"The Good Book/Gather Me/Garden In The City/Please Love Me" by MELANIE – February 1971 UK LP, October 1971 UK LP, November 1971 UK LP and Spring 1971 German LP – Eventually Released November 1973 in the UK as her last album on Buddah Records (3 March 2026 UK Beat Goes On (BGO) Compilation – 4LPs Digitally Remastered onto 2CDs – Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

https://amzn.to/4sYuNxR

Overall: ***

Audio: **** to ****

Presentation: *****

"….Rub Gently To Release The Magic…"

There are a handful of artists who can claim to have had five albums worth of material released in one year – the wildly prolific Tennessee lass Melanie Safka is one of them (four of them show up here).

1971 was huge for the Hippie Chanteuse who charmed the world with her warbly voice and beautiful smile (as a budding teen in 1971, I recall, the rest of her wasn't bad either). By the time she got to October 1971 and the release of her huge single "Brand New Key" – she had made No. 4 in the UK on the all-important singles charts and a staggering No.1 in America. The "Gather Me" LP it came off did well too – No. 15 in the States and one better at No. 14 in Blighty. Suddenly the ethereal Melanie was everywhere, and hip too.

And that’s where this stacked March 2026 twofer CD compilation containing a whopping four albums worth comes a scratch and sniff-in. There is a lot to unpack, so let's have at it…

UK released Friday, 3 March 2026 - "The Good Book/Gather Me/Garden In The City/Please Love Me" by MELANIE on Beat Goes On BGOCD1571 (Barcode 5017261215710) is a 43-Track Compilation that offers Four Seventies Albums Remastered across 2CDs and plays out as follows:

CD1 (66:27 minutes): 18 Tracks
1. Good Book [Side 1]
2. Babe Rainbow
3. Sign In The Window
4. The Saddest Thing
5. Nickle Song
6. Isn't it A Pity
7. My Father [Side 2]
8. Chords Of Fame
9. You Can Go Fishin'
10. Birthday Of The Rain
11. The Prize
12. Babe Rainbow (Reprise)
Tracks 1 to 12 are her fifth album "The Good Book" – released January 1971 in the USA on Buddah BDS 95000 and May 1971 in the UK on Buddah Records 2322 001. Produced by PETER SCHEKERYK – it peaked at No. 80 in the US Billboard LP charts and No. 9 on the UK LP charts. All songs by Melanie except Tracks 3, 7 and 8 by Bob Dylan, Judy Collins and Phil Ochs. Musicians include Hugh McCracken, Sol De Troia and Vinnie Bell on Guitars with Ron Frangipone on Keyboards and Eric Weissberg on Fiddle.

13. Little Bit Of Me [Side 1]
14. Some Day I'll Be A Farmer
15. Steppin'
16. Brand New Key
17. Ring Around The Moon
18. Ring The Living Bell: Shine The Living Light (Chant)/Ring The Living Bell/Shine The Living Light (Chant Reprise)
Tracks 13 to 18 are Side 1 of her sixth album "Gather Me" – released October 1971 in the UK on Buddah 2322 002 and October 1971 in the USA on Neighborhood NRS-47001. Produced by PETER SCHEKERYK – it peaked at No. 15 in the US Billboard LP charts and No. 14 on the UK LP charts. All songs by Melanie except two on Side 2 called "What Wondrous Love" and "Tell Me Why" which are a Traditional and a Forties Ballad by Micheal Edwards (often called "Tell Me Why (The Stars Do Shine)")

CD2 (75:25 minutes): 25 Tracks
1. Railroad [Side 2]
2. Kansas
3. Some Say (I Got Devil)
4. Center Of The Circle
5. What Wondrous Love
6. Baby Day
7. Tell Me Why
Tracks 1 to 7 are Side 2 of her sixth album "Gather Me" – released October 1971 in the UK on Buddah 2322 002 and October 1971 in the USA on Neighborhood NRS-47001. Produced by PETER SCHEKERYK – it peaked at No. 15 in the US Billboard LP charts and No. 14 on the UK LP charts. All songs by Melanie except two on Side 2 called "What Wondrous Love" and "Tell Me Why" which are a Traditional and a Forties Ballad by Micheal Edwards (often referred to as "Tell Me Why (The Stars Do Shine)")

