Feats Don't Fail Me Now
One of those bands that perfectly epitomized so many things about the 1970s, Little Feat created a strangely smooth and sexy pastiche of Southern-spiced blues-rock. Main manLowell George's undulant slide guitar marked the group's early recordings. His vocals, meanwhile, were distinctive in the manner in which he toyed with vowels as if they were yo-yos, tossing them up and down, this way and that. The albums recorded prior to George's 1979 death reflected a jazz influence (albeit one that would grow more pronounced as his influence in the band waned). Being based in Los Angeles also gave them a certain patina they may have lacked if they had been based in, say, Memphis.Feats Don't Fail Me Nowfeatures visiting guestsBonnie RaittandEmmylou Harrisand a collection of tight, wryly observant songs.Don't Fail Me's 1973 predecessor,Dixie Chicken, is generally seen as Little Feat's must-have outing, but this album, too, holds up a stunningly strong demonstration the appeal of the band's rock-blues-jazz hybrid.--Lorry Fleming