The Album Review Club - Week #139 - (page 1815) - Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds

Wow, that didn't take long...as expected!

3D7293EB-5697-469C-99BC-622DF2AD027C.jpeg

As this is my first album nomination in this thread I must confess that I feel a little intimidated as it is clear from following, rather than contributing to this thread, that many of you are much more invested in music than I am. I should also add that I changed my nomination at the last minute mainly because the album I had originally chosen has been mentioned favourably in this and another music related thread recently.

However, when I first put my name forward, this is the album I originally had in mind.

“Feats Don't Fail Me Now" is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Little Feat. Lowell George was the founding member, lead singer and principal songwriter although other band members contributed to writing as well.

I discovered this band through a sampler album The Warner Brothers Music Show that was released in 1975 - it cost the princely sum of 59p. The album was released to coincide with a UK and European tour by a number of acts on the Warner Brothers label and I was lucky enough to see one of the two Manchester concerts at The Free Trade Hall, although not the one featuring Little Feat. However, on the strength of the track “Oh Atlanta” which featured on the sampler I bought this album. I subsequently sought out all their other material and it is fair to say that Little Feat are one of my all-time favourite bands.

The album comprises only 8 tracks and just under 35 minutes long but there is such a variety of musical styles on show I would challenge anyone not to find something they enjoyed.

I don’t propose to go through the album track by track but highlights for me are;

Lowell George was a leading exponent of slide guitar and this is heard to great effect in the opening track Rock and Roll Doctor. This is probably my favourite of all Little Feat tracks and is the band in one song.

Oh Atlanta is an uptempo rock and roll song and Bill Payne (keyboards) plays some great honky tonk style piano.

Spanish Moon, a nice slow, brass heavy, atmospheric laid-back track bringing side 1 to a close. (for me this is where vinyl scores over any other medium for listening to music…I think you are more likely to listen to all tracks and can appreciate how the songs are grouped together on each side)

The Fan, this song has a real energy about it, particularly the rhythmic and hypnotic instrumental section.

I only managed to see them once at a stadium gig where they were one of the support acts in an all-day event. Most of the audience were there for other bands and I don’t think that they did themselves justice on the day but I continued to follow them.

Sadly Lowell George died of a heart attack at the age of 34 and although the band continued with various line-up changes, for me they never reached the same heights. This probably prevented them for achieving the commercial success they deserved.

A further note, check out all their album covers, some interesting artwork by Neon Park.
 
stoneblue said:
Wow, that didn't take long...as expected!

View attachment 96658

As this is my first album nomination in this thread I must confess that I feel a little intimidated as it is clear from following, rather than contributing to this thread, that many of you are much more invested in music than I am. I should also add that I changed my nomination at the last minute mainly because the album I had originally chosen has been mentioned favourably in this and another music related thread recently.

However, when I first put my name forward, this is the album I originally had in mind.

“Feats Don't Fail Me Now" is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Little Feat. Lowell George was the founding member, lead singer and principal songwriter although other band members contributed to writing as well.

I discovered this band through a sampler album The Warner Brothers Music Show that was released in 1975 - it cost the princely sum of 59p. The album was released to coincide with a UK and European tour by a number of acts on the Warner Brothers label and I was lucky enough to see one of the two Manchester concerts at The Free Trade Hall, although not the one featuring Little Feat. However, on the strength of the track “Oh Atlanta” which featured on the sampler I bought this album. I subsequently sought out all their other material and it is fair to say that Little Feat are one of my all-time favourite bands.

The album comprises only 8 tracks and just under 35 minutes long but there is such a variety of musical styles on show I would challenge anyone not to find something they enjoyed.

I don’t propose to go through the album track by track but highlights for me are;

Lowell George was a leading exponent of slide guitar and this is heard to great effect in the opening track Rock and Roll Doctor. This is probably my favourite of all Little Feat tracks and is the band in one song.

Oh Atlanta is an uptempo rock and roll song and Bill Payne (keyboards) plays some great honky tonk style piano.

Spanish Moon, a nice slow, brass heavy, atmospheric laid-back track bringing side 1 to a close. (for me this is where vinyl scores over any other medium for listening to music…I think you are more likely to listen to all tracks and can appreciate how the songs are grouped together on each side)

The Fan, this song has a real energy about it, particularly the rhythmic and hypnotic instrumental section.

I only managed to see them once at a stadium gig where they were one of the support acts in an all-day event. Most of the audience were there for other bands and I don’t think that they did themselves justice on the day but I continued to follow them.

Sadly Lowell George died of a heart attack at the age of 34 and although the band continued with various line-up changes, for me they never reached the same heights. This probably prevented them for achieving the commercial success they deserved.

A further note, check out all their album covers, some interesting artwork by Neon Park.
Click to expand...
O no! My next pick was going to be Little Feat although not this album but Dixie Chicken.I love LF unfortunately never got to see them live,was that the WB tour
that had The Doobie Brothers and Tower of Power on it ? a mate of mine went to see it and got me into The Doobies and LF.Great choice and one I’m looking toward too after the disappointment of the last two nominations, which weren’t genres I like.
 
Mancitydoogle said:
O no! My next pick was going to be Little Feat although not this album but Dixie Chicken.I love LF unfortunately never got to see them live,was that the WB tour
that had The Doobie Brothers and Tower of Power on it ? a mate of mine went to see it and got me into The Doobies and LF.Great choice and one I’m looking toward too after the disappointment of the last two nominations, which weren’t genres I like.
Click to expand...
To be honest I could have gone with any of their first 6 albums but this was the first one I bought. Yes, that Warner Brothers tour did feature The Doobie Brothers and Tower of Power. I'm sure I must have seen The Doobies because there were 6 acts over 2 nights, with three on per night. Bonaroo was another of the acts that I saw. Have a look at this for more information on that tour.

https://bangnzdrum.blogspot.com/2020/02/little-feat-at-warner-bros-music-show.html
 
stoneblue said:
Wow, that didn't take long...as expected!

View attachment 96658

As this is my first album nomination in this thread I must confess that I feel a little intimidated as it is clear from following, rather than contributing to this thread, that many of you are much more invested in music than I am. I should also add that I changed my nomination at the last minute mainly because the album I had originally chosen has been mentioned favourably in this and another music related thread recently.

However, when I first put my name forward, this is the album I originally had in mind.

“Feats Don't Fail Me Now" is the fourth studio album by the American rock band Little Feat. Lowell George was the founding member, lead singer and principal songwriter although other band members contributed to writing as well.

I discovered this band through a sampler album The Warner Brothers Music Show that was released in 1975 - it cost the princely sum of 59p. The album was released to coincide with a UK and European tour by a number of acts on the Warner Brothers label and I was lucky enough to see one of the two Manchester concerts at The Free Trade Hall, although not the one featuring Little Feat. However, on the strength of the track “Oh Atlanta” which featured on the sampler I bought this album. I subsequently sought out all their other material and it is fair to say that Little Feat are one of my all-time favourite bands.

The album comprises only 8 tracks and just under 35 minutes long but there is such a variety of musical styles on show I would challenge anyone not to find something they enjoyed.

I don’t propose to go through the album track by track but highlights for me are;

Lowell George was a leading exponent of slide guitar and this is heard to great effect in the opening track Rock and Roll Doctor. This is probably my favourite of all Little Feat tracks and is the band in one song.

Oh Atlanta is an uptempo rock and roll song and Bill Payne (keyboards) plays some great honky tonk style piano.

Spanish Moon, a nice slow, brass heavy, atmospheric laid-back track bringing side 1 to a close. (for me this is where vinyl scores over any other medium for listening to music…I think you are more likely to listen to all tracks and can appreciate how the songs are grouped together on each side)

The Fan, this song has a real energy about it, particularly the rhythmic and hypnotic instrumental section.

I only managed to see them once at a stadium gig where they were one of the support acts in an all-day event. Most of the audience were there for other bands and I don’t think that they did themselves justice on the day but I continued to follow them.

Sadly Lowell George died of a heart attack at the age of 34 and although the band continued with various line-up changes, for me they never reached the same heights. This probably prevented them for achieving the commercial success they deserved.

A further note, check out all their album covers, some interesting artwork by Neon Park.
Click to expand...
The album starts with a stone cold classic and one of my playlist perennials. Sadly, it’s all downhill from there but, fortunately, the gradient ain’t steep.

Oh, Atlanta starts off like Status Quo but the boogie is Southern and not Sarf Lawndon.

Skin it Back is fabulously funky. Love the chorus.

Down the Road features some lovely slide guitar.

Spanish Moon is just a proper horny track underpinned with a slinky bass line.

Feats Don’t Fail Me Now is more roller than rocker.

The Fan gets kinda heavy and features a mid-section that goes all ELP.

The closing medley wouldn’t have been out of place on a Skynyrd album.

Turned out I knew most of the tracks on this album and the ones I don’t, I need to get. In fact, I probably just need to add all the albums they made with LG to my wish list. Edit, just bought a pack of (think, first) five LF studio albums for just over a tenner!

I like every track on this album and although I can’t quite go all the way to 10, I can give it 9/10.
 
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Mancitydoogle said:
O no! My next pick was going to be Little Feat although not this album but Dixie Chicken.I love LF unfortunately never got to see them live,was that the WB tour
that had The Doobie Brothers and Tower of Power on it ? a mate of mine went to see it and got me into The Doobies and LF.Great choice and one I’m looking toward too after the disappointment of the last two nominations, which weren’t genres I like.
Click to expand...

To my eternal shame, I didn't go and see Little Feat at the Free Trade Hall - a bad mistake.
 
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