8. Garden In The City [Side 1]
9. Love In My Mind
10. We Don't Know Where We're Going
11. Lay Lady Lay
12. Jig Saw Puzzle
13. Don't You Wait By The Water
14. Stop! I Don't Wanna Hear It Anymore
15. Somebody Loves Me
16. People In The Front Row
Tracks 8 to 16 are her seventh album "Garden In The City" – a Compilation of Earlier Outtakes and Soundtrack Rarities released November 1971 in the UK on Buddah 2318 054 and November 1971 in the USA on Buddah BDS 5095. Produced by PETER SCHEKERYK (except Tracks 10 and 14) – it peaked at No.19 in the UK LP. charts but didn't chart in the USA. 

In September 1970 in the USA on Bell Records BELL 1203, the Soundtrack LP "R.P.M. (Revolutions Per Minute)" by Writers and Producers Barry DeVorzon and Perry Bodkin, Jr. contained two Melanie songs which are Tracks 10 and 14 above. These tunes were also repeated on the Spring of 1971 Euro-Only LP called "Please Love Me" (Germany on Buddah 2318 047) and on the eventual release in November 1973 in the UK of the "Please Love Me" LP which follows next. Because they are duplicates, BGO has not placed them twice on CD2. Guest Musicians include Toots Thielman on Harmonica, Sal De Troia on Guitars with Roger Kellaway on Keyboards. 

17. Please Love Me [Side 1]
18. In The Hour
19. Getting Out
20. Momma, Momma
21. Save The Night
22. Please Love Me (Instrumental)
23. Ears To The Ground
24. Pebbles In The Sand
25. God's Only Daughter
Tracks 17 to 25 are the UK LP variant of the 1971 European LP of the same name "Please Love Me" – released November 1973 in the UK on Buddah 2318 047
The Outer Card Slipcase protects the 2CD jewel case inside while a jam-packed 24-page booklet gives a huge career overview by longtime contributor to BGO booklets – JOHN O'REGAN. O'Regan moves from her iconic Woodstock appearance in 1969 (where America embraced her) through the early Seventies milestone songs like "What Have They Done to My Song Ma" and "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)" and of course to these albums. With quiet Acoustic passages, sweeping strings and her wailing warbling voice – new 2026 Remasters from ANDREW THOMPSON do a fab job (even with those Sixties throwbacks on the iffy compilation "Garden In The City").

Fans will notice that the missing link here is her fifth 1971 outing and a popular title in the UK – the Soundtrack LP "All The Right Noises" issued July 1971 on Buddah 2318 034 (August 1971 in the USA). About a hip family down by the Seaside trying to make ends meet and starring the gorgeous Olivia Hussey, the Soundtrack had 17 songs, 16 Melanie originals and one Traditional cover version. Perhaps BGO will get to that next time. 

Speaking of missing bits, the "Please Love Me" LP has a convoluted history worth explaining too - initially a European-Only album first released spring of 1971 in Germany, Austria and Spain (Buddah 2318 047 in Germany) – it did not chart (some copies were simply called Love Me). The 1971 Euro LP "Please Love Me" contained two Melanie songs "We Don't Know Where We're Going" and "Stop! I Don’t Wanna Hear It Anymore" that first appeared on a US Soundtrack LP in September 1970 called "R.P.M. (Revolutions Per Minute)" by Perry Botkin, Jr. and Peter DeVorzon. Melanie is also credited as a composer on Bell Records BELL 1203 (the film featured Anthony Quinn, Ann-Margaret and Gary Lockwood). Never one to miss out on more Melanie product, Buddah finally issued the LP November 1973 in the UK on Buddah 2318 090. Blighty copies of "Please Love Me" however used different artwork to the 12-Track 1971 German issue, dropped one tune and re-jiggered the song sequence for the remaining 11. The missing song is "All The Right Noises (Instrumental)" which is not on this double unfortunately (so you could sequence both variants of the LP) - it is available on the "All The Right Noises" soundtrack LP from July 1971. This 2CD BGO set also does not repeat the songs "We Don't Know Where We're Going" and "Stop! I Don't Wanna Hear It Anymore" for the "Please Love Me" set because they already appear in the Garden In The City album (Tracks 10 and 14 on CD2). 

