Today's Spatial Addition© Box Set FoamFeatures™ everybody's most favoritest rock band, Little Feat! We get the whole ball o' wax rollin' with something I ain't yet done at th' time of typing screed, an idea what occurred to me whilst
[pretentious, toi? - Ed.] cleaning gecko shit off a windowsill, like, ten minutes back.
Jackalope Jesus "The Best Of The Shaun Murphy Years" is, er ... the best of the Shaun Murphy years? Yep! Oboy! It's way better than you might expect, for reasons you might guess.
One Buck Guy's epic Lowell George comp
Blue Plate Special makes a welcome reappearance here, and why no big label ever got off their thumb to deliver this for real is one of life's biggest mysteries. It is probably the best fan-assembled compilation I know, bursting with yeasty goodness, and OBG deserves an adult bookstore reacharound for his due diligence
[you first - Ed.]. Lordy, how I love this guy. Not you, OBG - take a step back there, fella.
Almost as good is my Spatial Addition©
Thanks I Ate It Here, AF-F©, which, with my signature editing flair and unerring good taste, todally transforms a slightly under-performing album into the freaking monster we always wanted from ol' Vanilla Grits.
Rounding out the box set is the bonus disqué
Little Feat Covered, featuring forty-one - count -em! - versions of Feat songs by today's beloved stars! I don't know who compiled - wupes,
curated - this swell collection, but it's one you'll want to play again and again!
THIS JUST IN! Realised the Factory album qualifies for this post. It's a fantastic piece a work later disowned by snobby band members ashamed of psychedelic roots (a typical stance of bands who suffered Th' Kurse O' Th' Kaftan - search box is yer pal here). It's the real first Little Feat album, L.A. candy-cane madness, and there ain't a duff track on it. I stripped out the xtry trx on the official release, because they're familiar early Feat songs, rather than late Factory, and they're comped elsewhere. This is
a album.
These swell long-playing elpee rekkids are the ideal accompaniment to poolside brunch, conversation pit cocktails, or getting rimmed by a Lithuanian crack whore in your project Econoline!
Sleeve design, titles, copyright© IoF® Department Of Art™ Dept. One Buck Guy appears by permission of the Pork Bend Correctional Facility.
What have I got to do to earn this lavish serving of refried feats?
ReplyDeleteWe're all set to receive the "goods".....
ReplyDeleteIlene & Ben Dover
Let the poor guy sleep for a bit. 'Spect something will fall into our laps after his yummy breakfast.
ReplyDeleteYour teeth, probably.
DeleteThis is a lavish offer: who do we need to blow?
ReplyDeleteChaz Bono
DeleteI am as surprised as youse bums to see this here, having inadvertently pressed the "publish" button before retiring last night. I beg your indulgence and vow to provide linkage at my earliest opportunity. Please hum selections from H.M.S. Pinafore, accompanied by casting shadow puppets on the wall, until such time as normal service is resumed. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteJackalope Jesus is a double album of enjoyable country-funk-rock, with the kind of playing you only get from seasoned perfeshnials. The songs have one thing in common, but apart from that never cross the line into greatness (that was Lowell's job, th' lazy slob), or even memorability. But that won't prevent you from shufflin' yer slippers to th' sawdust swing n' barnyard backbeat o' th' mighty Feat!
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/KKpSP2K8jQm
Cool, now I can stop humming 'The Hours Creep On Apace'.
DeleteGee, Babs! This is like we're on the phone! Uh ... what you wearin?
Delete*rattles handset cradle* Hello? Operator?
DeleteHell, this place has even moved me to grudgingly admit that the Fuller/Murphy years weren't that shabby..
ReplyDelete"Jackalope" demonstrates exactly what Murphy brought to the table!
DeleteI spent my time waiting watching the geckoes chase each other up and down and round and round the walls & ceiling of my humble abode here in da' Sarf!!! Thanks Farq for this abundance of Feat goodies!!!
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the wall jewellery, we have a BFG in the attic which crashes about occasionally, catching mice. He's jake with me.
DeleteFactory:
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/ssHDRHzPakP
I remember watching The Factory (as The Bedbugs) on TV's F Troop.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0574652/?ref_=ttep_ep23
Thanks Farq for this Feat package, never realized the Jesus 'connection' before, great artwork as usual!
