Little Feat

Little Feat - Ain't Had Enough Fun - 1995 - Zoo Entertainment

"Lowell George may have long gone, but the band's rollingly funky ways remain in place." © Q Magazine

In 1995 with the arrival of vocalist Shawn Murphy, LF proved with this album that they were still terrifyingly good, and a major force to be reckoned with. After a spell in the doldrums, Little Feat returned with a great album containing their "normal" crazed mixture of cajun, rock, and blues, played with the passion and soul of a band that for a long time had forgotten their "Dixie Chicken" and "Sailin' Shoes" days. This album is HR by A.O.O.F.C, Check out the band's "Under The Radar" album @ LFEAT/UTR and "Shake Me Up" @ LFEAT/SMU However, it is the opinion of A.O.O.F.C, that Little Feat's 1975 album, "The Last Record Album," is the jewel in LF's crown, has not been bettered by the band, and remains one of the greatest, and possibly most underrated rock recordings of all time. Check it out! Read the great band's bio @ LFEAT/BIO/WIKI

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 Drivin' Blind (Payne, Wray) 5:12
2 Blue Jean Blues (Barrère, Payne, Tackett, Wray) 6:06
3 Cadillac Hotel (Payne, Wray) 5:35
4 Romance Without Finance (Clayton, Kibbee, Payne) 4:05
5 Big Bang Theory (Barrère, Murphy, Payne, Tackett, Wray) 5:32
6 Cajun Rage (Barrère, Kibbee, Wray) 5:30
7 Heaven's Where You Find It (Barrère, Murphy, Payne, Tackett) 5:03
8 Borderline Blues (Barrère, Murphy, Payne, Tackett, Wray) 7:43
9 All That You Can Stand (Barrère, Payne, Wray) 6:35
10 Rock & Roll Everynight (Barrère, Murphy, Payne, Tackett, Wray) 5:06
11 Shakeytown (Barrère, Kibbee) 5:12
12 Ain't Had Enough Fun (Barrère, Murphy, Payne, Strand, Tackett) 3:27
13 That's a Pretty Good Love (Lucas, Mendelsohn) 4:50

BAND

Paul Barrère - guitar, dobro, vocals
Bill Payne - keyboards, vocals
Sam Clayton - percussion, vocals
Kenny Gradney - bass
Richie Hayward - drums, vocals
Shaun Murphy - vocals, percussion
Fred Tackett - guitar, mandolin

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Darrell Leonard - trumpet (2, 3, 10, & 13) [ Texicali Horns ]
Joe Sublett - tenor saxophone (2, 3, 10, & 13) [ Texicali Horns ]
David Woodford - tenor and baritone saxophone (2, 3, 10, & 13) [ Texicali Horns ]
Piero Mariani - electronic percussion ( 1,2,6-9) [ Texicali Horns ]
Van Dyke Parks - accordion (12)

REVIEWS

Little Feat ain't failed us yet as the revived institution returns ever closer to its Dixie-fried roots. The musicianship is predictably superb and Paul Barrere again keeps the spirit of Lowell George alive with his singing and slide guitar (namely, "Blue Jean Blues" and "Cajun Rage"). Yet it's newcomer Shaun Murphy who could put the band's 13th album on the map. Her superb, Bonnie Raitt-like vocals make "Big Bang Theory" and the swamp gumbo "Romance Without Finance" gritty winners. © Jeff Bateman, Amazon.com

The members of the group that has the legal right to call itself "Little Feat" perhaps are to be complemented for their realization, after three albums, that having Craig Fuller imitate the voice of the band's deceased founder, Lowell George, was ethically suspect. Or maybe they didn't realize; this album's liner notes say only that "mister fuller decided that the road life was not for him." In any case, the surviving "featsters" have cast against type, recruiting one Shaun Murphy, who can't imitate George but certainly can imitate longtime Feat booster Bonnie Raitt. The addition of a female voice allows for greater variety in lyric-writing and some entertaining call-and-response singing, however, and more important, it begins to free the group from the ghost of Lowell George. The featsters locate themselves more than ever in the mythology of New Orleans, alternating second-line rhythms with John Lee Hooker boogie. One may still wish they had found another name to distinguish themselves from George's group, but Ain't Had Enough Fun is a worthy addition to their catalog on its own terms. © William Ruhlmann, allmusic.com

BIO

Though they had all the trappings of a Southern-fried blues band, Little Feat were hardly conventional. Led by songwriter/guitarist Lowell George, Little Feat were a wildly eclectic band, bringing together strains of blues, R&B, country, and rock & roll. The bandmembers were exceptionally gifted technically and their polished professionalism sat well with the slick sounds coming out of southern California during the '70s. However, Little Feat were hardly slick -- they had a surreal sensibility, as evidenced by George's idiosyncratic songwriting, which helped the band earn a cult following among critics and musicians. Though the band earned some success on album-oriented radio, the group was derailed after George's death in 1979. Little Feat re-formed in the late '80s, and while they were playing as well as ever, they lacked the skewed sensibility that made them cult favorites. Nevertheless, their albums and tours were successful, especially among American blues-rock fans.However, Little Feat wasn't conceived as a straight-ahead blues-rock group. Its founding members, Lowell George (vocals, guitar, slide guitar) and Roy Estrada (bass), were veterans of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. George had a long musical career before joining the Mothers. As a child, he and his brother Hampton performed a harmonica duet on television's Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour. During high school, he learned how to play flute, which led to him appearing as an oboist and baritone saxophonist on several Frank Sinatra recording sessions. He formed the folk-rock group the Factory with drummer Richard Hayward in 1965. Before disbanding, the Factory made some recordings for Uni Records, but the tapes sat unreleased until the 1990s. Following the group's demise, George joined the Mothers of Invention, where he met Estrada. Zappa convinced George to form his own band after hearing "Willin'," but the guitarist was reluctant to begin a band until he participated in a brief Standells reunion. George and Estrada formed Little Feat in 1969 with Hayward and keyboardist Billy Payne. Neither its eponymous first album in 1971 nor 1972's Sailin' Shoes were commercial successes, despite strong reviews. As a result, the group temporarily disbanded, with Estrada leaving music to become a computer programmer. When the group reconvened later in 1972, he was replaced by New Orleans musician Kenny Gradney. In its second incarnation, Little Feat also featured guitarist Paul Barrére and percussionist Sam Clayton, who gave the music a funkier feeling, as demonstrated by 1973's Dixie Chicken. The band toured heavily behind the record, building a strong following in the South and on the East Coast. Nevertheless, the group remained centered in Los Angeles, since the members did a lot of session work on the side. Though the band was earning a cult following, several members of the group were growing frustrated by George's erratic behavior and increasing drug use. Following 1974's Feats Don't Fail Me Now, Barrére and Payne became the band's primary songwriters and they were primarily responsible for the jazzy fusions of 1975's The Last Record Album. Little Feat continued in that direction on Time Loves a Hero (1977), the double-live album Waiting for Columbus (1978), and Down on the Farm (1979). Frustrated with the band's increasingly improvisational and jazzy nature, George recorded a solo album, Thanks I'll Eat It Here, which was released in 1979. Following its release, George announced that Little Feat had broken up, and he embarked on a solo tour. Partway through the tour, he died of an apparent heart attack. Down on the Farm was released after his death, as was the rarities collection Hoy-Hoy! (1981).After spending seven years as sidemen, Payne, Barrére, Hayward, Gradney, and Clayton re-formed Little Feat in 1988, adding vocalist/guitarist Craig Fuller and guitarist Fred Tackett. The heavily anticipated Let It Roll was released in 1988 to mixed reviews, but it went gold. Each of the group's subsequent reunion albums -- Representing the Mambo (1989), Shake Me Up (1991), and Ain't Had Enough Fun (1995) -- sold progressively less, but the band remained a popular concert attraction. On the latter album, the band traded the strongly Lowell George-esque voice of Fuller for female singer Shaun Murphy; this lineup went on to release Under the Radar in 1998 and Chinese Work Songs in 2000. Numerous compilations and live recordings peppered the next few years, followed by 2003's Kickin' It at the Barn, the group's first album for their own indie label, Hot Tomato Records. Rocky Mountain Jam arrived in early 2007. © Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide