Weekend Mix: Weed, Whites, and Wine

I'm "Willin'" to admit that Little Feat's "Sailin' Shoes" just might be my favorite album of all time.

I've written elsewhere about the life changing moment I received "Looney Toons And Merrie Melodies" (1970), a Warner's Loss Leader's 3 record set I sent away for.
"Strawberry Flats" was the third song on side one, after Faces "Had Me A Real Good Time", and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid", and before Fleetwood Mac's "Tell me All The Things You Do" from "Kiln House".
I liked the other songs, and I bought all those albums too, but "Strawberry Flats" stood out. So many ideas packed into a little over 2 minutes.

I didn't know what a record store was. All I knew was the local Target equivalent. They didn't have "Little Feat", so I settled for "Sailin' Shoes" with it's bizzarre cover art.
From the chiming opener, "Easy To Slip" I liked it. A lot.

I've come to recognize it as a perfect encapsulation of it's time and place. Southern California in the early '70's. I hear elements of Country Rock, CSNY, The Eagles, Flying Burrito Brothers, Warren Zevon, Captain Beefheart, and of course, The Mother's Of Invention.

I'm on my third vinyl copy and have the cd.

This compilation is a tribute to Lowell George, founder and guiding light. He was a tremendously gifted guitar player, singer, songwriter, producer, and bandleader. It recreates the order I first heard them. "Strawberry Flats" followed by "Sailin' Shoes" in it's entirety, and then highlights from "Little Feat" and "Dixie Chicken".

Lowell George met Bill Payne when he was a member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention.
Payne auditioned for the Mothers, but didn't join. 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 Me" on the million-selling Easy Rider film soundtrack.
The name Little Feat came from a comment made by Mothers' drummer Jimmy Carl Black (The Indian of the group) 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 because he was too talented to be a sideman, and he should 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 he was fired because "Willin'" contains drug references.
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".

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.
"Willin'" was re-recorded for "Sailin' Shoes", this time with guest Burrito "Sneaky Pete" on pedal steel. It's the the first Little Feat album to feature cover art by Neon Park, the artist responsible for Zappa's "Weasels Ripped My Flesh" (On which Lowell is a member of The Mothers).

Despite good reviews, lack of success led to the band splitting up, with Estrada leaving to join Captain Beefheart's Magic Band (And even more lack of success).

In 1972 Little Feat reformed, with bassist Kenny Gradney replacing Estrada. Also added was second guitarist Paul Barrere, a friend of Lowell's from Hollywood High, and percussionist Sam Clayton (brother of session singer Merry Clayton). As a result the band was expanded from a quartet to a sextet.

I was so excited when "Dixie Chicken" came out, until I played it. They had 3 new people in the band and it tilted towards New Orleans, and lite funk, which was not what I was looking for.
However, the title is a classic and "Fat Man In The Bathtub" is one of their finest moments.
I didn't hate the album.
Then came "Feats Don't Fail Me Now". Another Neon Parks cover, and a reworking of two songs from "Sailin" Shoes" played as a medley. Which I now understand was made to better reflect their live shows at the time, for which they were getting quite a reputation, but to my ears was a travesty.
I didn't buy any more of their albums after that.

George continued to produce the albums, but his songwriting contribution diminished as the group moved into jazz fusion, a style in which he had little interest. In August 1977, Little Feat recorded a live album from gigs at the Rainbow Theatre in London and Lisner Auditorium in Washington, DC. "Waiting for Columbus" is considered by many to be one of the best live albums of all time, despite the fact that significant portions of George's vocals and slide work were over-dubbed later in the studio. It was released in 1978, by which time it had become apparent that Lowell George's interest in the band was waning, as was his health.

In an interview with Bill Flanagan (for the book Written in My Soul) conducted eleven days before his death, George made it clear that he felt the demise of Little Feat was due to his having allowed the band to be run democratically, with the result that Payne and, to a lesser extent, Barrere, had a presence as songwriters and in production which was disproportionate to their abilities.

Nowhere on the wikipedia page I reworked for some of this does it mention that Lowell's drug use was a contributing factor to his abdication of leadership in the band. Or that Zappa fired him for smoking dope.

His only solo album, "Thanks, I'll Eat It Here" (1979) is mostly covers. I've never heard it.

Too bad there isn't more of this.

Crack In Your Door

Some have expressed difficulty with the link. Here is an alternative:

Alternate Crack

Enjoy!
-BBJ