Little Feat - Brickyard Blues (1975)

Little Feat have always been a favourite band of mine, from their first album in 1971 right through to 'Time Loves A Hero' in 1977. Lowell George had been in a few bands in the late 60's, including The Factory and Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention, and while a member of the Mothers he wrote 'Willin''. On hearing the song Zappa reportedly fired him from the band, either because he felt that George was too talented to be a guitar for hire and should form his own group, or that 'Willin'' contained drug references. I favour the first option, as Zappa was instrumental in getting the newly formed Little Feat their Warner Brothers record deal, which he wouldn't have done had there been an acrimony between them. During the recording sessions for their debut album, George injured his hand and couldn't play guitar on 'Willin'', so Ry Cooder filled in for him, but the song was recorded a second time for the next album, this time with George playing guitar. During their too-short career they wrote and recorded many songs that have since gone on to become standards (Willin'', 'Dixie Chicken', 'Teenage Nervous Breakdown' etc), and as well as the tracks that did eventually appear on their albums, some songs fell by the wayside and have remained unheard for nearly 30 years. The 'Hotcakes and Outtakes' collection of 2000 did a fine job in unearthing a number of these, but being a career retrospective meant that they were slotted in amongst more well-known album tracks in a 4CD box set, whereas the hardcore fans just wanted to hear the newly discovered stuff, so for them, and for me, this album consists of just the songs recorded for their albums which didn't make the cut. It's no surprise, considering the quality of the band's output, that these offcuts are often as good as anything else they released, but a few of them overtly show the jazz and soul influences they tended to keep buried in order to maintain the rock feel of the songs. 'All That You Dream' eventually appeared on 'The Last Record Album' and 'Hi Roller' was on 'Time Loves a Hero', but these versions were recorded during much earlier sessions. 

Track listing

01 Doglines (from the 'Little Feat' sessions)
02 Rat Faced Dog (from the 'Little Feat' sessions)
03 Wait Till The Shit Hits The Fan (from the 'Little Feat' sessions)
04 Doriville (from the 'Sailin' Shoes' sessions)
05 Roto/Tone (from the 'Sailin' Shoes' sessions)
06 Ace In The Hole (Hi Roller) (from the 'Dixie Chicken' sessions)
07 Eldorado Slim (from the 'Dixie Chicken' sessions)
08 Boogie Wigwam (Short Jazz Piece) (demo)
09 Brickyard Blues (Play Something Sweet) (from the 'Feats Don't Fail Me Now' sessions)
10 All That You Dream (from the 'Feats Don't Fail Me Now' sessions)
11 Front Page News (from 'The Last Record Album' sessions)
12 Jazz Thing In 10 (from the 'Little Feat' sessions)
13 Rockin' Shoes I & II (Lowell George demo)