to the DVD of the same name. Sonically, it is sublime; the subtleties of a live performance are all left in. The interplay between guitarists Fred Tackett and Paul Barrére is exceptional, as are the drop-dead-on-a-dime fills of keyboardist Bill Payne. The track selection leans a little more to the classic side of Little Feat’s vast catalog, with many tracks from the 1970s in the set, including “Time Loves a Hero,” “Skin It Back,” “Old Folks Boogie,” “Oh Atlanta,” “Spanish Moon,” “Dixie Chicken,” “Tripe Face Boogie,” “Fat Man in the Bathtub,” “Willin’,” and “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now.” The latter material is served well, too, particularly “I’d Be Lyin’,” by new lead vocalist (though she has been with the band for a decade) Shaun Murphy, and Bill Payne’s “Cadillac Hotel.” And while it’s fair to say that this is the band’s best live outing since Waiting for Columbus, it in no way gets to the emotional and performance heights that classic slab did, even if the band does play “better” now. This set will not likely win the band any new fans, but if you’re one of those who stuck it out after the passing of Lowell George, this collection might just be the thing you’re looking for. (by Thom Jurek)

Little Feat and the Allman Brothers Band have much in common. Both bands incurred losses of integral personnel (Lowell George in the case of Little Feat and Duane Allman in the case of the Allman Brothers Band). Both bands realized a fallow, sub-productive period following these losses. And both bands emerged from the 20th Century with a second wind that can be boasted by few other rock groups founded in the late 1960s. Corporately, both bands took creative control of their band books and subsequently released new studio recordings showing plainly that these bands were not finished doing their thing, but were just getting started on their second wind.

The Allman Brothers Band have recently released One Way Out , a concert token recorded during the band’s 2003 stand at New York City’s Beacon Theater. The band reprised much of their old material but also showed they were prepared to create new concert standards for themselves. Now Little Feat has done (continued to do) the same thing with their new live recording, Highwire Act Live in St. Louis 2003. This concert, recorded in St. Louis Missouri in mid-2003 and released as a DVD, was so popular that it has now been released as a two-CD set.

One might ask, “Do we really need one more live Little Feat Recording.” When the playing is as impassioned as this (and just like mirror situation with the Allman Brothers Band), there can conceivable never be too many live recordings by Little Feat. Both bands have clearly benefited by the addition of new band members and then the stabilization of their respective lineups. In the case of Little Feat, it was the final addition of songstress Shaun Murphy and long time Feat associate (and fellow Arkansan) Fred Tackett to the fold that has brought the band to its current high level of creativity.

On Highwire Act Live in St. Louis 2003 the band retains several song combinations they have used on past live recordings. “Spanish Moon” and “Skin It Back” are coupled, as they should be, as well as “Dixie Chicken “and” Tripe Face Boogie” and “Time Loves a Hero” with “Day or Night.” The concert characteristic that makes Little Feat a darling of the Jam Band bunch is the propensity Feat has for rearranging their songs from one performance to the next. This is most beautifully illustrated when considering this present “Dixie Chicken” with that previously released on the band’s last disc, Down Upon the Suwannee River . On the latter recording, Paul Barrere introduces “Chicken” with a potently humid “Lafayette Railroad,” which was originally released on the LP Dixie Chicken. This present “Chicken” begins with a shuffle vamp that includes an eerily Miles Davis open bell from Fred Tackett. In both cases it is Bill Payne who is the real star, weaving 300 years of piano science into each performance.

The “new” (read, post-Lowell George) Little Feat classics included are “Cadillac Hotel” form 1995’s Ain’t Had Enough Fun and “Cajun Girl” and “Let it Roll” from 1988’s Let it Roll. “Let it Roll” has become a veritable concert favorite with its whiplash hooks and Barrere extends the interior of the piece with some white-hot riffing. Little Feat’s most recent recording, Kickin’ It At the Barn , provides its two best songs, Barrere’s “Night on the Town,” featuring some inspired acoustic slide by the guitarist, and Shaun Murphy’s swampy “I’d Be Lyin’.”

One of the biggest differences between the Lowell George brand of live Little Feat and the present band?s live performance is in the production. Lowell George favored a lean finesse sound while Barrere and Payne have opted for a wall-of-sound mixing that takes advantage of the sheer power as a live band Little Feat is able to express. This power is evident on Live From Neon Park , but was not in as full of bloom as outtakes found on Ripe Tomatos, Volume 1 and Raw Tomatos, Volume 1. I readily cite “Rock & Roll Doctor” from on Raw Tomatos, Volume 1. The music is characterized by sheer momentum, urgent and unstoppable. (C. Micheal Bailey)

Personnel:
Paul Barrere (guitar, vocals)
Sam Clayton (percussion, vocals)
Kenny Gradney (bass)
Richie Hayward (drums, vocals)
Shaun Murphy (percussion, vocals)
Bill Payne (keyboards, vocals)
Fred Tackett (trumpet, vocals)

Tracklist:

