Little Feat:

A Box Worth Opening

LA band Little Feat still records and tours to this day, more than 30 years after its formation and over two decades past the untimely demise of its founder-leader, Lowell George. The group's dogged pursuit of funky grooves and feel-good melodies for so long - despite its virtual invisibility to the music mainstream - is, no doubt, a classic tale of commitment and dedication.

But that's not the story I want to tell.

Because although Little Feat has made some charming music since George's passing, it doesn't hold a candle to what the brilliant, idiosyncratic and self-destructive frontman created during the band's musical peak (1970-77). Fortunately, most of that era's best tunes are gathered for your delectation on the new Rhino box set, "Hotcakes & Outtakes."

Formed during the artistic and social foment of the mid-sixties, Little Feat began life as George's band The Factory, who were produced by idol and part-time mentor Frank Zappa. Later, inspired by Zappa's example as well as bands as diverse as The Beatles and fellow scenesters Love, The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield, the group morphed into a wild but irresistible hybrid of psychedelia, roots-rock, funk, pop and folk. Its name allegedly derived from a remark by Zappa drummer Jimmy Carl Black about the size of George's feet (with the "e" changed to an "a" in possible acknowledgment of The Beatles).

George, a multi-instrumentalist who'd been in a high school marching band but foreshadowed his future by turning left when the bandleader gave the order to turn right, played wicked slide guitar and sang with an affecting twang. Keyboardist Bill Payne, guitarist Paul Barrére, bassists Roy Estrada and Kenny Gradney and drummer Richie Hayward rounded out the supple, incredibly versatile sound of the band during its peak. Payne, Hayward, Barrére and Martin Kibbee co-wrote several key tracks (Payne and Barrére became principal songwriters after George's death).

Little Feat's eponymous debut album demonstrated its seemingly infinite promise. It boasts greasy country-rock reminiscent of the Stones ("Strawberry Flats"), incandescent roots-folk (the classic "Willin'") and off-kilter but oddly touching cautionary tales ("Truck Stop Girl" and "Crazy Captain Gunboat Willie"), not to mention the intoxicating ballads "I've Been The One" and "Brides of Jesus" (both covered by Golden Palominos and the former by Jackson Browne and both inexplicably absent from the box set).

The atmosphere conjured by this material is tender, playful and damaged, colored by withdrawal, hallucination, longing, loneliness and determination. Sonically, there's Nashville pining, Memphis smolder, Liverpool earnestness, San Francisco trippiness, Texas scorch and the cut-and-paste inspiration of LA to bring it all together.

Sophomore effort Sailin' Shoes, produced by kindred LA spirit Van Dyke Parks, offers the unforgettable title track - a delicate, free-spirited ode shaded, as ever, with drug dependence - in addition to Little Feat's finest slice of power-pop, "Easy to Slip," another stab at "Willin'" and the dark and desperate "Cold, Cold, Cold," a controlled-substances hotel comedown lightened by shards of absurd imagery ("a peach or a pear or a coconut, please").

After these two sterling releases, the band shifted its stylistic focus somewhat, introducing more soul-influenced grooves (particularly New Orleans funk, as perfected by The Meters) and the sizzling blues-rock also being explored by contemporaries ZZ Top. George's singular sensibility, however, kept the music from tumbling into the abyss of endless jamming. Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt added backup vocals to 1974's Feats Don't Fail Me Now, perhaps the best example of this phase, and formed part of the "Feat Auxiliary."

The mid- to late '70s saw an intensification of this funkified roots-rock approach, as exemplified by wonderful compositions like "Dixie Chicken," "Time Loves A Hero," "Fat Man in the Bathtub" and "Down on the Farm." Despite a certain stylistic momentum immediately following George's death in 1979, Little Feat never again achieved true greatness - though their survival and core following testify to the vision of the group's founder.

"Hotcakes & Outtakes" captures many - though by no means all - of Little Feat's finest early moments on discs one and two; disc three collects high points from its revival (1988-98), while the fourth is a treasure trove of B-sides and other neglected sessions. Among the revelations: The beautiful "Juliet," which recalls Steely Dan, the rockin' "Doglines," the proggy "Wait Till The Shit Hits The Fan," the elegiac "Doriville" (done for the Sailin' Shoes sessions) and an early version of "Easy to Slip" done as a demo for the Doobie Brothers. It's a typically sumptuous Rhino package, replete with beautiful artwork and exhaustive yet breezy liner notes by noted rock scribe and HITS Magazine editor Bud Scoppa.

Even so, listeners won over by the best material should by all means pick up Little Feat, Sailin' Shoes, Feats, Time Loves a Hero, The Last Record Album, the live Waiting For Columbus and Dixie Chicken. Also unquestionably worth checking out: George's solo opus, Thanks I'll Eat it Here. The beguiling, multifaceted vibe of this great band waits patiently for anyone who's willin'.

--Simon Glickman