Little Feat & Friends - Join The Band

Feats still don’t fail me now, with or without star guests

Throughout the 70s Little Feat whipped up a riotous hybrid of New Orleans gumbo-funk, jazzy flourishes and complex oddball boogie with acclaimed albums Sailing Shoes and Dixie Chicken. The untimely death of leader and stellar slide guitarist Lowell George in 1979 brought this incarnation to a close but in 1988 keyboardist Bill Payne, guitarist Paul Barrere and sleaze-groove master drummer Richie Hayward formed a new Feat and have been going since. They invited celebrity singers including Emmylou Harris, Black Crowe Chris Robinson, Jimmy Buffet and Bob Seger to tackle some of their early classics and a few standards, resulting in a mighty fine album.

It could have fallen on its arse but leaping new treatments of favourites such as Oh Atlanta, Dixie Chicken and a joyous Fat Man In The Bathtub (with vocals by Dave Matthews and Sonny Landreth) are rich and powerful. Brooks and Dunn turn truckers’ anthem Willin’ into a heart-tugging country lament, while Emmylou Harris shines on a barn-storming Sailing Shoes. Long-time fans may quibble at omissions such as Tripe Face Boogie in favour of bar-room romping through standards such as See Ya Later Alligator, but when the Feat are flying they can still raise the neck-hairs and hot-wire the soul.

Hot Tomato | PRPCD 038

Reviewed by Kris Needs
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