CD 1:
01. Introduction / Time Loves A Hero (Barrère/Gradney/Payne) 5.59
02. Day Or Night (Payne/Tate) 9.48
03. Cadillac Hotel (Payne/Wray) 6.47
04. Spanish Moon (George) 8.26
05. Skin It Back (Barrère) 6.41
06. Cajun Girl (Kibbee/Payne) 6.42
07. Night On The Town (Barrère/Tackett) 5.59
08. I’d Be Lyin’ (Creamer/Mariani/Murphy) 5.35
09. The Blues Don’t Tell It All (Murphy/Payne) 6.20

CD 2:
01. Old Folks Boogie (Barrère) 7.19
02. Oh Atlanta (Payne) 4.53
03. Dixie Chicken (George/Kibbee) 17.45
04. Tripe Face Boogie (Hayward/Payne) 7.18
05. Fat Man In The Bathtub (George) 11.45
06. Let It Roll (Barrère/Kibbee/Payne) 9.30
07. Willin’ (George) 8.07
08. Feats Don’t Fail Me Now (Barrère/George/Kibbee) 5.26

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Little Feat – Same (1971)

Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles. George disbanded the group due to creative differences in 1979, shortly before his death. Surviving members reformed Little Feat in 1987, remaining intermittently active to the present.

Little Feat is the first studio album by the rock band Little Feat. It was released in 1971 on Warner Bros. Records.

The album was recorded mostly during sessions between August and September 1970. Its sound is in a similar vein as the band’s more widely known later recordings, such as 1973’s Dixie Chicken and 1978’s Waiting For Columbus. The record features Little Feat’s Mk. 1 line-up, with Roy Estrada on bass. It was the first of eight albums by the band before its initial 1979 break-up. The cover shows a mural, “Venice in the Snow”, which was painted by the L. A. Fine Arts Squad in 1970 in Venice, Los Angeles. In 2007, the album was released as a gold CD through the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. (by wikipedia)

It sold poorly (around 11,000 copies) and the band never cut anything like it again, but Little Feat’s eponymous debut isn’t just one of their finest records, it’s one of the great lost rock & roll albums. Even dedicated fans tend to overlook the album, largely because it’s the polar opposite of the subtly intricate, funky rhythm & roll that made their reputation during the mid-’70s. Little Feat is a raw, hard-driving, funny and affectionate celebration of American weirdness, equal parts garage rock, roadhouse blues, post-Zappa bizarreness, post-Parsons country rock and slightly bent folk storytelling. Since it’s grounded in roots rock, it feels familiar enough, but the vision of chief songwriter/guitarist/vocalist Lowell George is wholly unique and slightly off-center. He sees everything with a gently surreal sense of humor that remains affectionate, whether it’s on an ode to a “Truck Stop Girl,” the weary trucker’s anthem “Willin’,” or the goofy character sketch of the crusty old salt “Crazy Captain Gunboat Willie.”

That affection is balanced by gutsy slices of Americana like the careening travelogue “Strawberry Flats,” the darkly humorous “Hamburger Midnight” and a jaw-dropping Howlin’ Wolf medley guest-starring Ry Cooder, plus keyboardist Bill Payne’s terrific opener “Snakes on Everything.” The songwriting itself is remarkable enough, but the band is its equal — they’re as loose, vibrant and alive as the Stones at their best. In most respects, this album has more in common with George’s earlier band the Factory than the rest of the Little Feat catalog, but there’s a deftness in the writing and performance that distinguishes it from either band’s work, which makes it all the more remarkable. It’s a pity that more people haven’t heard the record, but that just means that anyone who owns it feels like they’re in on a secret only they and a handful of others know. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

Personnel:
Roy Estrada (bass, background vocals)
Lowell George (guitar, slide-guitar, vocals, harmonica)
Richard Hayward (drums, background vocals)
Bill Payne (keyboards, vocals on 01. + 10., background vocals)
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Ry Cooder (slide guitar on 05., + 07.)
Sneaky Pete Kleinow (pedal steel guitar on 09.)
Russ Titelman (percussion, background vocals, piano on 09.)

Tracklist:
01. Snakes On Everything (Payne) 3.08
02. Strawberry Flats (Payne/George) 2.25
03. Truck Stop Girl (Payne/George) 2.32
04. Brides Of Jesus (Payne/George) 3.23
05. Willin’ (George) 2.25
06. Hamburger Midnight (George/Estrada) 2.32
07. Forty-Four Blues / How Many More Years (Sykes/Burnett) 6.32
08. Crack In Your Door (George) 2.19
09. I’ve Been The One (George) 2.24
10. Takin’ My Time (Payne) 3.50
11. Crazy Captain Gunboat Willie (Payne/George) 1.57

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Lowell Thomas George (April 13, 1945 – June 29, 1979)

Little Feat – Waiting For Columbus (1978/2002)

Waiting for Columbus is the first live album by the band Little Feat. The album was recorded during seven performances in 1977. The first four shows were held at the Rainbow Theatre in London on August 1–4, 1977. The final three shows were recorded in George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium on August 8–10 that same summer in Washington, D.C. Local Washington radio personality Don “Cerphe” Colwell can be heard leading the audience in a “F-E-A-T” spellout in between the first (“Join the Band”) and second (“Fat Man in the Bathtub”) tracks.