To the music and what we have… 

"…Give the poet a poem and the singer a song, they’ll tell us they love us so we don’t feel alone..." she sings on the lovely piano and chorus singa-long opener "The Good Book". Hiss accompanies "Babe Rainbow" – but it soon settles into a quietly savage attack on the physical demands of the media to look good every second of the day (afraid to walk down the street). Thinking of today’s celebrities and their scrutiny cells, Melanie must have known 55-years ago what it meant physically and mentally to be lumbered with looks that stop men in their tracks (keep your glow on). The first of three cover versions is Bob Dylan – clearly enamoured with his "New Morning" LP from the year before (1970) – Melanie does a lovely organ-lead take on "Sign In The Window" – the lyrics about searching for peace in a rural setting appealing. The rabble-rouser "Nickel Song" (the January 1972 US 45 on Buddah BUD 628 that followed the huge hit Brand New Key from late 1971) might have been fun back in the day but in 2026 it’s a more than difficult to take. More misery in the second cover - "My Father" - a Judy Collins tune from 1969 on Elektra Records that longs to live in France – anywhere but Smallville. The third and last cover is by Phil Ochs - "Chords Of Fame" regaling the tale of a Troubadour trying to be a star only find that whiskey and music is all he has left once the lights have faded. Country Acoustic rhythms slither in with "You Can Go Fishin'" – the home domestics and gambling soon bolstered up with a rolling piano from Ron Frangipone with Eric Weissberg on Fiddle (nicely Remastered). The quiet introspective nature of "The Good Book" continues with "The Prize" – another attack on her being the trophy while some man grins on the sidelines counting the dollars.

After the downer-feel to "The Good Book" (produced by her husband and Neighborhood Records founder Peter Schekeryk) – her truly big-album arrived in October 1971 on both sides of the pond. "Gather Me" was preceded with the monster crowd-pleasing fun that was/is "Brand New Key" – a Buddah and Neighborhood Records 45 that smashed to No.1 in the USA and No.4 in the UK. The LP had the feel of a major voice finding her groove – tunes and lyrics scoring – songs like the witty "Some Day I'll Be A Farmer" where Melanie is building and climbing a mountain that is not there. "Steppin'" is a cool tune and the audio on "Brand New Key" is fantastic (pairs of roller-skates) while Side 1 ends in the ambitious/excellent triple-part "Ring The Living Bell" – big lyrics about big spiritual subjects complete with spiralling Gospel-type vocal choruses, church organ and gushing strings. Side 2 opens with the heavily orchestrated "Railroad" – screaming about the road getting in the way and friends who did stupid self-harm things to rocking bands. One of her lovelier songs – the la-la of "Center Of The Circle" pleads for lovers and friends to understand until she gets it together somewhere down the road (nice audio too as those Brass and Strings do battle half-way through). Two covers are massively re-worked into Melanie songs towards the end of the "Gather Me" album – the Gospel oh-my-soul Traditional "What Wondrous Love" (beautiful string arrangements) while a Forties crooner ballad "Tell Me Why" ends things in high acoustic+voice romance (I will tell why I love you). Impressive stuff and you can feel why the LP is such a fan fave.

"Garden In The City" opens with a retro-60s glockenspiel sound and fans soon work out this is a step back and not forward – the LP being peddled as a New Melanie album is in fact a collection of earlier outtakes and rare Soundtrack songs. "Love Is My Mind" slinks in with only an Acoustic Guitar and a lone violin – the Remaster clearly trying to contain tape noise rather well. The 1970 Bell Records "R.P.M. (Revolutions Per Minute)" Soundtrack song "We Don't Know Where We're Going" is a lovely Acoustic ballad ala Uni Records Neil Diamond with sweeping strings and oboes a fluttering. Time for a Bob Dylan cover in "Lay Lady Lay" – but again its very Sixties production and feel gives the game away as not quite being singer-songwriter kosher in late 1971. Cheap photos creep in for "Don't You Wait By The Water" – an angry screecher that feels like a Demo you want to shelve. The other RPM soundtrack tune is "Stop! I Don't Wanna Hear It Any More" – an army marcher complete with confederates penny-whistle and da-da-da-da vocals – very dated by 1971. The lonesome "Somebody Loves Me" is staggeringly close to the emotional bone – Melanie wondering which guy that passes by is her baby – the one that is meant-to-be. A patchy album romps to another Sixties reject close with "People In The Front Row" and you can see why this LP is on sale for £1.

The release schedule of the fourth LP on offer here has been explained above – to the tunes… Buddah Records milked her output – much you suspect to her artistic detriment. Released in the UK in late 1973, its 1971 material explains why her commercial impact fell off an out-of-time cliff after 1972 (especially in England where she never charted again). What was good in 1971 was old-hat by the next year and the year after as Rock moved fast and Melanie seemed to remain in the same type of song rut. Melancholy is keeping company with Leonard Cohen for the sad "In The Hour" – but far better is a powerhouse "Momma, Momma". I live in this world but I am really dying instead - her passionate moaning delivery is all-in and you either dig in or turn off. "Save The Night" is a sad wife song – longing to slip away – longing to save something other than face. The 1973 UK LP ends with three well-produced life-must-change anthems - "Pebbles In The Sand" being the prettiest hippie amongst the lot.

Fans will love "The Good Book" and its follow-up "Gather Me" – two nuggets from an extraordinary year for Melanie Safka (1971). But the two compilation sets after it are patchy to say the least – and worse - feel wildly out of place. Sure, there are lovely moments on both "Garden In The City" and "Please Love Me" but the truth is they were and are thin on the ground. 

Still, this is another stellar release from Beat Goes On – a wallop of material for fans to dig and in typically cool presentation/spiffing audio. Melanie Safka passed in 2024 – classy to the end – RIP lovely lady…

"Quicksilver Messenger Service/Happy Trails" by QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE – May 1968 US Debut LP and March 1969 US Second LP on Capitol Records (New Studio Material, Some Recorded Live At The Fillmore East & West and San Francisco’s Golden State Recorders in 1968) Plus Two Bonus Non-LP 45-Single Sides – Featuring John Cipollina, David Freiberg, Gary Duncan and Greg Elmore (7 November 2025 UK Beat Goes On (BGO) Compilation – 2LPs Digitally Remastered onto 2CDs with Two 45-Single Non-LP B-Sides as Bonus Tracks on CD2 – Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

https://amzn.to/42vgfKZ

"….Where You Love…"

In the late Sixties as the counterculture raged and changed everything everywhere, the initial line-up of American Rock-Psych-Blues four-piece Quicksilver Messenger Service lasted only two albums when they did get to record and release – their May 1968 US self-titled debut and the LP they are most famous for - "Happy Trails" – their March 1969 follow-up that was half live and half studio and all out there. 

San Franciscans John Cipollina (Lead Guitar), David Freiberg (Lead Vocals, Bass and Viola), Gary Duncan (Lead and Rhythm Guitar and Vocals) and Greg Elmore (Drums) had been about the Bay Area Scene since 1965 with other giants like The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. As much admired as those other legendary names, QMS struck what looked like a sweetheart deal with Capitol Records but wouldn't see an actual album until the late spring of 1968. 

Bad luck seemed to dog them (if you could call it that). Before imploding on the departure of Gary Duncan just as the second and most popular platter of theirs was released ("Happy Trails" peaked at No. 27 in the US 1969 Billboard LP charts – a real feat back in the day for a completely unknown band – the debut did not chart) - QMS could have played Woodstock in July of that year and made a serious splash (like Ten Years After did) or toured the country with their surprise hit album (Capitol wouldn't invest in them in disarray) – but alas, it was not to be. British Keyboardist and ace session-man Nicky Hopkins then joined and future releases featured an array of revolving door members and similarish Top 30 US LP placings. But here we concentrate on their auspicious beginnings – Rolling Stone's Greil Marcus even going as far as saying (of the live stuff on LP2) – that when Rock & Roll makes its rebellious stand "…it will be music like this that makes it…"

England's BGO has been a friend to QMS for more than three and half decades now - first issuing "Comin' Thru from May 1972 on BGOCD88 in July 1991, "Happy Trails" in September 1992 on BGOCD 151, "Just For Love" from August 1970 on BGOCD 141 in December 1992, the November 1971 album "Quicksilver" on BGOCD 217 in January 1994 and the self-titled debut in 2009 on BGOCD 861. 

They have also done a September 2025 Remaster for the 2LP "Anthology" set from 1973 as BGOCD1565 (it gathered up tracks from five LPs and other rarities). 

What we have here is Beat Goes On (BGO) pairing up the first two albums from 1968 and 1969 into a 2CD compilation with new 2025 Remasters and two Bonus Tracks thrown in (non-LP 45-single sides on CD2). It tidies things up nicely. Here are the Maidens of the Cancer Moon…

UK released Friday, 7 November 2025 - "Quicksilver Messenger Service/Happy Trails + Bonus Tracks" by QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE on Beat Goes On Records BGOCD1562 (Barcode 5017261215628) is a compilation that offers 2LPs from 1968 and 1969 Remastered onto 2CDs Plus Two Non-LP Bonus Tracks (Both on CD2) that plays out as follows:

CD1 (31:39 minutes):
Pride Of Man [Side 1]
2. Light Your Windows
3. Dino's Song
4. Gold And Silver
5. It's Been Too Long [Side 2]
6. The Fool
Tracks 1 to 6 are their debut album "Quicksilver Messenger Service" – released May 1968 in the USA on Capitol ST 2904 (Stereo Only) and October 1968 in the UK on Capitol T 2904 (Mono) and ST 2904 (Stereo) – only the STEREO Mix is used. Produced by Harvey Brooks, Nick Gravenites and Pete Welding

CD2 (56:09 minutes):
1.Who Do You Love Suite: Who Do You Love - Part 1 [Side 1]
2. When You Love
3. Where You Love
4. How You Love
5. Which Do You Love
6. Who Do You Love – Part 2
7. Mona [Side 2]
8. Maiden Of The Cancer Moon
9. Calvary
10. Happy Trails
Tracks 1 to 10 are their second album "Happy Trails" – released March 1969 in the USA on Capitol ST 120 (Stereo only) and September 1969 in the UK on Capitol Records E-ST 120 (Stereo only). Produced by QMS – it peaked at No. 27 on the US Album charts

BONUS TRACKS
11. Bears – Non-LP B-side of "Stand By Me", November 1968 US 45-Single on Capitol 2320
12. Stand By Me - Non-LP A-side, as per Track 11

The card-slipcase lends the 2CD compilation a classy look and feel – the 12-page booklet featuring new liner notes from SEAN EGAN (dated 2025). You get the rear artwork on the inner pages but it would have been a nice touch to feature the rare Picture Sleeve for the US 45 to "Stand By Me". The ANDREW THOMPSON Remasters rock – clean and clear – even when something as overloaded as the "Stand By Me" stand-alone 45 threatens to overdo it production wise – it still sounds as good as we are going to get. The British Mono Mix LP is not even mentioned – bluntly it could have been a first on CD1 – but. To the albums…

"Quicksilver Messenger Service" opens with a God of Gold damnation song that is so 1967 – lyrics about greed and whispered slaps in the cultural puss - "Pride Of Man" even fading out with a bended guitar note (written by singer and actor Hamilton Camp). Things become more strangely musical ala Doors with the Freiberg/Duncan song "Light Your Windows" – great ideas and chord changes that suggest QMS will be a storming experience in the live arena (and they were). Things boogie up fast with the Dino Valenti penned "Dino's Song" where our hapless suitor hopes she can love him too (even if he is in prison on a drug’s bust – apparently why Valenti never got to fronting the band with Cipollina). In an album that promises Guitar-Psych, it finally arrives with the killer 6:40 minute instrumental and Side 1 finisher "Gold And Silver" – a guitar-battle speaker-rattler written by Gary Duncan and Saxophonist Steve Schuster that showcase both styles of Cipollina and Duncan. The two cuts that make up Side 2 open with the 2:57 pop minutes of "It's Been Too Long" where the band is obviously hustling for a commercial winner that might just do it. And while it’s good, it is quickly whomped by the LP’s centrepiece - "The Fool" – a 12-minute (largely instrumental) swirling guitars and viola fest that is brilliant and sounds just amazing on this latest Remaster. Guitars battle it out in varying soundscapes (plain, flanged, etc) before it settles into a slow moody strum-fest peppered with treated guitar interludes. It takes until seven minutes in until we get lyrics about golden suns and sun-signs getting it on with love is life and life is love man – oh yeah baby. A surefire inclusion on the inevitable 4CD compilation Now That's What I Call Psych – this is why the debut is such a discovery – brilliant and still sounding shockingly contemporary (like cool James Gang). 