ReplyDeleteLittle Feat - 1977-07-23 - Rockpalast, Essen, Germany - Video mkv file.
ReplyDeleteI also have the soundcheck from this show if anyone wants it.
https://workupload.com/file/JqecjAfDyyt
Ooh! Don't think I have this - fengkyew!
DeleteHere's the soundcheck. Not essential, but interesting to see.
Deletehttps://workupload.com/file/BTeL2CwqHmU
Always loved Little Feat. First heard them down in Oz in 1976 with their Feats Don't Fail Me Now album. Cruising along as Lowell's backing band, they got to 1977, when Bill and Paul started to tire of Lowell's song writing control and began composing jazz influenced pieces. Thank God! Maybe the band could have carried on into the Eighties with the grudgingly democratic One, but even if he hadn't kicked the bucket, I don't imagine it would have worked out, as he was caught up in a time warp of cowgirls and drunken truckers in some cantina down on the border. Great musician, missed by many and he was the maker of Little Feat, but a change had to come, and round about every decade it seems to me.
ReplyDeleteAs I understand it, which may be inadequately, Lowell's increasing drug intake left no room for his muse. His creativity, never prolific, dried up, leaving the rest of the band obliged to step up to take his place. I think they'd have been as happy as the band's fans if he'd continued writing the great songs responsible for the band's success, and it's unfair to guess they'd have been stuck in a cowgirls and drunken truckers rut if he hadn't drugged himself to death.
DeleteIncidentally, nobody's commented on the guiding philosophy behind this comp - anybody played it yet? Discussion potential.
Although it's well documented that Lowell wasn't interested in the musical direction that the band wanted to take, and when performing tracks such as Red Streamliner and Day At The Dog Races, he refused to play. Instead, he only wanted to play their earlier recordings (his own) on tour. Judging by the quality of Lowell's 1979 album, I don't see it as unfair to "guess" the continued direction in where the band would be heading.
DeleteHave you heard this version? It's a legit alternative with added tracks that could (should) have been included. It's also worth repeating that at this time he was on drugs wherever he was, in or out of the band, so if in some alternate universe he got off the drugs, instead of died, it's impossible to say if his songwriting abilities would have returned and the direction they might have taken. Moot, indeed. But you're being way too hard on the guy. Barrere and Payne are more than capable musicians (fantastic arrangers, too) and decent lyricists, but coming up with a tune as strong and as characterful as Lowell could at the top of his game has always been beyond them.
DeleteIf you still think Thanks I Ate It Here is sub-par in any way, you're going to have to fight Babs and me. The album's full of the soul that Barrere and Payne couldn't summon up to save their lives. And I speak as one who likes their later recordings (particularly this set - and still no comments).
Just a bit more of his signature slide playing on TIEIH and we'd all be saying it was Lowell's masterpiece. That there isn't as much as some people would have liked says something about his approach to the album. He didn't just want to put out what could have been another LF album in all but name.
DeleteRowan, have you heard a Sydney band called "Chasin' the Train"? Very Featsish and covered a few Feats songs on their only album.
DeleteI think the Lowell songs on "Down At The Farm" are proof that he wasn't as 'written out' as some naysayers would have it - "Six Feet Of Snow", "Kokomo" and "Be One Now" belong on any honest Lowell George compilation.
DeleteI agree. DOTF is a far better album than it's given credit for.
DeleteNo Steve, I haven't but I'll check 'em out. Cheers.
DeleteHaven't heard your comp (and its guiding principle mystery) yet, but i put on the Little Feat Covered on yesterday. Some really good stuff on there. It's an odd compilation with no sequencing to speak of, more of a random playlist (sign of the times?), but that can of course be rectified.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to be hard on him, only on the issue when those who claim "ownership" and attempt to deny progression on the other band members, and then take the Mick out of the ones whom he perceives as "threats" ( Bill 'n Paul). Whenever I inquire about anything Little Feat, Lowell's mug appears. says something.... innit!
ReplyDeleteOh Farq, you cheeky little rascal you.
ReplyDeleteGuiding principle, huh? I call "Deceptive Advertisement" on "The Shaun Murphy Years".
Hey man, don't turf the Murph!
You miso..you mysyg...you mys...why, you women-hatin' son of a gun, you!
Interesting side effect: There's exactly zero overlap with my own Fuller/Murphy comp, so this could serve as a really nice companion piece.
Listening to old-ish Bill Payne I'm still both surprised and amazed that his vocal timbre is A LOT like Marc Cohn's.
Player OBG joins the game. I never liked th' Murph, and it's nothing to do with her being of a womanly persuasion (actually, people have an advantage with me if they're a dame). She's self-confessedly a blues singer, and the Feat never needed a blues singer, woman or man or any of the myriad fluid gender-blends which we so rightly celebrate today. Fun fact: she was brought into the band as a fait accompli by Barrére and Payne, without taking into account what Hayward and Gradney (duh, the rhythm section) might have thought. They just had to accept her. Great team-building skills, right?
DeleteSo, with respect, OBG, you stick the mysygo ... misogyan ... woman-hatin' slur up yer butt, an' crimp yer cheeks. I reserve my right to dislike anyone, regardless of gender. Can't stand her. Didn't much like Craig Fuller in the band, either, although I dug him before he joined. The Feat never needed another vocalist, as this swell selection demonstrates. Fred Tackett was always in the picture though, and fit right in. Th' Murph ... nope.
Thanks for listening to it, OBG. You're a come-with guy!
DeleteSigh. I thought the form made it clear I was joking. You're not gonna make me stoop to posting emojis and smileys now, are ya?!
DeleteSo, the Murph. It was a bold, out of the box choice, for sure. Artistically successful? Jury's still out, I guess, at least away from Foam Island.
I agree on Fuller during his LF tenure, especially when he was in full "Lowell George imitator mode". I loved Craig Fuller in Pure Prairie League, to the point where the real PPL is essentially the Fuller version (and boy, Little Feat is nothing compared to PPL in terms of band (in)stability and who is or isn't the "real" band).
*sigh* - I thought "people have an advantage with me if they're a dame" made it clear I was going along with the gag! So maybe emojis ain't such a bad idea?
DeleteTell ya what, though - there's some very clever arrangements happening here. Most of the songs are long, and it's not down to repetition, but working at the arrangements. This version of Feat incorporated jazz chordings without ever getting "fake jazz" on our asses - how I wish there was a swanky word for fake. Plenty of soloing, and unexpected shifts (Chinese Work Songs goes off the rails twice). There's much to enjoy without having whistleable me-lo-dees. They didn't need another singer upfront, but someone who could craft a commercial tune wouldn't have hurt.
Why don't you post your Murph-centric Best Of?
Okay, smilies then.
ReplyDeleteIt's also interesting how they made a definitive swing into adult contemporary (if that is really a genre). You posted a song from the White Sands soundtrack, still with Craig Fuller, that goes in that direction, and some of Bill Payne's stuff also does (then again, having just relistened to "Down On The Farm", thanks to this thread, that already started at the tail end of that disc). They really had an odd stylistic mish-mash going on in the 1990s. I don't necessarily love Shaun Murphy's stuff, it's better if she's sharing leads. Which means that the Fuller/Murphy years comp is literally two thirds the Fuller years and has a grand total of one Murphy lead vocal and two co-leads. Oops. I also turfed the Murph! I'm sorry, Shaun, I didn't mean it!
(So, really no need to post this)
Murphy was a background vocalist on those Fuller-era albums before she unexpectedly got the promotion to lead from Paul and Bill (who give off some serious Glenn & Don-vibes).
Though I agree on almost all of their stuff being okay, even interesting, but not particularly exciting and definitely not likely to bother the charts in any way. Then again, around this time they more or less permanently shifted into 'groove and jam road band with the occasional album for the hardcores'-mode
So, no "Best Of The Shaun Murphy Years", but a couple of acoustic goodies from the period, including Shaun doing the Dixie Chicken and a medley tribute to The Band.
ReplyDeleteWhat's that they say around here? 'Cool beans'?
https://workupload.com/archive/XnSQwkHNpK