Little Feat Live: Waiting for Columbus

jackman · « **on:** 24 Jun 2003, 03:43 pm »

I just picked this one up at the used record store. Remembered that I had it back in the early 80's and really liked the songs. Lowell George is one of my favorite guitarists. It's a shame he couldn't make it out of the 70's. Anyway, Little Feat (with George) is one of my favorite bands. I LOVE this record. Best live recording (IMO) that I own on vinyl.

Also picked up Dixie Chicken (my favorite Little Feat record) on vinyl for five bucks yesterday. This is an essential album, IMO. I would like to buy a spare if I can find one in great shape...for five or six bucks.

Records rule!

Jman

mojoman · « **Reply #1 on:** 24 Jun 2003, 04:19 pm »

J-Man,

We sure seem to like alot of the same music. This is also one of my favorites from the 70's. Actually got to see these guys once at my college.

I just bought the cd Deluxe Edition of Waiting for Columbus on Rhino that has the orginal album plus 10 addtional live tracks. The initial cd left a few songs off the orginal release which was a real bummer. Sound quality is good too.

--

As an aside, if you get a chance to see the current Jack Johnson/Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals tour, GO. I saw them a week or so ago and it was fantastic.

jackman · « **Reply #2 on:** 24 Jun 2003, 04:41 pm »

Our musical tastes are even more similar than may know...

I tried to get tix for the Jack Johnson show (this time and last) but he sold out VERY fast. Maybe next time...except as he gets bigger so do the venues. I would like to see someone like Jack in a smaller place.

I'm going to have to get that Little Feat CD re-issue. I am trying to get as much vinyl as possible but that may be an exception. Little Feat was such a tight band. Loewell's slide playing is better than most people may realize because he is playing with such a large band. He never seems to try to overpower the sound of the band or dominate the song.

J

mojoman · « **Reply #3 on:** 24 Jun 2003, 06:04 pm »

I guess I was lucky with the Jack Johnson show. I bought tickets the minute they went on sale and it sold out in a couple of hours. He played at a small ampitheater that holds about 5000. The sound was great with the only real low point being the 30 minute downpour during his set. I wasn't even going to go because the show was on fathers day but my son talked me into it. Just trying to be a good dad you know. Boy am I glad he did, it was one of the best shows I've seen in a while.

We got there early enough to get within about 15 feet of the stage. Johnson's set was about 1:45 long with the first 40 minutes being just him and the rest with a bass player and drummer. At the end of Ben Harper's set (which was equally as good, I'm fast becoming a big Ben Harper fan), Jack came out and they played a Bob Marley's High Tide Low Tide as a duet. It was awesome.

Hope you get to catch him sometime. It is sad that he will probably be playing larger venues. I'd love to see them both in place that seats 400 or so.

jqp · « **Reply #4 on:** 24 Jun 2003, 06:18 pm »

I saw Little Feat in the 70s too. Also had that vinyl when it came out but never got the CD ( wich did not have 'Apolitical Blues' as I recall). Does the reissue have it?

LG was the best electric slide player ever

Can't seem to get into the "new" Little Feat without him.

mojoman · « **Reply #5 on:** 24 Jun 2003, 06:35 pm »

The Rhino reissue has the original vinyl release in the original order plus 10 additional live tracks. The orginal cd didn't have Apolitical Blues and I think it didn't have Don't Bogart That Joint. I agree the Feat ain't the same without LG but I still like the band. I saw them at a BB King blues festival tour a few years back and they did a great show. The cd Live at the Rams Head, An Acoustic Evening with Little Feat on Hot Tomato is very good and the Hot Tomatoes and Raw Tomatoes compilations are good. They span the bands career with and without George. I would have loved to have seen Duane Allman and Lowell George go at it on the slide guitars to see who was best.