Apparently culled down from a 27-minute live jam, the 6-part 25:22-minute Suite that is "Who Do You Love" is a wild re-working of the Bo Diddley Chess R&B classic where that loose backbeat gives way in sections to varying Guitar Passages. It took up the whole of Side 1 and Capitol even truncated a 45 variant for release in July 1969 as the LP was surprisingly adopted by an intrigued (and possibly stoned) buying public in the summer of 1969. Capitol 2557 paired the "Who Do You Love" portion on the A-side with the wild feeding-back guitar sounds of Freiberg’s "Which Do You Love" on the flipside and it made No. 94! In fact, it’s hard to think if such an album of loon improvisation could even be made now – the crowd slowly clapping in as Part 3 starts to get their attention – all hippy-ish and Haight Asbury and mellowed and yet batshit nuts as Cipollina rocks out in Part 4. It does seem a shame that the full cut isn’t available here but what is here sounds fab – whacking bass and steady drums. Got a cobra-snake for a necktie, the boys sing as they bring a quiet, controlled yet loose Part 6 home – who do you love indeed.

Side 2 of "Happy Trails" opens with another Bo Diddley cover version, an equally heavy but sexy groove where for seven-minutes and a few seconds their guitars mimic Elias McDaniels and his red-box Gretsch sound. "Mona" is cool as fuck and my go-to track on the LP - where a chilled but Doors-growling QMS sound like a more swamped up version of Creedence Clearwater Revival. And somehow too the speaker to speaker panning and stark guitars with effects pedals works a treat – soloing between the fruity lyrics - I wonder why Capitol didn’t try their luck with a 45 of it. The Diddley epic slyly segues into more Television-sounding guitars for "Maiden Of The Cancer Moon" – a sonic continuation of the heaviness – an Iron Butterfly three-minutes. Again, we slyly segue into doomy Acoustics and Guitars for an even stranger sonic soundscape – the near 13-minute recorded-live-in-the-studio track called "Calvary". Acid Rock, Psych, Granny On A Trip to the Guitar Shop – tis all here. Then the whole thing ends on the silly and dippy Country cover of "Happy Trails" (well of course it does) – more panning but this time with happy-go-lucky whistling as our heroes walk away into the Californian sunset with a copy of How To Grow Grass At Room Temperature (And Stick It To The Man, Man) under their sunkissed arms.

Perhaps because it has a silly "Happy Trails" country-ditty vibe to it, the B-side "Bears" is offered to us first instead of its A-side - "Stand By Me". The A-side is not the Ben E. King song but a Dino Valenti tune and a pretty one at that. This lost gem ends CD2 with a very cool listen (and in great audio too). Nice…

To sum up - with the best will in the world, you could not call either of these QMS albums flavour of the month in 2025 (or 2026 for that matter) and yet they remain heroic – a sound that expressed freedom even it was wrapped up in indulgence that no record company would allow today. The Acid-Rock of Quicksilver Messenger Service will not be for ABBA fans or Swifties – but man those Sunshine State boys made a cool racket and were fun (and out there too). Recommended…

"Please Re-Adjust Your Time: The Early Blues & Psych-Folk Years 1967-72" by IAN A. ANDERSON (November 2021 UK Cherry Tree 4CD 65-Track Anthology in a Clamshell Box Set with Four Mini LP Repro Card Sleeves, a 24-page booklet, Almost Six LPs Worth of Material Plus Three Previously Unreleased - Simon Murphy Masters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

https://amzn.to/4sObYNu

Overall: ****

Material: *** to *****

Audio: *** to *****

Presentation: *****

"...Singer Sleeps On As Blaze Rages..."

