Little Feat’s 1971 Landmark Debut Puts Southern-Fried Spin on West Coast Sound
Seldom does a band announce its arrival with such convincing results. Led by vocalist/guitarist Lowell George and bassist Roy Estrada, both of whom played in Frank Zappaâs Mothers of Invention, Little Feat introduced Southern-fried accents and funny personality sketches to the West Coastâs country-rock template, yielding a self-titled 1971 debut that remains singular in its aural and narrative visions of America.
Just as iconic illustrator Robert Crumbâs characters evoke weirdly sympathetic figures and optimistic hippie gurus, so too do Georgeâs cartoonish character-driven narratives. His tales of big-rig drivers on speed (the much-covered classic âWillinââ), roadside affairs (âTruck Stop Girlâ), rum-drunk seafarers (âCrazy Captain Gunboat Willieâ), and wayward drifters (âStrawberry Flatsâ) seem to come from a dusty, long-lost comic bookâor at the least, a secret history of American culture thatâs a helluva lot more exciting, fun, colorful, and authentic than most anything youâve heard before. Liberating, freewheeling, and lined with subtle streaks of dark humor, Little Feat is the musical companion to Easy Rider.
And now, it has the widescreen sonics to match. Sourced from the original analog master tapes by Mobile Fidelity engineers, this CD of Little Feat is more raw, bluesy, immediate, and open than any previous version. The first-ever album produced by three-time Grammy-winner Russ Titelman (Linda Ronstadt, Eric Clapton, Randy Newman), the recordâs eclectic sound is the stuff of swinging saloon doors, muddy Delta rivers, and humid Bayou docks. Benefitting from a fully revealed dynamic range, the blend of dirty harmonicas, sliding guitars, and rolling pianos is guaranteed to make tubes glow and speakers sing.





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