Malcolm Fear · « **Reply #6 on:** 24 Jun 2003, 09:14 pm »

I got an original Mobile Fidelity vinyl of Waiting For Columbus back in the late 70's. The shop thought it was a single record, so I got it cheap.
It is such a great record, I listen to it for music and as a "hi fi demo".
Another favourite of mine is Lowell's solo "Thanks I'll Eat It Here". Probably my most played vinyl, along with "It's Too Late To Stop Now", by Van Morrison.
Did you know that Lowell plays slide on JAckson Browne's "The Pretender" (track 2 - Your Bright Baby Blues")?. You hear slide guitar on an early Jackson Browne and you immediately think David Lindley.

Track one, side 2 of Jackson Browne's "Hold Out" album (Of Missing Persons) is a song about Lowell George sung to his daughter.

I saw Little Feat in Sydney, Australia back in the 70's. Fantastic.

randog · « **Reply #7 on:** 24 Jun 2003, 09:22 pm »

Jackman, stop digging through my collection, will ya?

I have quite a few Little Feat in vinyl and you mentioned my two faves. Dixie Chicken is awesome live and gives me chills when I crank it. Isn't that the Tower of Power horn section if I recall?

When CD came out, Dixie Chicken was one of my first purchases. It sounded terrible compared to my vinyl LP (I mean bad!) and was my first rude awakening that vinyl can actually sound much better.

A little trivia: who knew that Little Feat was started by a couple of disgruntled Mothers of Invention castoffs who grew a little weary of Frank Zappa's demanding style? That's how my fuzzy memory remembers it anyway. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm drifting a bit. I was a Zappa fan as well back in the days I played brass. At that time I admired his syncopated structure. I needed the discipline back then!

Randog

mojoman · « **Reply #8 on:** 24 Jun 2003, 09:39 pm »

That right, George and the bass player were vets from The Mothers of Invention. For me the album Sailing Shoes was a real eye opener. What a killer album with songs like Tripe Face Boogie, Willin, Teenage Nervious Breakdown, Easy to Slip, Sailin Shoes and Apolitical Blues. Now I'm all excited, gotta listen to this when I get home.

doug s. · « **Reply #9 on:** 25 Jun 2003, 12:42 am »

lowell george died after a show at lizner auditorium at gwu in dc - a heart attack after too much partying. i tink it was summer of '79. i was gonna see the show - it wooda been my 4th time seein' 'em, but i wooda had to extend the family wisit another two days, & i was anxious to get back to ann arbor, where they were supposed to play in a couple weeks. i freaked when i heard the news about lowell. me & some buds had a wake for him - stayed up all nite 'til sun-up partyin' & playin' little feat. these folk had ~300 bootleg dead tapes, & ~50 bootleg feat tapes, recorded all over the place from contacts they exchanged tapes with. oh well, those were the daze!

anyway, l.g. was (still is?) my fave rocker - besides guitar, he was an incredible singer & songwriter - what i miss most... all the feat stuff is fantastic - the mofi waiting for columbus is supurb...

the 1st i ever heard lowell george sing (?!?) was his singing, & moaning *oooh-awww* on the classic toon "didja get any onya" on frank zappa's "weasel's ripped my flesh". killer album. rrzzzzzzzzz!

doug s.

randog · « **Reply #10 on:** 25 Jun 2003, 01:32 pm »

Eh! I just went through my albums and I have 4 LF studio albums. My ex got away with Waiting For Columbus and the other studio's!

My cd is the WB release. Now I have to get that Rhino release *and* keep my eyes open for another vinyl copy!

Good Feat knowledge here, folks.

Randog

jackman · « **Reply #11 on:** 25 Jun 2003, 05:37 pm »

If I see one at the used record shop, I'll pick it up. I paid $7.00 for my double album version of Columbus and $4.00 for a perfect (almost unplayed) version of Dixie Chicken. They were the only two copies of these albums in the store unfortunately. Also, I picked up a version of Hoy!Hoy! in perfect (unopened) shape for $8.00. Haven't listened to it much because I have been traveling but it is waiting for me at home.

Don't know why LF never achieved the level of fame they deserved. They are not as accessable as some of the bigger groups of their era, but they are much more talented than other, better known bands like the Eagles, etc. Lowell's playing (especially on Columbus) is exceptional as is his vocals. I'm hooked on LF and vinyl.

