Dixie Chicken

From the Editors

Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Warner.
Album Description

Customer Response

Some Hit and Run
My millions of fans have surely noticed by this time that I'm working through a few "best of" lists, specifically the "Mojo Collection" from the English music magazine and "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die". Such things are hardly definitive, never mind true - the contents of lists like this are a matter of personal taste, by definition. Furthermore, I don't expect to complete either list before I die, despite the title. (I'm also working my way through "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die", and who has that kind of time?) So there's no point in fussing if one's favorite item doesn't make the cut.

Having said that, the absence of Little Feat from both of these lists makes me very suspicious. If these editors missed the Feat, how can they possibly be trusted? I mean, come on - even if one isn't impressed by the band's later excursions into fusion jazz, how can you leave off "Dixie Chicken"?

Band history informs us that this album featured a new lineup - it included three of the original four members, plus a new bass player, a new percussionist, and a new co-lead guitarist, incidentally turning Little Feat into one of the surprisingly few integrated units pop music has produced. The additions also gave the band an expanded sound, of course, and eventually took them in a new direction through the instrumental by-play between the guitar and the keyboards. So it's not entirely surprising that they left their country-folk influences behind for this album and headed straight for New Orleans.

The Crescent City beat is among the most recognizable on the planet, and it pops up all over the place here. The band even covered "On Your Way Down" by Allen Toussaint, one of the Big Easy's most respected producers. It's not only the beat, however - like many things about New Orleans, "Dixie Chicken" gives us a creepy combination of party atmosphere and underlying menace. A good example is the classic "Two Trains", which describes a love triangle in terms of an approaching rail crash. And even on the happier numbers, there's always that trademark Lowell George slide guitar slithering around, even on the one cut where he didn't provide the lead vocal. Not that that's a bad thing, mind you - it sounds great, very distinctive. It just makes the music slippery.

These musicians could deal with slippery sounds, though, so they added a whole lot of tricky effects to keep themselves interested. That was particularly true live, but even on record, it sounds like they were listening to each other almost to the exclusion of everything else and feeding each other ideas every three or four seconds. There's also more percussion instruments on a lot of these cuts than six men should have been able to play, with congas and cowbells and tambourines and the kitchen sink added to Ritchie Hayward's hysterical drumming. And Lowell George's voice (most of the time) sails over the whole thing with a kick-back-and-relax vibe like it's all in a day's work. So that apart from the great beat and the terrific musicianship, "Dixie Chicken" is just plain interesting to listen to.

With all of that going on, you don't need much in the way of lyrics, but whenever Lowell started in on the words something interesting was sure to happen anyway. This, after all, was the guy who worked the phrase "unscrupulous operators" into a high-speed rocker on Little Feat's previous set. I've already mentioned "Two Trains", and elsewhere on this album you get ideas like "milquetoast Hitlers" and "all I want in my life and times is some hit and run". The title cut describes a serial monogamist whose conquests identify each other by the song she teaches them. The other songwriters on the album aren't always quite as inventive, but they do just fine, including future member Fred Tackett - his "Fooling Yourself" provides the most friendly, or at any rate least neurotic, approach to relationships on the whole album. And special mention should be made of Paul Barrere, the new guitarist. On his composition, "Walking All Night", his rhythmic vocal chanting makes a nice contrast to Lowell's more relaxed approach to singing the rest of the time.

All in all, and although Lowell was without a doubt Little Feat's resident half-crazed genius (their name described his own feet, remember), "Dixie Chicken" is the work of a band at the top of its form. They never quite got this brilliant again, although they came close, but as I'm fond of saying, most of us never pull it off even once. Still, it's a shame they couldn't keep themselves together longer, whether the blame for their eventual breakup falls to personality clashes or Lowell's drug use or commercial disappointment or something else. Maybe on some level these guys realized the future wasn't endless, which may be the reason for the clouds hovering over this material, however distant. It's kind of inspiring that this music is generally so cheerful regardless. Even that bartender singing "Dixie Chicken" at the end of the song of the same name sounds more rueful than miserable, and he's got a whole bar full of guys singing along.

And by God, if that doesn't earn Little Feat a place on any Best Of list, I'd like to know what would.

Benshlomo says, Sing in the face of sorrow.

