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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 36, Number 1. 28th February 1973

Little Feat's "Sailin' Shoes". WBS 600

Little Feat's "Sailin' Shoes". WBS [unclear: 600]

Little Feat's first album release in [unclear: is] country, "Sailin' Shoes" is an admir[unclear: ble] achievement. It is actually the group's [unclear: cond] outing. The first, featuring super[unclear: ssion] guitarist, Ry Cooder, was never re[unclear: ased] here, which is a pity because it's just [unclear: good]. "Sailin' Shoes" was released late [unclear: st] year and doesn't appear to have sold [unclear: ry] well so this belated review is offered in [unclear: e] hope that it may make someone out [unclear: ere] see the light. Each of its 11 tracks [unclear: uld] give pointers to any other group you [unclear: re] to name.

Who are Little Feat? Answer: an ex[unclear: mely] tight, extremely funky collection American rockers, including among their [unclear: mber] ex-Mother, Roy Estrada, and a gen[unclear: man] called Lowell George who wrote [unclear: ilhn]' " for the first Seatrain album.

The band roars like an express train [unclear: m] the first cut, "Easy to slip", right [unclear: ough] to "Texas Rose Cafe" at the end of [unclear: other] side. Lowell George's stamp is the [unclear: minant] one as he wrote eight of the [unclear: igs] and takes most of the lead guitar and [unclear: al] chords in his stride. His voice sounds [unclear: a] cross between Jagger and Stills. High[unclear: probable] but by some strange alchemy comes across sounding better than either. [unclear: e] Jagger parallel is deliberate as this [unclear: um] sometimes sounds a lot like the [unclear: nes] but with a much cleaner production [unclear: nd] and the retention in every track of [unclear: amphetamine]-charged atmosphere that Stones last attained on "Let it Bleed".

Individually or collectively, the mem[unclear: s] of Little Feat have been around for [unclear: e] time, during which they've been infill[unclear: ed] from many sources, among them [unclear: n] John, the Stones, the Dead, the Band Pink Floyd. But somehow they've man[unclear: I] to weld together these seemingly dis[unclear: te] influences to produce a refreshingly [unclear: inal] album. The isolation of specific [unclear: ks] is a slight problem. The title features [unclear: rreal] lyric over a chunky piano line and [unclear: arthy] Merry Clayton-type backing vocal [unclear: a] Debbie Lindsay. "Teenage Nervous [unclear: kdown]", a wry comment on paleo-cy[unclear: etic] paranoia, is another stand out. [unclear: scrupulous] operators could confuse/ [unclear: d] exploit and deceive the conditional [unclear: x]/theories and change the probabilities/ [unclear: crass] and rockous crackass place with/ [unclear: v] on the human race it's a terrible/ill[unclear: it's] a terrible case/and usually [unclear: perma] when it takes place/it's a teenage ner[unclear: breakdown]").

Beneath the lyric is an amazingly [unclear: ic] piano-guitar duel, firmly anchored by a pounding rhythm section, and when it's all over the only reaction is one of incredulity. How did they manage to squeeze so much excitement into two minutes?

"Willin' " is another beauty. It starts slowly with the ubiquitous Sneaky Pete Kleinow's steel guitar insinuating itself around a lyric about Dallas Alice being seen in every headlight, builds through a list of assorted hard times ("kicked by the wind, robbed by the sleet, had my head stoved in") but at the end of it all the vocalist is still on his feet and still "willin'".

On the technical side the production is near flawless which is what one would expect from Lennie Waronker, who has also handled such diverse notables as Randy Newman, the Everly Brothers, Harpers Bizarre and Arlo Guthrie. Another Waronker protege. Van Dyke Parks, sometime confidant and influence upon the demented Beach Boys' genius Brian Wilson, and co-author of "Heroes and Villians", is credited with special effects, and it shows. Finally, the stereo quality is excellent and the cover, to give meaning to a cliche, is something else. What are you waiting for?

Five stars