This virtual Little Feat box consists of two curated mixes and one complete performance. I reviewed every ’73 Feat tape on archive.org, and this is how I decided to compress them for my own perpetual listening pleasure. It includes at least one version of every composition captured on the year’s (available) tapes, except “Oh, Atlanta!” and "Rock & Roll Doctor." None of the options really sold those songs.
The sextet version of Feat debuted in January 1972, but no tapes from the year circulate. That’s a shame, since it would be amazing to track that band finding its groove, adapting early songs to the new player-palette, etc. In any case, by 1973 they were fantastic, and regular radio broadcasts, augmented by intrepid audience tapers, ensured that many shows would be captured for posterity.
3-hour mp3 mix zipped up here, comprising the following three discs.
Live ’73: Ultrasonic (4/10/73 complete)
The most famous Feat bootleg is the 1974 Ultrasonic Studios session. This 1973 session at the same location isn’t far behind – a live radio promo for the studio album, “Dixie Chicken, which was released three months before this performance. If you already have this, but you haven't upgraded your file in a few years, this might be a better master. I converted directly from FLAC.
59 minutes:
- A Apolitical Blues
- Got No Shadow
- Willin’
- On Your Way Down
- Walking All Night
- Band intro & Lowell George chat
- Two Trains
- Fat Man in the Bathtub
- Sailin’ Shoes
- Cold, Cold, Cold >
- Dixie Chicken >
- Tripe Face Boogie
- Teenage Nervous Breakdown
Live ’73: Oddities
1973 Little Feat set lists contained mostly the same songs, but a healthy number of outliers were captured on tape. Here they are, and they are a hoot. “Spanish Moon > Skin it Back” is on this mix because it needed to be somewhere in this collection, and “Spanish Moon” is actually very rare on the 1973 tapes.
70 minutes:
- China White (11/2/73 Sugar Hill Studios)
- Bag of Reds (9/17/73 Atlanta)
- Ass for Days (7/21/73 Denver)
- Chevy 39 (3/20/73 Santa Monica)
- Airplane (4/1/73 Boston)
- Eldorado Slim (3/20/73 Santa Monica)
- Day at the Dog Races (11/2/73 Houston)
- High Roller (11/2/73 Houston)
- Someone’s Leaving Tonight (11/2/73 Sugar Hill Studios)
- Spanish Moon > Skin It Back (3/20/73 Santa Monica)
- China White (w/Bonnie Raitt, 4/1/73 Boston)
- Ass for Days (4/1/73 Boston)
Live ’73: Oldies
This mix collects performances of songs that appeared on the band’s first two albums, plus “The Fan,” which goes back to 1970. Most of these songs fell out of the band’s repertoire by 1974, with only “A Apolitical Blues,” “Sailin’ Shoes,” “Willin’” and “Teenage Nervous Breakdown” making it to 1975 and beyond, during the George years.
It is fascinating to hear these songs transformed by the sextet’s approach, and I had to fight myself not to include every recording of “Hamburger Midnight.” Even the shittiest bootleg can’t break that song. I decided not to include “Cold, Cold, Cold” and “Tripe Face Boogie” on this oldies disc, because there are lots of great 1973 versions of those, and the Ultrasonic recording of them is plenty good enough for this boxed set.
49 minutes:
- Hamburger Midnight (7/21/73 Denver)
- Snakes on Everything (7/21/73 Denver)
- Texas Rose Cafe (7/19/73 Denver)
- Got No Shadow (7/19/73 Denver)
- A Apolitical Blues (7/19/73 Denver)
- Cat Fever (7/19/73 Denver)
- The Fan (7/19/73 Denver)
- Sailin’ Shoes (w/Bonnie Raitt, 4/1/73 Boston)
- Willin’ (4/1/73 Boston)
- Teenage Nervous Breakdown (4/1/73 Boston)
- Teenage Nervous Breakdown (w/sax 4/15/73 NYC - Max’s Kansas City)
You might look at the above track sources, or listen to this mix, and conclude that the 7/19/73 tape must be a classic. It isn’t for me. Its immaculate crispness works great for these early songs, but when it comes to the thicker grooves/major new tunes of the era, the sound does not gel for me. I do not groove.
If these mixes please you, you'll probably want to see all our Little Feat posts.