Little Feat visits "Dixieland" on one of their finest releases
Mixing blues, New Orleans jazz and rock 'n' roll in a potent mix, Dixie Chicken proved to be a watershed album for the band. Their third album was, along with "Feats Don't Fail Me Now", one of their finest without a single weak track. Opening with the title track and then following immediately with the soulful "Two Trains" (which Lowell George later re-recorded for his only solo album "Thanks I'll Eat It Here"),and then drifts into acoustic blues with "Roll Um Easy" (available as a re-recording by George on the Little Feat box set "Hotcakes and Outtakes" an unreleased track from his solo album as well).

The song is probably best known for "Fat Man in The Bathtub" and while that IS a great song, there's so much more here to be heard that if that's the only Little Feat song that you've heard, you're depriving yourself. The album closes out with the George-Billy Payne collaboration "Lafayette Railroad" a potent mix of George's slide guitar and percussionist Sam Clayton on congas.

The original CD sounds terrific. It was mastered for CD by Lee Herschberg who focused on recreating the crisp sound of the original LP as much as possible while playing to the sonic advantages of a CD. It's a pity that there are no bonus tracks on the CD (there are outtakes that are available on the "Hotcakes & Outtakes" box set that would have fit in here just fine but that came out AFTER this was released and, to be honest, when this was originally released on CD in 1990 it was rare but not unheard of to find bonus tracks on re-releases)but other than that minor complaint (and the fact that they could have provided lyrics for the songs), this is a terrific one to get. Is it better to get the CD in a replica of the original LP sleeve that Warner has been putting out via its Japanese division? Not really unless you want that replica along with a replica of the artwork recreated from the original label on the CD. That's your call but the music--which matters--is the same.

Masters of their world
At the time of the release of this album and Feats Don't Fail Me Now, Little feat got a lot of airplay on WHFS in Washington DC. When they rolled into town, it was usually at a small venue called the Warner Theater..I am trying to recall the exact place I saw them first. The reason it comes to mind is at that very concert, which opened with The Meters and Allan Toussaint, a lot of musicians of the DC area were in attendance. That is the kind of band Little Feat was, and having a band like The Meters opening for them showed the kind of music a Little Feat concert was, and where their love of music lay. I never failed to get tickets to go see them. Lowell George had to have been one of the best slide guitarists that ever graced the planet as well as a terrific songwriter and great sense of humor. But it was not just him when it came to that band, it was the interaction of all of them...Paul Barrere, Bill Payne, Kenny Gradney, Richie Hayward, Sam Clayton...they made a sound so tight and so improvisational. Each album had it's own feel to it, getting more complex with the progression and path they took in the years of Lowell George. Sailin' Shoes was the first album I bought and was more than enough satisfaction in their music to buy Dixie Chicken. I named my cat Dixie at the time.
Deep Purple has their historical Appreciation Society...One should be made for Little Feat showing their various incarnations and changes the band has gone through. It is unfortunate they had pockets of popularity by region such as DC and Baltimore with all that talent. But the band is still around...I admit I am partial to the Lowell George and Craig Fuller years but this is a great band. One does not go wrong buying this album and any of their others. They are musician's musicians.

Little Feat=Overlooked Brilliance
Just flipping through my AMG guide to Blues one day I decided to read about Little Feat and became especially interested when i saw that it had Lowell and Estrada (former Zappa musicians)... after picking this disc up at the store and listening to it, I simply could not believe (though i guess it's not the 1st time that such has been the case) that such an excellent group could be so little known! This is really an extraordinary album; I can't wait to check some of their other work!

enjoyable
I bought this on a whim after hearing the song "On Your Way Down" on the radio. I was really impressed with the blues inspired slide guitar playing which had unusual riffs. Even though this album is 35 years+ old this song sounds quite fresh and original. There is a distinct cajun influence felt on "Dixie Chicken". Overall, the effort was very good. I much prefer this album to Sailin' Shoes which other reviewers felt was the other must have Little Feat album. They sound a little like the Allman Brothers with a sense of humor, and a little more subdued slide guitar. Some songs on this album are forgettable but "On Your Way Down", "Two Trains" and "Dixie Chicken" are keepers.

Others also Liked

Sailin Shoes
Feats Dont Fail Me Now
Little Feat
Time Loves a Hero
Waiting for Columbus (Bonus CD) (Dlx)