Little Feat Gets ‘Feats Don’t Fail Me Now’ Deluxe Edition
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Little Feat have released a Deluxe Edition of their fourth studio album, Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. The expanded title from Rhino features rare and unreleased alternate versions and outtakes from the album sessions, along with a previously unreleased 1975 concert. The set arrived June 14, 2024, to celebrate the 1974 original’s 50th anniversary. Listen to many alternate takes below. It joins the label’s growing list of Little Feat reissues, including 2023’s Deluxe Editions for Sailin’ Shoes and Dixie Chicken and 2022’s massive Waiting for Columbus boxed set.
The expanded Feats Don’t Fail Me Now is available on 3-CD and 2-LP in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here. Both versions include the studio album newly remastered from the original multi-track and two-track stereo tapes. A previously unreleased alternate version of “Spanish Moon” from the forthcoming set was first made available on April 8.
A wealth of unreleased music is included in the new Deluxe Edition, including alternate versions of album tracks (“Rock & Roll Doctor” and “Oh Atlanta”) and early versions of songs destined for future albums, including “Long Distance Love” (The Last Record Album) and an unfinished version of “Day at the Dog Races” (Time Loves a Hero).
From the collection’s announcement: The presence of any session recordings from Feats Don’t Fail Me Now is a minor miracle. The studio where the band made the album, Blue Seas Recording Studio in Baltimore, was a converted barge that sank into the harbor in 1977. Until recently, the session tapes were believed to be lost.
The CD version of Feats Don’t Fail Me Now (Deluxe Edition) includes a show recorded in Paris at L’Olympia in February 1975. The setlist leans heavily on songs from the album with “Skin It Back” and “Oh Atlanta,” while also weaving in earlier classics like “Willin’” and “Fat Man In the Bathtub.”
Originally released on August 9, 1974, Feats Don’t Fail Me Now was the band’s fourth album overall but only the second recorded by the classic lineup of singer-guitarist Lowell George, drummer Richard Hayward, keyboard player Bill Payne, singer-guitarist Paul Barrere, bassist Kenny Gradney, and percussionist Sam Clayton. The album also features the R&B funk group Tower of Power on horns. The album went Gold and was the band’s first to reach the Billboard Top 200, peaking at #36.
On May 17, Little Feat issued their first new studio album in 12 years, Sam’s Place. Details here. They’re touring all summer. Tickets are available here and here.
Feats Don’t Fail Me Now (Deluxe Edition) 3-CD Track Listing
Disc One: Original Album (2024 Remaster)
“Rock & Roll Doctor”
“Oh Atlanta”
“Skin It Back”
“Down The Road”
“Spanish Moon”
“Feats Don’t Fail Me Now”
“The Fan”
“Medley: Cold Cold Cold / Tripe Face Boogie”
Disc Two: Hotcakes, Outtakes, Rarities
“Brickyard Blues” – Outtake
“Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” – Alternate Version
“Rock & Roll Doctor” – Alternate Version *
“Spanish Moon” – Alternate Version *
“Skin It Back” – Alternate Version *
“Oh Atlanta” – Alternate Version *
“All That You Dream” – Outtake
“Front Page News” – Alternate Version *
“Long Distance Love” – Outtake *
“Lonesome Whistle” – Alternate Version *
“Day At The Dog Races” – Unfinished Outtake *
“Spanish Moon” – Single Version
Disc Three: If You Got It, A Truck Brought It: Live at the L’Olympia, Paris, France (2/01/75)
“On Your Way Back Down” *
“Skin It Back” *
“Fat Man In The Bathtub” *
“Rock & Roll Doctor” *
“Oh Atlanta” *
“Medley: Cold Cold Cold / Dixie Chicken / Tripe Face Boogie” *
“Willin’” *
“Teenage Nervous Breakdown” *
* previously unreleased
1 Comment so far
Jump into a conversationSo many Feat fans point to “Waiting For Columbus” as the pinnacle of Feat’s best period and the ultimate chronicle of their incredible live performances. I don’t wish to argue or detract from that in any way, but I saw Little Feat when “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” was their most current album, at the Beacon Theater in NYC around 1972 or 72, I’m not sure now, and all I can say is that nothing I’ve ever heard on their acclaimed live album recorded years later even comes close to how tight the band were when I saw them. Yes, they had not yet recorded “The Last Record Album,” and beyond with the many wonderful songs that came after this album, so they didn’t have the breadth of material that they later had for their live album. But they were the most incredibly oiled machine on that night that I have ever heard before or since. There were times where they were so deep into an improvisational jam that you completely lost track of where they actually, but they never did, as in the midst of what seemed like musical mayhem, they would just completely shift as one back into the thematic elements of the song they were doing or something else. They were just simply remarkable. And while I liked “Waiting For Columbus,” after that previous experience of seeing them years earlier, the band seemed somewhat stretched out and actually a bit sloppy by comparison at that point in their timeline. Of course, by then they’d been playing so many of their best-loved songs for a number of years, so it’s kind of natural for them to loosen up on them a bit and perhaps take some liberties with the arrangements and soloing. Their live album was really the introductory point for so many people to Little Feat, so I’m surprised that so many were blown away by their musical prowess, even at that point. But I do have to say that, as a performing unit, they really been tighter than the band that recorded “Columbus.”