Little Feat Albums (23)
What The Critics Say
Not too long after their successful 1988 comeback, Let It Roll, Little Feat quietly morphed into a working band, one that made its name via its gigs, not its records. New albums popped up -- some better than others, none all that bad -- but their strength was the stage, where they relied on that incomparable catalog of chestnuts, occasionally dropping a newer tune into rotation. They've been jamming on these songs so long that it's no big deal that they've invited a group of friends -- some old, some new, some inexplicable -- to play those songs, along with some other great jammable tunes, like Bobby Charles' immortal "See You Later Alligator" and the Band's deathless "The Weight," which does lend itself self to communal singalongs from the Staple Singers to Weezer. If the title itself isn't a tip-off, communal singalongs are the name of the game here, as everybody kicks back and cheerfully warbles through a good selection of songs, never quite reworking them -- well, apart from a sorely misguided attempt to skew "Fat Man in the Bathtub" toward Dave Matthews' loping worldbeat style -- but rather playing them one more time, sometimes with feeling. More often, they play with a sleepy comfort, slipping these songs on like flip-flops that may be kicking around two summers too long. Depending on who's along for the ride, this vacillates between overly familiar and happily friendly, with some longtime friends inspiring a lazy stroll (Jimmy Buffett, who lent his studio for this project, dozes through his pair) while others nudge the band into second gear (Vince Gill kicks up some dust on "Dixie Chicken" and "Spanish Moon"). Join the Band is bottom-loaded something fierce, as it concludes with Emmylou Harris leading Feat, Béla Fleck, and Sam Bush through a down 'n' dirty "Sailin' Shoes" that harks back to Lowell George at his most cheerfully vulgar, while his daughter Inara turns in a delicate, lovely "Trouble" that's gently moving. And then there's Chris Robinson, who joins the group for Bill Payne's "Oh Atlanta," pushing the band toward the only cut that could be called "lively" here. It's a great reminder of how good a rock & roll band Little Feat were and can still be, but listening to the rangy good times on this one cut, it's hard not to wish that Robinson had just coaxed his brother into delivering a full-fledged Feat tribute with the Black Crowes instead. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Take the word "jam" to heart here: Rocky Mountain Jam is a mere six tracks long and none of them weigh in at under six minutes, with three of them stretching past ten -- and of those, the "Spanish Moon/Skin It Back" medley rolls on to 15 minutes and "Dixie Chicken" stretches out to a whopping 21 minutes. At this length, the songs are almost afterthoughts, since the real meat is in the endless, elastic playing -- and while this set, captured live in Boulder, CO, offers no overt surprises in either song selection or approach, it offers plenty of music for hardcore Feat fanatics to get lost in. It's all about the interplay, to hear how these guys feed off of each other, and they're in particularly fine form on Rocky Mountain Jam, digging deep polyrhythmic grooves and stretching out into dense yet supple jazzy improvs. There isn't much in the way of grit here -- it's funky but clean -- but that shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody who's paid attention to the latter-day band. One of the nice things about Little Feat in their nearly fourth decade (!) of performing is that they're reliable professionals: they almost never give a bad performance and they still find ways to make their standards sound fresh to themselves and their dedicated fans. And that's exactly why Rocky Mountain Jam will please the faithful who have stuck with them through years of touring and years of live albums that have the same sound and feel -- and often the same songs -- yet still avoid sounding tired and dull. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Barnstormin' Live, Vol. 2'
Release Date 10/4/2005
Tracks 10
Label Hot Tomato
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The second installment of Little Feat's fan-targeted live albums chronicling their recent tours, Barnstormin' Live, Vol. 2 is both a continuation and complement to the first volume, which appeared five months prior to this. Where that set focused on largely unfamiliar material, this has a good chunk of Feat standards, opening with "Down on the Farm" and then running through "Sailin' Shoes," "A Apolitical Blues" (here billed as "A Political Blues"), and the extended fusion jam "Day at the Dog Races." There are a couple of good surprises here -- "Fool Yourself" and "Six Feet of Snow" are both hauled out for nice versions -- and then there's a good dose of recent songs. The band is in good form -- relaxed and funky, stretching the material enough to delve into some pretty free-form jams, but never losing track of the songs. Since the material and form is a little familiar, it's not quite as interesting as the first Barnstormin' Live, but anybody who liked that record will surely enjoy this very likeable set. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Barnstormin' Live, Vol. 1'
