Little Feat was no ordinary rock-and-roll band.  The seeds of the California group were planted when singer-songwriter Lowell George, then playing in Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, met keyboardist Bill Payne, who had unsuccessfully auditioned for the famously tough Zappa.  The pair hit it off and teamed with former Mothers bassist Roy Estrada and drummer Richard Hayward, late of George's old band The Factory, to form Little Feat.  The story remains unclear as to exactly what prompted George to depart from the Mothers; one version has Zappa assuring him that he was simply too good to remain a sideman.  Another has the bandleader firing him for having played a lengthy solo with his amp turned off.  Yet another finds Zappa offended by the drug references when George played him what would become his most famous song, "Willin.'"  Whatever the case, FZ helped Little Feat get signed to Warner Bros. Records, with whom he was affiliated, and the rest is history.

On the heels of last year's expanded box set presentation of Little Feat's seminal live LP Waiting for Columbus, Warner and Rhino have just reissued the band's second and third albums, Sailin' Shoes (1972) and Dixie Chicken (1973), as deluxe 2CD or 3LP editions.  These generous and newly-remastered reissues place this pair of key albums in context with an array of bonus tracks including demos, alternates, outtakes, and live concerts.

Little Feat's eponymous 1971 debut wasn't commercially auspicious.  With reported sales of just 11,000 units, the band sensed it was time for course correction.  Whereas that album was an idiosyncratic celebration of the old, weird America drawing a line between Gram Parsons and Frank Zappa, Sailin' Shoes would be a more focused fusion of rock, folk, country, and blues, with liberal dashes of funk and boogie.  With producer Ted Templeman (The Doobie Brothers, Harpers Bizarre) steering the ship, Sailin' Shoes felt cohesive in a way its predecessor, helmed by the equally distinguished Russ Titelman, never did.  George's songwriting was growing ever more focused as he found his original voice: one filled with wry humor and surreal observations married to catchier hooks.

Still, nobody could accuse the album of being one-note or lacking in musical eclecticism.  Sailin' Shoes offered amped-up rock-and-roll ("Teenage Nervous Breakdown"), tough blues-rock ("Cold, Cold, Cold," anchored by Hayward's drums), quirky country-and-western balladry ("Trouble"), a low-key, drawling singalong (the title track), and a reworking of the previous album's "Willin'" that presented the truckers' ode to "weeds, whites, and wine" at a slower tempo that showcased George's aching melody to stronger effect.  Though "Willin'" might have been a fine choice for single release, the selection ultimately was "Easy to Slip," as universal a song as George ever wrote.  Despite the slick, radio-friendly sound of Templeman's production, it failed to chart - as would every one of Little Feat's singles during Lowell George's lifetime.  Bill Payne's material on Sailin' Shoes proved equally strong, whether the rowdy "Tripe Face Boogie" (co-written with Hayward) or the bluesy pair of "Got No Shadow" and "Cat Fever."

The second disc of Sailin' Shoes is loaded with choice bonus material including five previously unreleased studio tracks.  Van Dyke Parks co-produced and played piano on a laconic demo of "Sailin' Shoes."  Alternate takes of "Cold, Cold, Cold," "A Apolitical Blues," "Trouble," and "Willin'" have all been newly mixed by Brian Kehew from the original multitracks.  They capture the songs in different stages of development; on "Cold, Cold, Cold," Hayward is still working out the drum part and groove; "Trouble" is sparser, as is "Willin'" without the background vocals.

Of the previously issued material (originally included on Little Feat's 2000 Hotcakes and Outtakes collection), it's not a stretch to imagine the early Doobie Brothers performing "Easy to Slip" and "Texas Rose Café;" two rocking, full band demos here were earmarked for Templeman's other production clients.  ("Easy to Slip" was then known as "Easy to Fall.")  Two outtakes from the album sessions, the mood-and-tempo-shifting instrumental "Roto-Tone" (penned by ex-Mothers guitarist Elliot Ingber) and Lowell's ballad "Doriville" would have fit snugly on the original LP.

The previously unreleased concert Thank You! I'll Eat It Here: Live at the Palladium, Los Angeles, CA, August 28, 1971 excavates the only show from the original four-piece line-up captured on multitrack tape.  (Brian Kehew once again handled the mixing.)  Though the unit wasn't together for long, the show reveals the bandmates' intuitive connection as they lay down loose, freewheeling grooves with tight musicianship.  Though it was recorded months before the February 1972 release of Sailin' Shoes, roughly half of the setlist previews tracks from the album alongside songs from Little Feat.

Sailin' Shoes ultimately became a cult classic, inspiring covers from across the musical spectrum: "Sailin' Shoes" (Van Dyke Parks, Robert Palmer), "Easy to Slip" (Bob Weir, Black Crowes), "A Apolitical Blues" (Van Halen), and "Teenage Nervous Breakdown" (Nazareth), and "Willin'" (The Byrds, Phish, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne, Mandy Moore, and Linda Ronstadt).  Though the band's next album still wouldn't crack the Billboard 200 ("bubbling under" at No. 205), it would eventually earn them a Gold certification.

