Alive in America '73 [3LP Red] Vinyl

Alive in America '73 catches Little Feat on a summer night in Denver in 1973, spread across three red 180 gram LPs in a gatefold jacket (etched side F).

Recorded at Ebbets Field, the show lands between Dixie Chicken and Feats Don't Fail Me Now, just after the band grew from a quartet into a six-piece. Kenny Gradney had taken over on bass, with Paul Barrere on guitar and Sam Clayton on percussion joining Lowell George, Bill Payne and Richie Hayward, and the new lineup pushed the sound toward the funky, rolling rhythms of New Orleans. This is that change happening in real time.

There's no hurry here. "Dixie Chicken" stretches out to almost ten minutes of loose, greasy groove, "Fat Man in the Bathtub" struts on Hayward's off-kilter drumming, and "Willin'" brings George's tender trucker's lament down to a hush. The closing "Cold, Cold, Cold" runs past 13 minutes, the band riding the jam as far as it will go, with Payne's keys and George's slide guitar trading blows.

It's a vivid snapshot of one of America's great live bands at a turning point, swinging and gloriously unpolished. Anyone who has ever argued that Little Feat were best heard on stage will find plenty of ammunition across these six sides.

Tracklist

LP 1

Side A

1. Apolitical Blues
2. Two Trains
3. Got No Shadow Pt. 1
4. The Fan LP

Side B

1. 1. Texas Rose Cafe
2. Snakes on Everything
3. Cat Fever
4. Fat Man in the Bathtub

LP 2

Side C

1. Walkin' All Night
2. Sailin' Shoes
3. Dixie Chicken

Side D

1. Hamburger Midnight
2. Got No Shadow Pt. 2
3. On Your Way Down

LP 3

Side E

1. Willin'
2. Cold, Cold, Cold

Side F

1. Blank, no music