Release Date 5/31/2005
Tracks 10
Label Hot Tomato
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Barnstormin' Live, Vol. 1 contains ten highlights from Little Feat's 2004 tour, but unlike a lot of the live albums on the band's own Hot Tomato label, this avoids the group's standard repertoire, choosing to dig deep into their catalog and recent albums. Consequently, this doesn't merely downplay their concert staples from the '70s, it also downplays Lowell George's role, with only "Rocket in My Pocket," "Roll Um Easy," and the Paul Barrére co-written "Keepin' Up With the Joneses" coming from his pen. This may make it of less interest to Lowell loyalists, but frankly, folks buying a live album from Little Feat in 2005 have long since reconciled that this is a very different band than it was in 1975 -- if anything, they'll be happy to hear a fresher set of material, highlighted by a cover of Little Walter's "Last Night." As always, Little Feat are both tasteful and tasty, showing off their chops without strutting too hard, finding just the right blend of virtuoso playing and relaxed, funky grooves. While they may not reinvent their songs the way that, say, the Grateful Dead did, they do deliver consistently enjoyable performances. Barnstormin', Vol. 1 is not just proof of that reliability, but for the hardcore -- who, after all, are the ones who are buying these live albums -- this set of songs that aren't played as much as, say, "Dixie Chicken" is welcome indeed. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Highwire Act Live in St. Louis 2003'
Release Date 12/8/2003
Tracks 17
Label Eagle
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What The Critics Say
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. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
'Kickin' It at the Barn'
Release Date 10/21/2003
Tracks 8
Label Hot Tomato
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Kickin' It at the Barn is Little Feat's first album for their own indie label, Hot Tomato Records, which makes more of a difference than you might think. In his liner notes for the album, guitarist/vocalist Paul Barrére said they called the album Kickin' It at the Barn because it captures the band laying back and relaxing while recording at bandmember Fred Tackett's home studio, the Barn, and that's exactly what the album sounds like -- it's relaxed and warm, sounding more comfortable and lived-in than such otherwise likeable latter-day efforts as Chinese Work Songs. That vibe is welcome and pleasurable, notably different than some of their platters for CMC, and that alone would separate this from other Feat albums of a recent vintage, but there are also some ventures into different sounds and styles, such as "Corazones y Sombras," which is a dead ringer for Los Lobos. Yet what really makes this work is that the songwriting is often sharper than it has been of late. There are still a few stumbles -- instrumental vamps like Bill Payne's "Stomp" are better-suited for live performances -- but Barrére and Tackett's opening pair of "Night on the Town" and "Heaven Forsaken" are first-rate, and the moody "Why Don't It Look Like the Way That It Talk" isn't far behind either. Like much reunited Little Feat, Kickin' It at the Barn is a little too laid-back and groove-centric for its own good, but there's a better variety of grooves, sounds, and songs on this, enough to make it one of their stronger latter-day affairs. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Down Upon the Suwannee River'
Release Date 7/29/2003
Tracks 17
Label Hot Tomato
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
As the fourth release on Little Feat's Hot Tomato Records -- think of it as their own personal Dick's Picks -- Down Upon the Suwannee River offers another 2000s-era vintage performance of the reunited Feat rolling through a bunch of their old favorites, sneaking in a few newer tunes and a cover of Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" into the mix. All the usual caveats apply: fans of Lowell George will find this of no interest, the band is nowhere near as gritty without him, and the band likes to ride an easy groove and just jam until the wee hours of the morning. But Feat fans know that anyway, they know that once Lowell passed, he took the grit and weirdness with him, and the group that reunited in the late '80s is much different for it -- sonically similar but with a calm, centered, cheerful character contrasting with the wiliness of their classic period. They're now a jam band, plain and simple, but unlike the king of jam bands, the Grateful Dead, Little Feat don't turn their songs inside out or reinterpret them in concert; they play that easy groove until they wear it out. And it's often quite enjoyable since they have killer songs and a unique interplay, but it does mean that the latter-day live albums are kind of samey, and even the better ones don't have much to distinguish them. In terms of repertoire and sound, Down Upon the Suwannee River doesn't have much to mark it different than its peers, but it's a solid affair, and once it gets going, even ornery Lowell fans might find it pleasurable, since this is a bunch of pros on a good night. But it ain't a patch on Waiting for Columbus, or the wild, wooly live cuts on Ripe and Raw Tomatoes, or any bootleg of the band at its '70s prime. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'Live at the Rams Head'
