Feats Don't Fail Me Now

Performer: Little Feat
Artist: Bonnie Raitt; Emmylou Harris
Engineer: Sneed Urn
Producer: Lowell George; Van Dyke Parks
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Little Feat: Lowell George, Paul Barr�re (vocals, guitar); Bill Payne (vocals, keyboards); Sam Clayton (vocals, percussion); Kenny Gradney (bass instrument); Richard Hayward (drums, background vocals). Additional personnel: Gordon de Witty (Clavinet); Emmylou Harris, Fran Tate, Bonnie Raitt (background vocals). Liner Note Author: Lowell George. On the heels of DIXIE CHICKEN, arguably Little Feat's finest moment, came this superb collection of country-fried grooves and good times. Even leaner and more energetic that DIXIE CHICKEN, FEATS DON'T FAIL ME NOW injects higher doses of rock & roll and country boogie into the group's rootsy aesthetic. Bandleader and lead songwriter Lowell George plays less of a determining role here, contributing two songs of his own (including the lushly funky "Spanish Moon," which features some killer horn charts) and co-writing four others (including the in-concert classic "Rock & Roll Doctor"). But while George takes a step back, the band sounds tighter, sharper, and better than ever. The dance-oriented direction is perfectly broached: in-the-pocket drumming, burbling bass, crying guitars, and wiry synths (note the delicious groove of "Skin It Back") merge beautifully with the band's dusty, back porch origins. Little Feat would stick to the easy country funk refined on this album for the rest of their career, and though the diminishing role of George would later hurt the band, FEATS DON'T FAIL ME NOW is one of the last recordings on which everything worked in perfect synchronicity.

CD Review - Perf 9 / Sound 8

Los Angeles' Little Feat served up a polymorphic gumbo of New Orleans funk, southern boogie, and blues rock with the soulful slide guitar, worn voice, and tremendous country-tinged songwriting of leader Lowell George as its main ingredients. Founded by George and pianist Bill Payne in 1969, Little Feat released a couple of straighter blues rock albums before embracing an infectious, Meters-like groove in their rhythm section (Roy Estrada and Richie Hayward of the Mothers of Invention). Despite a run of critically acclaimed albums throughout the '70s--and George's continuing excellence as a songwriter--the band broke up in 1979 shortly after George died. Reformed versions of Little Feat continued to release records and tour in the ensuing decades.

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