Little Feat: Pre-Columbian Live (1975-1976 bootleg highlights)

This post offers a double-LP-sized live Little Feat album covering May 1975 to May 1976, drawn from four good soundboard bootlegs. 

Post-1974, George-era Little Feat needs a little more advocacy and canon-building. The final few studio albums with Lowell George were overcooked, and only the fabulous, live “Waiting for Columbus” (1977) plants a decisive post-1974 flag for the era. 

Even the band’s latter-day live archive releases (“Hot Tomatos” and “Ripe Tomatos” [sic]) hardly broach 1975-1976 live material.

So, here’s a concise bootleg-bridge collection to slot between the 1974 Ultrasonic Studios recordings and the 1977 Tower of Power Horns live moment of “Waiting for Columbus.”

Overlapping setlists made it fairly easy to reduce these sources to an album of performances that offer contrasts with the familiar recordings or are simply very exciting. There are several great 2-and-3-song sequences with perfect segues by the band. Compared to the familiar recordings, there are also some notably long versions – a seven-minute “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now,” and an eight-minute “Day or Night.” Lots of charming moments, too. 

100-minute mp3 mix zipped up here

LP 1 (1975):

Atlanta (5/23/75)

  • Oh, Atlanta!
  • On Your Way Down
  • Juliette >
  • Lafayette Railroad >
  • Day Or Night
  • Feats Don’t Fail Me Now

Rochester (10/18/75)

  • Down Below the Borderline
  • Romance Dance
  • Willin’

LP2 (1976):

San Francisco (2/14/76)

  • Skin It Back
  • One Love Stand >
  • Rock & Roll Doctor
  • Cold, Cold, Cold >
  • Dixie Chicken > 
  • Tripe Face Boogie
  • Teenage Nervous Breakdown

London (5/3/76)

  • On Your Way Down
  • All That You Dream 

Artwork: Neon Park, “Jesus and the Three Pigs” (ink, 1976)

No audio edits except proper tracking divisions where the band executed a segue, track start/end-points, and some volume EQ.

This is our second Little Feat proposition. The first one is here.