Little Feat's next album, however, would set the template the sound which the band still embraces today.  Creating that new sound would, essentially, be a new band.  Lowell George (who took the production reins from Ted Templeman), Bill Payne, and Richie Hayward were joined by guitarist/vocalist Paul Barrere, percussionist Sam Clayton, and bassist Kenny Gradney for Dixie Chicken, reinventing Little Feat as a N'awlins-inspired funk and R&B outfit.  The impressive, soulful likes of Bonnies Raitt and Bramlett and Gloria Jones joined in on background vocals while Milt Holland and Fred Tackett (who would join the reconstituted band in the 1980s) were among the musical guests.

The memorable title track introduced all of the new, expanded band's elements within moments: Clayton's congas, Gradney's funky bass, Hayward's tapping the snare, and Payne's fleet tickling of the ivories.  Then the guitar and vocal come in, locking Little Feat into a sly groove: "If you'll be my Dixie chicken, I'll be your Tennessee lamb/And we can walk together, down in Dixieland..."  Little Feat would stay comfortably in Dixieland, even tipping the band's collective hat to famous native Allen Toussaint with a smoking version of his "On the Way Down."  But the lion's share of the songwriting was once again in the capable hands of Lowell George, who (in addition to co-authoring "Dixie Chicken" with the pseudonymous Fred Martin) blossomed even more fully on such tracks as the sultry, romantic "Roll Um Easy," tender but still rocking "Juliette" (boasting Lowell on flute!), churning "Two Trains," future Feat standard "Fat Man in the Bathtub," and unusual "Kiss It Off," with its blend of disquieting electronic sounds and Indian drums (tabla) played by Milt Holland.

Fred Tackett contributed "Fool Yourself," a bit more straightforward than a Lowell George composition but every bit as irresistible in its laconic yet funky rhythm.  Decades later, Hayward's drum parts would become fodder for sampling. Payne and Barrere co-wrote and sang "Walkin' All Night," an ode to a lady of the evening set to an appropriately raunchy track.  Payne and George's closing instrumental, the slow-burning "Lafayette Railroad," summed up the album's style in less than four minutes.

The second disc of Dixie Chicken has another five previously unissued studio cuts to supplement four tracks first issued on Hotcakes and Outtakes and 2002's Raw Tomatos Vol. 1; among the strongest of the alternate takes debuting here are the intimate "Roll Um Easy" and the commanding, slightly extended "On Your Way Down."  The flute has been mixed out or simply wasn't present on the alternate of "Juliette," giving the song a much different flavor.  (Though the liner notes are strong, they don't delve much into the provenance of the bonus tracks.)  It would be difficult for "Dixie Chicken" not to strut its stuff, and its rollicking feel is already firmly established on this take.

The Ted Templeman-produced demo of "Two Trains" is far more rough-hewn than the final album version; it, too, has a certain swagger that would have earned favorable comparisons to the Doobie Brothers.  The demo of "Fat Man in the Bathtub" likewise presents the song stripped to its essence, primitive but visceral.  The outtakes "Eldorado Slim" and "Hi Roller (Ace in the Hole)," though familiar from past appearances, shed additional light on the sessions.

Icepick Eldorado: Live at Paul's Mall, Boston, Massachusetts April 1, 1973 is the live set premiering here, newly mixed by Brian Kehew.  With just seven superb tracks, it features "Two Trains," "On Your Way Down," "Walkin' All Night," and "Fat Man in the Bathtub" from Dixie Chicken along with the new group's reinventions of Sailin' Shoes' "Got No Shadow," "Willin'," and "A Apolitical Blues."

Both the 2CD and 3LP versions of the Deluxe Editions contain new liner notes (by David Fricke on Sailin' Shoes and Dennis McNally on Dixie Chicken) plus lyrics and photos.  Sound is expectedly exemplary in the hands of mastering engineers Dan Hersch and Bill Inglot, and the 180-gram vinyl LPs were happily quiet.  Original labels have been retained (with the obligatory substitution of the new Warner Records logo for the original Warner Bros. shield.)  Both of these releases are in the spirit of Rhino's finest work of years past, presenting each album in full context with copious annotation and a generous helping of audio extras.

This fall, the current lineup of Little Feat (still with the nucleus of Bill Payne, Sam Clayton, and Kenny Gradney as well as Fred Tackett) will perform both Sailin' Shoes and Dixie Chicken live in concert, staying true to the original albums while bringing their improvisatory style to the performances.  Little Feat have always been musicians' musicians; their slinky, lithe riffs and free-flowing, full-bodied rhythm and blues have rarely sounded as appealing as on this pair of classics.  And all the boys there at the bar began to sing along...

Both titles are available now:

Sailin' Shoes 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Sailin' Shoes 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

Dixie Chicken 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
Dixie Chicken 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada