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Little Feat
The Best of Little Feat
(Rhino)
First Appeared in The Music Box, November 2006, Volume 13, #11
Written by John Metzger
Little Feat recorded six studio albums and one monumental live effort (Waiting
for Columbus) before its guiding force Lowell George called it quits in
1979. A few months later, while in the midst of a solo tour, he died of a heart
attack, leaving behind a handful of incomplete recordings that he had made with
the band. Although Little Feat’s surviving members turned the tapes into Down
on the Farm and compiled a series of outtakes, demos, and live cuts for Hoy Hoy!, the ensemble essentially lay dormant until its improbable
resurrection on 1988’s Let It Roll. Since then, the reformulated group
has toured virtually nonstop, while producing several solid, if inferior, studio
endeavors as well as a truckload of archival and contemporary concert documents.
Little Feat’s latest effort The Best of Little Feat is designed
specifically to bridge the entirety of the outfit’s career, but although its end
goal is noble, the album’s execution is suspect. Not only are quintessential
songs such as Easy to Slip, Skin It Back, and the title tunes from
Sailin’ Shoes and Feats Don’t Fail Me Now missing from the set,
but also notably absent are the latter day nuggets Hate to Lose Your Lovin’
and Texas Twister. Given that more than half of its material — including
the intoxicating, back-roads country of Willin’; the slow, soulful blues
of Roll Um Easy; and the New Orleans-imbued funk of Fat Man in the
Bathtub — was culled from the brilliant outings Sailin’ Shoes,
Dixie Chicken, and Waiting for Columbus, the 17-track The Best of
Little Feat, nonetheless, effectively highlights the disparate, stylistic
jumble that defined the band’s quirky perspective as well as its rather unique
sound.  ½
Of Further Interest...
Assembly of Dust - The Honest Hour
Dickey Betts - Back Where It All Begins (DVD)
Ekoostik Hookah - Where the Fields Grow Green
The Best of Little Feat is available from Amazon.
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2006 The Music Box
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