Apr 22, 2011

More LITTLE FEAT In Concert... Pinkpop, The Netherlands 1976

Little Feat circa 1969-1979... so much talent, so underrated, so sorely missed. 
Lowell George - Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
Paul Barrere - Guitar, Vocals
Bill Payne - Keyboards, Vocals
Kenny Gradney - Bass (1972 - 2011) 
Roy Estrada - Bass (1969-1972)
Richie Hayward - Drums, Backing Vocals
Sam Clayton - Congas, Percussion, Vocals

The Frank Zappa connection.


Lowell George met Bill Payne when George was a member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. Payne had auditioned for the Mothers, but had not joined. They formed Little Feat along with former Mothers' bassist Roy Estrada and drummer Richie Hayward from George's previous band, the Factory. The name of the band came from a comment made by Mothers' drummer Jimmy Carl Black about Lowell's "little feet." The spelling of "feat" was an homage to The Beatles.


There are three legends about the genesis of Little Feat. One has it that George showed Zappa his song "Willin'," and that Zappa fired him from the Mothers of Invention, because he felt that George was too talented to merely be a member of his band, and told him he ought to go away and form his own band. The second version has Zappa firing him for playing a 15 minute guitar solo—with his amplifier off. The third version says that Zappa fired him because "Willin'" contains drug references ("weed, whites and wine"). George often introduced the song as the reason he was asked to leave the band. On Oct. 18, 1975 at the Auditorium Theater in Rochester New York while introducing the song, George comments that he was asked to leave the band for "writing a song about dope".


In any version, Zappa was instrumental in getting George and his new band a record contract. When "Willin'" was recorded for the Little Feat album, George hurt his hand in an accident with a model airplane, so Ry Cooder sat in and played the song's slide part. Lowell's accident is referenced on the cover art of the band's 1996 album Under the Radar. "Willin'" was re-recorded (this time with Lowell playing) on Little Feat's second album Sailin' Shoes, which was also the first Little Feat album to include cover art by Neon Park, who had painted the cover for Zappa's Weasels Ripped My Flesh.  Via Wikipedia

Little Feat at The 1976 Pinkpop Music Festival, The Netherlands via jnerrot

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