Customer Reviews

As Time Goes By: Best Of Little Feat

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I cannot believe how underrated this band has become in recent years. During the 1970s, particularly in the period covering SAILIN' SHOES to TIME LOVES A HERO, these men were gods. The penultimate album in that sequence, THE LAST RECORD ALBUM, was rightly regarded as a masterpiece, and a couple of others were not far behind in artistic excellence.

So why has Warner neglected the band's back-catalogue in recent years, save for the box-set? Maybe it would detract from the post-George band's more recent output. But it's time for a worldwide release of a double CD compilation of the same quality as Steely Dan's SHOWBIZ KIDS.

For the time being, this is the only compilation available. Originally available in 1986 as just a 12-track, 38-minute CD (the Feats always made short records!), the collection has been extended to a more appropriate CD length. I cannot fault the selection as an introduction to the band. This, like all the band's 70s albums, was well remastered by Lee Herschberg in the mid-80s. (He must have been a busy man at the time, doing all the Doobies' LPs as well.)

When the band released DIXIE CHICKEN in 1973, it was almost universally ignored. Its classic status was only appreciated years later. Now it appears that the band's 70s portfolio is disappearing back into utterly undeserved obscurity. The band's excellence -- in particular, Lowell George's soulful voice, slide guitar and song-writing, coupled with Bill Payne's versatile piano -- will have to remain a secret known only to their many fans across the world.

For little Feat fans, this is a must have for your collection. The CD includes material from the Let It Roll album, that was released after Lowell George's untimely death.

My first Little Feat album was Time Loves A Hero in 1977. I started to backtrack. The first 3 albums are great. Waiting for Columbus is the 2nd best live album of all time after The Band's 'Rock Of Ages'. The Lowell George period of Little Feat is amazing. My 2nd favourite band of all time after The Band.

The editorial review calls Little Feat a "Southern rock" band. Let's see... Lowell George's father was a furrier from Hollywood, CA and Lowell was an LA kid who grew up around actors and artists, not rednecks. Before Little Feat, Lowell played in a California garage psychedelic band and then with Frank Zappa. Zappa's musical eclecticism and the surreal psychedelic blues of Zappa's friend Captain Beefheart are important influences on Lowell's music. Then we have Roy Estrada, a former Mother of Invention, Little Feat's original bass player. So out of the original 4 members of Little Feat, two are LA musicians & former Frank Zappa band members. How's that "Southern rock"? Bill Payne was from Texas, but the band was based in LA, and the feel is very experimental, psychedelic and sophisticated.

The "Southern rock" label is applied by superficial listeners because of Little Feat's funky rhythmic feel and the fact that Lowell played slide guitar. But Lowell's playing, while influenced by Delta blues, is much more musically advanced than most Southern rock, it is jazzy, subtle and experimental. If Duane Allman was influenced by Coltrane's extended linear solos, Lowell was more of a Thelonious Monk, exploring fractured rhythms and dreamlike, otherworldly harmonic textures. listen to Sailing Shoes or Trouble. These songs stop and start, then collapse and flow like melting honey. Lowell's slide playing was all about ornamental texture and atmosphere, he mostly played behind and around his vocal lines creating rich sound shadings to emphasize and enhance the emotional expression of the lyrics with tone colors. Check the slide on "Got No Shadow" -- for would-be slide players like myself, this is a master-class in how to extract a molecular explosion of tone from a few sustained notes. Lowell's lyrics, are closer to people like Dylan than Skynyrd. "Lady in a turban and a Cocaine Tree," "The footprints on your ceiling they're almost gone".

OK, I'm done, case closed. Listen to Lowell, he's the doctor.

Many good musical things happened in the early 70s, apart from Dylan's return to form with 'Blood On the Tracks'. And one of them was Lowell George's,'Little Feat'. They were sensational in Melbourne, a night I have fond, exhilerating memories of.'Dixie Chicken' was already out there, and the evening involved much of its core content, to the delight of the crowd. Now people aplenty will tell you that The Feat's continuance after George's tragic death, has been solid if not excellent. Not for me. The edge he brought to their music was really what took me places.'As Time Goes By', gives a good dose of George at the peak of his powers; plenty of his songs, sizzling guitar work and that wonderful, wonderful voice. On my ideal 'Best Of' would be the entirety of Dixie, plus the tracks here, which are the ones I would have chosen from the remaining early discs.There's George's preferred version of 'Willin'.(I first heard the song on a minor masterpiece,'Kindling', by Gene Parsons, and was surprised to note its absence on Parson's re-release). But why no,'Roll'um Easy'? (Another aside; George's version is great, but it receives majestic treatment on Glen Campbell's,'Reunion'disc). But this is so close to my best of.

