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Highwire Act Live In St. Louis 2003

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Little Feat

 
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Highwire Act Live In St. Louis 2003
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The farthest-out Southern rockers enshrine both their patented fluid blues boogie and stature as gods of the blues-rock golden era on this live collection.

  • We Say...

    The 30-plus-years veteran outfit Little Feat is truly the farthest-out Southern rock band in the genre's history. Founded and perennially inspired (posthumously) by Lowell George, a former Zappa sideman born at the foot of the Los Angeles Mountains, the group has produced some of the most enduring Dixie classics ever this side of the Band and Creedence Clearwater Revival. The Feats continue to tour year-round, releasing discs on their own Hot Tomato records and reveling with fans at their annual Jamaican getaway. Yet this live collection from St. Louis, featuring such standards as "Willin,'" "Oh Atlanta," "Dixie Chicken," and the rollickin' road classic "Feats Don't Fail Me Now," enshrines both their patented fluid blues boogie and stature as gods of the blues-rock golden era.

  • They Say...

    Essentially, this double-disc set is the soundtrack to the DVD of the same name. Sonically, it is sublime; the subtleties of a live performance are all left in. The interplay between guitarists Fred Tackett and Paul Barrére is exceptional, as are the drop-dead-on-a-dime fills of keyboardist Bill Payne. The track selection leans a little more to the classic side of Little Feat's vast catalog, with many tracks from the 1970s in the set, including "Time Loves a Hero," "Skin It Back," "Old Folks Boogie," "Oh Atlanta," "Spanish Moon," "Dixie Chicken," "Tripe Face Boogie," "Fat Man in the Bathtub," "Willin'," and "Feats Don't Fail Me Now." The latter material is served well, too, particularly "I'd Be Lyin'," by new lead vocalist (though she has been with the band for a decade) Shaun Murphy, and Bill Payne's "Cadillac Hotel." And while it's fair to say that this is the band's best live outing since Waiting for Columbus, it in no way gets to the emotional and performance heights that classic slab did, even if the band does play "better" now. This set will not likely win the band any new fans, but if you're one of those who stuck it out after the passing of Lowell George, this collection might just be the thing you're looking for.

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