: Georg Purvis
: Little Feat Every Album, Every Song
: Sonicbond Publishing
: 9781789524369
: 1
: CHF 8.80
:
: Musik
: English
: 144
: DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB

Little Feat may not be a household name, but the band are loved by a good number of musicians who are: Keith Richards rounded up the Rolling Stones to see them perform in Amsterdam in 1975, Robert Plant publicly lamented their lack of success (as Led Zeppelin's soared into the stratosphere), and Bob Dylan and Elton John saw them in concert whenever possible. Legends like Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, and Bob Seger helped out on their many albums, and they backed up Robert Palmer, John Cale, and Chico Hamilton.
Yet they never had a hit single, and the closest they came to success was with their 1978 live album, Waiting for Columbus, later performed live in its entirety by jam band Phish. But not even the death of their leader Lowell George could stop the Feats' shoes from sailin'. The band reformed in 1988 and has continued ever since, with Craig Fuller and Shaun Murphy helping out along the way. Little Feat on track dives into the ups and downs of their 50-year career and discusses every album and song, from their idiosyncratic 1971 debut to the post-pandemic optimism of 2021's When All Boats Rise.


Georg Purvis is the author of Queen: The Complete Works, Pink Floyd In the 1970s and Elvis Costello and The Attractions on track. He's been a Little Feat fan his entire life, thanks to his parents, Lynn and Georg. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Meredith, and their two cats, Spencer and William.
Chapter2

Sailin’ Shoes (1972)


Personnel:

Lowell George: vocals, guitars, harmonica; baritone saxophone and rhythm box on ‘Cold, Cold, Cold’

Richie Hayward: drums, percussion, vocals

Bill Payne: piano, Wurlitzer electric piano, Hammond organ, accordion, vocals; lead vocal on ‘Cat Fever’

Roy Estrada: bass guitar, vocals

Additional personnel:

Ron Elliott: rhythm guitar on ‘A Apolitical Blues’

Milt Holland: percussion on ‘Easy To Slip’ and ‘Trouble’

‘Sneaky’ Pete Kleinow: pedal steel on ‘Willin’’ and ‘Texas Rose Café’

Debbie Lindsey: backing vocals on ‘Cold, Cold, Cold’ and ‘Sailin’ Shoes’

Recorded at Sunwest Recording Studios, Hollywood, 7-14 April 1971; Amigo Studios, North Hollywood; Sunset Sound Recorders and TTG Studios, Hollywood, 8 December 1971-6 February 1972

Producer: Ted Templeman

Release date: US: February 1972

Peak position: US: -

Running time: 37:44

With only 11,000 copies sold,Little Feat hadn’t set the charts on fire, yet critics (at least those who noticed) adored the band. Luckily for them, so did Warner Bros. – or, more specifically, Van Dyke Parks, who went into bat for the band when the label refused to finance a follow-up. Parks had known George since the recording sessions for Fraternity of Man’s second album, ultimately finding a kindred spirit in him. The two men worked together infrequently afterwards – Parks helping George out by including the newly-written ‘Sailin’ Shoes’ (their first co-write) on his second albumDiscover America. Not that George wasn’t trying for himself – desperate for another shot, he wrote ‘Easy To Slip’ with Martin Kibbee: a deliberate attempt at a hit single. (Warner Bros. was so impressed with it, they pitched it along with ‘Texas Rose Café’ to The Doobie Brothers, who opted against recording the songs.)

In the end, Warner Bros. re-signed the band. Little Feat had friends in high places, and with other out-there labelmates like Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa – not to mention Parks himself – the band were in no danger of being dropped. After their first North American tour concluded in September, they went back into the studio, this time at Warner’s Amigo Studios in North Hollywood. With the friendship of George and the firs