All my favorite songs, but they sound like they were bootlegged off my old roommate's tape player. Muffled and flat, no matter how loud you crank it up. Very disappointing.

I am, by no means, a LF completist but I do like a lot of their music. I have 10 LF albums featuring each of their lead vocalists : Lowell George (7), Craig Fuller (1) and Shaun Murphy (2). I also have this compilation - it was bought for me by someone who didn't realize that I already had most of the tracks.

I suppose this album, like many compilations, is aimed at people who like the artist in question but have never actually got round to buying the original albums. If this is you, and you are reluctant to 'fork out' for most of LF's back-catalogue, then you could do far worse than buying this album. Also, it is an excellent introduction to the band's early work for those who might only be familiar with LF's output from the 1980s onwards. 'As Time Goes By' is also available as a 12 track re-mastered version (same album cover) and other compilations are available - the more recent The Best of Little Feat being the one most likely to attract your attention (but more about this later).

The album contains 16 tracks from the band's first 6 studio albums (all Lowell George), 1 track from Lowell's solo album ('Thanks I'll Eat It Here') and 3 tracks from 'Let It Roll'/'Representing The Mambo' (Craig Fuller). There are no tracks from 'Down On The Farm' (which doesn't surprise me because, along with 'Representing The Mambo', this has to be one of LF's weaker efforts). There are no tracks from later albums featuring Shaun Murphy as lead vocalist, and there no 'live' tracks either.

There are a few serious omissions : 'Cold, Cold, Cold/Tripe Face Boogie', 'Roll Um Easy', and 'Fool Yourself' - these are all on 'The Best Of' compilation but 'Cold/Tripe' has had about 3 minutes edited out. Unfortunately, 'The Best Of' has even more significant omissions : 'Rock n Roll Doctor' and 'Feats Don't Fail Me Now' (can you believe it ?), also : 'Two Trains', 'Trouble', 'Sailin' Shoes', 'Spanish Moon', 'Long Distance Love' and 'Mercenary Territory'. Both compilations exclude a few classic numbers - 'Skin It Back' and 'Juliette' spring to mind immediately.

So, which compilation should you buy ? Without hesitation, I'd say go for 'As Time Goes By' - it's far more representative of the band's early music, you get 3 more tracks, it is slightly cheaper (at the time of writing) and the sound quality is reasonable. You might want to buy both compilations - it's an option if the duplication of 6 tracks doesn't bother you - better still, buy 'Sailin' Shoes', 'Dixie Chicken' and 'Feats Don't Fail Me Now'! I'd forget about the 12 track version of 'As Time Goes By' - I've heard a few tracks and the re-mastering didn't seem to make much difference (maybe I chose the wrong tracks).

I have most of Little Feat on vinyl records and enjoy the group tremendously. I went shopping for a representative "Best of" CD and the other collections available, I feel, have poor selections and don't represent the group's best tunes at all. This disk has many of the selections I wanted, so I ordered it. Unfortunately, the sound quality of the remastered CD is so bad that I don't find it enjoyable at all, in fact it's distracting and unpleasant because I know what the songs SHOULD sound like. Digital recordings are generally regarded as higher fidelity than vinyl but on this particular one, the original vinyl recordings are much more detailed and rewarding. The sound quality is muddy and what's more, the mixing is very poor, with instruments overwhelming the vocals and not at all comparable to the original recordings. In the final word, unfortunately there are no collections of Little Feat that properly represent the group; the only alternative is to purchase two or three separate CDs which include the songs you like most--for me these are "Feats Don't Fail Me Now," "Time Loves a Hero" and probably "Dixie Chicken." My money was wasted on this "Best of." When purchasing 70's-vintage analog to digital recordings I expect some loss of fidelity and have no problem living with it. However this one is so bad that the tunes are barely recognizable.

It's kind of strange that the BEST collection of Little Feat can only be found on foreign edition CD, but glad to have it! Makes me think of times gone by listening to late-night FM radio cruising the back roads on a Saturday night. My misspent youth and Little Feat seemed to go hand in hand. This CD is one great feast for my (getting older) ears! Enjoy it for yourself and see.

Whether you've been listening to Little Feat for the last 40 years, or you are a young person just getting into them, this is a collection that you should have. Their infectious rhythm will sweep you up and deliver you to Fun City.