LITTLE FEAT — Feats Don't Fail Me Now (review)

LITTLE FEAT — Feats Don't Fail Me Now album cover

Album · 1974 · RnB

4.5/5 · 2011-09-23
Chicapah

Being a long time fan of Little Feat I feel adequately qualified to deem “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” as being the high-water mark of their career. It is their masterpiece but not necessarily a jazz music masterpiece and I hope you understand what I’m saying by spewing out that semi-contradictory statement. The new & improved lineup that made the band’s previous album, “Dixie Chicken,” their break-through disc that established them as bonafide contenders in a very competitive business jelled spectacularly while touring that record and the group did their damndest to capture the energy they generated on stage and transfer it into this album intact. Many try to accomplish that “feat” but few are as wholly successful as these guys were on this LP. From start to finish this record literally sizzles and pops with electricity while maintaining a cohesiveness that is downright uncanny.

They open things up with the playful “Rock & Roll Doctor,” a song in which Little Feat’s spunky, funky attitude makes it come off as anything but the straightforward track the generic title might otherwise imply. As always, they are delightfully strange in their approach. Keyboard man Bill Payne’s “Oh, Atlanta” follows and as a rocker it’s more predictable than the curtain-raiser but it has an inviting ‘Nawlins vibe due primarily to the tune’s boisterous barrelhouse piano undercarriage that makes it special. The catchy chorus will stay imbedded in your brain for the rest of your earthly days whether you want it to be in there or not. Guitarist Paul Barrere’s “Skin It Back” is next and it owns a jazzy funk groove that never loses its cool in that it brilliantly shows off the band’s incredible tightness as the number’s different elements simultaneously dance around and bounce off each other with elite precision. Ken Gradney’s bass lines are both inventive and delicious, further reinforcing my opinion that he has always unfairly been one of the most underrated on the planet.

Lowell George’s “Down the Road” has a bluesy R&B atmosphere surrounding it but I dare not pigeonhole it as totally belonging exclusively to either genre. Lowell’s inimitable slide guitar work is on full display throughout. He also wrote one of the album’s true gems, “Spanish Moon.” Its relentless, strong current is inescapable, the penetrating brass section (unidentified, I might add) adds a cache of white hot dynamics and the undeniable excitement in the ensemble’s performance never flags for a nanosecond. (Robert Palmer did a fine job of covering it but I still prefer the original.) “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” exemplifies the innate sense of humor that was always coiled just below the surface of their music and here it jumps right at you without shame. The track is a joyful mix of tightness and spontaneity that is rarely found and basically unknown in the 21st century. George and Payne’s “The Fan” is a jazzy piece set inside a 7/8 time signature that shines a light on their willingness to bravely attempt to expand their audience’s horizons. Paul delivers a spirited guitar solo and Bill puts his ARP synthesizer through the paces while Richie Hayward’s drums kick serious butt.

The 10-minute medley of Lowell’s “Cold, Cold, Cold” combined with Payne and Hayward’s “Tripe Face Boogie” is a treat that never grows old. The first song possesses a slow yet aggressive funk feel that characterizes their one-of-a-kind sound to a tee as George’s expressive vocal style paints a lighthearted but very human picture of sexual frustration. The second tune adopts an energetic shuffle for its vehicle and they keep things interesting by injecting an occasional quirk or two or three along the way. The extended instrumental segment ain’t your usual jam session, either. Bill’s jazzy piano ramblings dominate and take the whole thing into a very abstract universe for a spell. In the nick of time the band bursts back in and proceeds to tear the place up properly before supplying the record with an appropriately noisy, concert-like ending.

Most of the great musical outfits who left a mark on this world can look back and pinpoint the moment when the planets aligned and everything serendipitously came together seemingly without effort and that’s what happened to Little Feat with “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now.” Not only does it feature one of my all-time favorite album covers (with Marilyn Monroe and George Washington out for a secret, thrilling spin through the Alps) but the music contained inside is some of the most mirthful, enchanting and exuberant while consistently maintaining a lofty level of integrity I’ve ever heard outside of Frank Zappa’s adventureland. If you are to own but one Little Feat studio album this is the one to have.