Little Feat (album)

Little Feat (album)

Little Feat was the eponymous debut by the American rock band Little Feat, released in January 1971. Cobbled together from a variety of recording sessions mostly between August and September 1970, its sound can be described as the antecedent to the group's classic recordings (such as 1973's Dixie Chicken and 1978's Waiting For Columbus). Featuring the Mk. 1 line-up of the group, with Roy Estrada on bass, it was the first of eight albums by the group before their initial 1979 break-up.

The blues that accented the group's later recordings were in full force on Little Feat. Utilizing slide guitar legend Ry Cooder, the group knocked off a medley of two Howlin' Wolf songs, "Forty Four Blues" and "How Many More Years." The coming together of lyrics and instrumentation that dominated all Little Feat albums through Lowell George's tenure as leader were debuted with the dark "Hamburger Midnight." The slices of American life that were present on each album were debuted with "Strawberry Flats" and "Willin'" (the latter destined for a reworking on Sailin' Shoes). The tender side of the group was exemplified with tracks like "Truck Stop Girl" and "I've Been The One."

The cover shows a mural in Venice, California, painted by the L. A. Fine Arts Squad in 1970 - "Venice in the Snow".

Due to its relative failure commercially (only selling about 11,000 copies), the group never again attempted to record anything like it.

In 2007 the album was released as Gold CD (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab).