Sailin Shoes
Sailin' Shoesdemonstrates just how briskly Little Feat was developing in their early 1970s formative years. A pronounced step up from the Southern California quartet's critically praised 1971 debut, it's not as fully realized as the Feat's 1973 zenith,Dixie Chicken. But it's not far behind, and that's saying something. The final recording made by the original quartet (the band swelled to six members after founding bassist and Mothers of Invention alumni Roy Estrada split), Little Feat circa 1972 is a lean, energetic outfit. "Cold, Cold, Cold," "Tripe Face Boogie," "Apolitical Blues," and "Teenage Nervous Breakdown" are blunter rockers than what would follow. Lowell George's title track and Bill Payne's "Got No Shadow" and "Cat Fever," meanwhile, presage the more limber direction the group was headed.--Steven Stolder