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HOTCAKES AND OUTTAKES
Little Feat
Rhino / Warner Archives
For Little Feat fans, God is not a white-haired geezer on a golden throne -- He's a fat man in the bathtub with the blues.
That fat man's name, of course, was Lowell George. To most folks, he was Little Feat. He founded the band back in Hollywood in the late '60s. He drafted their unmistakable sound -- an off-kilter fusion of funky New Orleans R&B, southern-fried boogie and soulful blues, delivered with a smirk and a hefty dose of giddy irreverence. And over the course of eight critically acclaimed but commercially underperforming albums, George was their musical leader, poetic visionary and chief musical prankster, penning beloved tunes such as Willin', Sailin' Shoes, Two Trains and Teenage Nervous Breakdown.
But when the high-living Lowell dropped dead of a heart attack on tour in 1979, Feat died with him. At least for a time. In the late '80s, the survivors -- keyboard player Bill Payne, guitarist Paul Barrere, bassist Kenny Gradney, drummer Richie Hayward and percussionist Sam Clayton -- reunited and have been on the road since, carrying the torch with replacement vocalists. But even though they've been around longer than the original Feat and released almost as many albums, they can't squirm out from under George's tremendous shadow. For critics and Lowell loyalists, the show was over when the fat man stopped singing.
The new set Hotcakes and Outtakes aims to set the record straight. A four-CD box of hits, live cuts and unreleased tracks from every chapter in the band's history -- accompanied by a 78-page-book of photos and reminiscences from the surviving Feats -- Hotcakes and Outtakes gracefully walks a fine line between paying heartfelt tribute to George and gently reminding the faithful that Feat wasn't just Lowell and a faceless, voiceless backing band.
Indeed, as the Hotcakes portion makes clear, the group was a collaborative effort from the git-go. The first song is Strawberry Flats, a ballsy, piano-driven number co-written by George and Payne. It sets the tone for the two hits discs, which balance George's solo compositions with tracks by Payne, Barrere and Hayward, who penned more than a few Feat faves (Tripe Face Boogie, Oh Atlanta, Skin it Back, Time Loves a Hero) without Lowell. Here and there, you can quibble about song selection -- George's magnificent Apolitical Blues is passed over for Payne's Cat Fever, for instance. But whatever -- if you're a Feat fan, you've already got all these songs anyway.
What you might not have are the surprisingly strong tunes on disc 3, which follows the band from their '88 reunion onward. Cherry-picked from their first six post-Lowell discs, these 16 numbers downplay the role of Bonnie Raitt-ish lead vocalist Shaun Murphy in favour of retro-sounding cuts designed to display the boys' continuing prowess. And you gotta admit, they still have more chops than a kung-fu film fest. Hayward's stumbling syncopation, Barrere's sizzling guitars, Payne's elegant honky-tonking are in full effect on numbers like Hate to Lose Your Lovin', Let it Roll and Home Ground. Point taken, guys.
Even so, the real drawing card here is the final CD Outtakes, with 25 unreleased gems from the George era. For fans, this is the treasure trove. There are early demos (including the freaky Lightning-Rod Man, produced by Frank Zappa, and a groovy midtempo version of Teenage Nervous Breakdown). There are alternate takes or working versions of The Fan, Easy to Slip (here titled Easy to Fall), Texas Rose Cafe, Tripe Face Boogie and others. There are studio instrumentals (Jazz Thing in 10) and material from George's solo album Thanks I'll Eat it Here (a smoother, poppier version on Roll Um Easy). For our money, though, the real finds are three demos for Two Trains, Down Below the Borderline and Rockin' Shoes. Featuring just Lowell's voice and guitar over an ultra-cheap drum machine, these tracks are pure, unfiltered George that will send a shiver down your spine. Lowell's ability to weave this sort of magic spell is why Little Feat has trouble escaping George's shadow -- and the band's decision to include these songs is a touching tribute to the memory of his musical genius.
Somewhere, we'd like to think, the fat man is smiling.
Track Listing