The band were backed by the Tower of Power horn section with whom they had recorded in previous studio sessions.[citation needed] The result was one of their biggest selling albums.

Many of their more well-known songs were either re-worked or extended. For instance, one of their signature songs, “Dixie Chicken”, was heavily extended to include a lengthy piano solo by keyboardist Bill Payne, a Dixieland horn arrangement and finally a dual guitar jam between the band’s two guitarists, Lowell George and Paul Barrere. In some cases, songs such as “Rocket In My Pocket” and “Mercenary Territory” were re-worked to include the horn section, and Little Feat additionally covered such tunes as “Don’t Bogart That Joint” and “On Your Way Down”. Former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor makes a guest appearance playing slide guitar on “A Apolitical Blues”.

The band recorded and mixed enough material from these performances for a triple LP, but for marketing reasons kept it to a double album. Three of the unused tracks were included on their 1981 album Hoy-Hoy!. All were eventually released on the 2002 “Deluxe edition” CD. (by wikipedia)

Little Feat was one of the legendary live bands of the ’70s, showered with praise by not only their small, fiercely dedicated cult of fans, but such fellow musicians as Bonnie Raitt, Robert Palmer, and Jimmy Page. Given all that acclaim, it only made sense for the group to cut a live album. Unfortunately, they waited until 1977, when the group had entered its decline, but as the double-album Waiting for Columbus proves, Little Feat in its decline was still pretty great. Certainly, the group is far more inspired on stage than they were in the studio after 1975 – just compare “All That You Dream,” “Oh Atlanta,” “Old Folks’ Boogie,” “Time Loves a Hero,” and “Mercenary Territory” here to the cuts on The Last Record Album and Time Loves a Hero. The versions on Waiting are full-bodied and fully-realized, putting the studio cuts to shame. Early classics like “Fat Man in the Bathtub” and “Tripe Face Boogie” aren’t as revelatory, but it’s still a pleasure to hear a great band run through their best songs, stretching them out and finding new quirks within them. If there are any flaws with Waiting for Columbus, it’s that the Feat do a little bit too much stretching, veering toward excessive jamming on occasion – and that mildly fuzzy focus is really the only way you’d be able to tell that this is a great live band recorded slightly after their prime. Even so, there’s much to savor on Waiting for Columbus, one of the great live albums of its era, thanks to rich performances that prove Little Feat were one of the great live bands of their time. (by Stephen Thomas Erlewine)

This is the deluxe edition from 2002.

Personnel:
Paul Barrere (guitar, vocals)
Sam Clayton (percussion, vocals)
Lowell George (vocals, guitar)
Kenny Gradney (bass)
Richard Hayward (drums, vocals)
Bill Payne (keyboards, synthesizer, vocals)
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Michael McDonald (background vocals on 26.)
Patrick Simmons (background vocals on 26.)
Mick Taylor (slide guitar on 15.)
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The Tower of Power horn section:
Greg Adams (trumpet)
Emilio Castillo (saxophone)
Mic Gillette (trombone, trumpet)
Stephen “Doc” Kupka (saxophone)
Lenny Pickett (saxophone, clarinet on 06.)

Tracklist:

The original album:
01. Join The Band (Traditional)  1,54
02. Fat Man In The Bathtub (George) 4.54
03. All That You Dream (Payne/Barrere) 4.29
04. Oh Atlanta (Payne) 4.20
05. Old Folk’s Boogie (G.Barrere/P.Barrere) 4.27
06. Dixie Chicken (George/Kibbee) 8.58
07. Tripe Face Boogie (Payne/Hayward) 7.10
08. Rocket In My Pocket (George) 3.58
09. Time Loves A Hero (Payne/Gradney/Barrere) 4.20
10. Day Or Night (Payne/Tate) 5.31
11. Mercenary Territory (E.George/L.George/Hayward) 4.37
12. Spanish Moon (George) 5.36
13. Willin’ (George) 4.42
14. Don’t Bogart That Joint (Ingber/Wagner) 1.02
15. A Apolitical Blues (George) 3.51
16. Sailin’ Shoes (George)
17. Feats Don’t Fail Me Now (George/Kibbee/Barrere) 5.35
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Previously unissued outtakes:
18. One Love Stand (Payne/Gradney/Barrere) 4.27
19. Rock And Roll Doctor (George/Kibbee) 4.17
20. Skin It Back (Barrere) 5.40
21. On Your Way Down (Toussaint) 6.26
22. Walkin All Night (Payne/Barrere) 4.13
23. Cold, Cold, Cold (George) 5:19
24. Day At The Dog Races (Payne/Gradney/Barrere/Hayward/Clayton) 12.12
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Outtakes first issued on “Hoy-Hoy!”:
25. Skin It Back (Barrere) 4.41
26. Red Streamliner (Payne/Tate) 5.00
27. Teenage Nervous Breakdown (George) 4.12

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