J

jqp · « **Reply #12 on:** 26 Jun 2003, 04:07 am »

Quote from: mojoman

The Rhino reissue has the original vinyl release in the original order plus 10 additional live tracks. The orginal cd didn't have Apolitical Blues and I think it didn't have Don't Bogart That Joint. I agree the Feat ain't the same without LG but I still like the band. I saw them at a BB King blues festival tour a few years back and they did a great show. The cd Live at the Rams Head, An Acoustic Evening with Little Feat on Hot Tomato is very good and the Hot Tomatoes and Raw Tomatoes compilations are g ...

I will have to check those CDs out.

jqp · « **Reply #13 on:** 26 Jun 2003, 04:13 am »

Quote from: doug s.

...the 1st i ever heard lowell george sing (?!?) was his singing, & moaning *oooh-awww* on the classic toon "didja get any onya" on frank zappa's "weasel's ripped my flesh". killer album. rrzzzzzzzzz!

Weasel's Ripped My Flesh

Now that is quite an album. I always have to play 'Directly From My Heart To You' a few times. And that first track has got to be the most hilariously abrasive tracks ever.

doug s. · « **Reply #14 on:** 26 Jun 2003, 01:05 pm »

my eleven-year-old dawtah *loves* lowell's wocals on that didja get any onya track - i hope she's ok in high school & college...

doug s.

HarleyMYK · « **Reply #15 on:** 26 Jun 2003, 01:48 pm »

What's left of Little Feat is currently on tour. See:
little feat tour dates

FWIW, I recently pcked up Paul and Fred's "Live from North Cafe" and have enjoyed it. Very nice live recording from a club in Japan.

EMM801 · « **Reply #16 on:** 18 Jul 2003, 07:58 pm »

"Waiting For Columbus" was a classic, on a par with the Allman Brothers' "Fillmore East". Haven't heard the Rhino expanded version but it sounds interesting. For other fogies old enough to remember "Dynaquad", it sounds GREAT on that antediluvian surround system, as good as any "digital" surround system. "Thanks I'll Eat It Here" got so-so reviews when it came out (!) but I dig it. Little Feat was a real original, with a sound that was unmistakable. Saw them live, once, at Baltimore Civic Center, about 1977- GREAT.

gringottsdirect · « **Reply #17 on:** 24 Jul 2003, 08:00 pm »

My favourite band, first heard them while demo-ing Pioneer 1270 receiver and Pioneer HPM-150 speakers in seventies.
The dealer was using Day At The Dog Races from Time Loves A Hero, I bought the receiver and speakers, then made sure to buy Little Feat stuff.
The " live " version on Waiting For Columbus is awesome.
Much as I love the vinyl, would be very interested to hear multi-channel DVD-A or SACD of Lowell and the band's finest moments.

HarleyMYK · « **Reply #18 on:** 1 Aug 2003, 05:51 pm »

I did a comparison of the LP and the CD last night. While the CD has been very carefully mixed to get a better balance of the instruments, I could not believe how much more detailed and involving the LP was. The CD was relatively uninteresting and I only got through about half of it. While CDs certainly are a lot more convenient, this comparison really says a lot for vinyl. The imaging and tone were consistently far superior on the double LP. And this is a 25 year old LP that I did not take particularly good care of. I did clean it pretty well before playing it last night.

For what it is worth, my CD player is a QDS-15 (same as nOrh CD-1) with the Svetlanas using DIYCable Superlatives. My TT is an old Thorens 160 with a Grace G-707 arm and a Grace F-9 cartridge (original cables). It was just refurbished by Howard Bardach at Audio Specialists. Preamp is the nOrh ACA with built in RIAA phono stage.

NitroRider · « **Reply #19 on:** 1 Aug 2003, 07:04 pm »

I own two copies of this album. 1 Mobile Fidelity. 1 WB Germany Vinyl Revival 180g. Just played them both again. The WB is much better than the MFSL. Bass is tighter, more tuneful, and to me, funkier. Overall separation of instruments in the mix is much better. I'd like to get an original for comparison as well, but if you want a really good pressing look for the WB.

ps. Got married to this music. The 'Join The Band" intro played as the wedding party entered the room.