Release Date 11/5/2002
Tracks 21
Label Hot Tomato
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
By June 2001, when Little Feat marked the start of summer with six shows in three nights at the 200-seat Rams Head club in Annapolis, MD, shows culled for this two-disc live album, the reconstituted band had been together longer than the original one led by Lowell George from 1969 until his untimely death in 1979. Organized in 1988, this version of the group, featuring original members Richie Hayward and Bill Payne plus other longstanding recruits, by now had its own history, which included the tenure of lead singer Craig Fuller, replaced in 1995 by Shaun Murphy. The Rams Head shows were billed as "an acoustic evening with Little Feat," probably appropriate to the tiny venue. But that didn't mean that the band was going for the kind of radical rearrangements of its material characteristic of the "unplugged" fad of the 1990s. All it meant was that the guitarists were playing acoustic instruments. (Payne's synthesizer didn't seem to have been counted as electric for some reason.) Hence, for the most part these discs present the usual Little Feat, circa 2001, albeit with the vocals a bit more distinct and the occasional acoustic picking moment such as a bluegrass sequence highlighting Fred Tackett's mandolin playing on "Cajun Girl." Since they weren't introducing new material, the usual objection of purists, that George's songwriting is sorely missing in the second-generation Little Feat, didn't apply quite as strongly. But those purists still might be irritated that the band freely mixed numbers from the George era with more recent compositions and that they didn't play the old songs all that enthusiastically, particularly George's signature song, "Willin'," which was essentially thrown away. This was a band more interested in spending ten minutes looking for something new in "Let It Roll," a song from their reunion album. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
'Chinese Work Songs'
Release Date 6/19/2000
Tracks 11
Label Koch International
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Some fans of Little Feat's classic 1970s recordings argue that the band should have lost the right to use that name when Lowell George died in 1979; as they see it, the band heard on 2000's Chinese Work Songs isn't really Little Feat. If this band can get away with calling itself Little Feat, the argument goes, why shouldn't Bob Weir assemble a band without the late Jerry Garcia and call it the Grateful Dead? You have no doubt heard those arguments, and while it's true that Little Feat recorded its best work in the 1970s, the lineup heard on Chinese Work Songs isn't half bad. In its 2000 incarnation, Little Feat's lineup ranges from 1970s members Bill Payne (keyboards), Richie Hayward (drums), Paul Barrere (guitar), Kenny Gradney (bass), and Sam Clayton (percussion) to more recent additions like guitarist Fred Tackett and female singer Shaun Murphy. The addition of Murphy in the 1990s proved to be a plus for the band, and her whiskey-voiced, Bonnie Raitt-influenced belting is a definite asset on this CD. Chinese Work Songs isn't in a class with 1973's Dixie Chicken or 1974's Feats Don't Fail Me Now, but it's a decent, if uneven, outing, and the 2000 lineup is faithful to the band's roots rock-Southern rock history on original material as well as covers of Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry," the Band's "Rag Mama Rag," the Hooters' "Gimme a Stone," and Phish's "Sample in a Jar." Although not essential and not recommended to casual listeners -- who would be better off with a collection of Little Feat's 1970s recordings for Warner Brothers -- diehard Feat fans will find that Chinese Work Songs, despite its imperfections, is enjoyable more often than not. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide
'Under the Radar'
Release Date 6/16/1998
Tracks 13
Label CMC International
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Little Feat's first album for CMC International, Under the Radar, found the group's new lineup fully assimilated, with Shaun Murphy sharing many of the lead vocals with mainstays Paul Barrére and Bill Payne. While the record is not as instantly accessible and spontaneous as the previous record with Murphy, Ain't Had Enough Fun, there is a confidence that permeates every cut. Feat's slightly trippy Southern-fried music made an amazing leap into the 1990s, and Under the Radar continued their rebirth. Tracks such as Barrére's "Home Ground" and "Loco Motives" are good-time funky rockers, driven by Barrére's excellent slide guitar. Payne's title cut and "Eden's Wall" have a slightly dark hopefulness that had become a big part of the band's style. The final cut, "Calling the Children Home," is one of the group's greatest records, closing the album out in joyous New Orleans style. ~ Matthew Greenwald, All Music Guide