Taking its title from a song on his second studio album "(Royal York Crescent)" on his own The Village Thing Records – this 4CD 65-Track Anthology gives us a hefty overview of Somerset Folkie and Acoustic Guitar Virtuoso IAN A. ANDERSON (not to be confused with Tull mainman Ian Anderson). 

When I worked at Reckless Records in Islington and Soho as the Rarities guy (twenty years of RPM servitude) – Ian A. Anderson albums were thin on the ground throughout those two decades to say the least, and now as the decades have passed into five and half hence – they have started clocking up ghoulish price tags in places. There is a lot to unpack here, so once more my pirates of audio hazard waste unto the crazy fool mumbles of Stereo yore. Here are the Somerset details…

UK released Friday, 21 November 2021 - "Please Re-Adjust Your Time: The Early Blues & Psych-Folk Years 1967-72" by IAN A. ANDERSON on Cherry Tree CDTREEBOX025 (Barcode 5013929692503) is a 4CD 65-Track Anthology Clamshell Box Set. It contains four full UK Studio Albums on Liberty and Village Thing Records (June 1968 to December 1972), eight songs of a twelve-track fifth album on Fontana Records from April 1970, Exclusive 45-Single EP Tracks, a Sampler LP duo, Songs from a Collaboration LP with Mike Cooper (all on Saydisc/Matchbox Records), a Live September 1969 Folk Festival Rarity and three Previously Unreleased outtakes from 1973 (Anderson with his band Hot Vultures).
Housed in a Mini-LP Sized Clamshell Box Set, Each Card Sleeve is a Replica of the Four Original British Albums and each CD has Bonus Tracks. The 24-Page Booklet sports new liner notes by ELIZABETH KINDER (July 2021) and features input from Anderson about his formation of Village Thing Records and beyond. Project managed by JOHN REED of Cherry Red and approved by Anderson with Remasters are by SIMON MURPHY at Another Planet. It plays out as follows...

CD1 (76:14 minutes):
1. Get In That Swing [Side 1]
2. Litte Boy Blue
3. (My Baby Ain't Nothing But A Doggone) Crazy Fool Mumble
4. New Lonesome Day
5. Short Haired Woman Blues
6. Hot Times
7. Stereo Death Breakdown [ Side 2]
8. When I Get To Thinking
9. Way Up Your Tree
10. Bring 'Em Down
11. That's Alright
12. Baby Bye You Bye
Tracks 1 to 12 are the June 1968 UK Debut Solo LP "Stereo Death Breakdown" on Liberty Records LBS 83242E, Stereo only release credited to Ian Anderson’s Country Blues Band

CD1 BONUS TRACKS:
13. Put It In A Frame
14. Stop And Orange
Tracks 13 and 14 from the April 1970 UK Second Solo LP "Book Of Changes" by Ian Anderson on Fontana STL 5542 in Stereo (Musician Credits in Booklet) – see also CD2 for two more (Tracks 13 and 14) and CD3 (Tracks 11 to 14) for four further cuts from this LP (eight out of a total of twelve)

15. Louise
Track 15 is from the 1969 UK 5-Track LP-Speed EP "Anderson Jones Jackson" on Saydisc 33SD 25 in Stereo. Credited to Ian Anderson, Alun Jones and Elliot Jackson – it is a cover version of a Johnny Temple Blues song on Decca Records from 1946 originally called "Louise, Louise Blues" – Alun Jones would go on to be large part of the Cats Stevens band on Island Records

16. Cottonfield Blues
17. Big Road Blues
18. Tom Rushen Blues
Tracks 16, 17 and 18 are from the 1968 UK 4-Track 45-Single EP "Almost The Country Blues!" on Saydisc SD134 in Stereo. Credited to Ian Anderson with Elliot Jackson. The missing fourth track is "Shake Em On Down" which is Track 10 on the debut solo LP "Stereo Death Breakdown" credited as "Break Em Down" (see Track 10 above)

19. Friday Evening Blues
20. West Country Blues
Tracks 19 and 20 are from the 1968 UK Label Sampler LP "Blues Like Showers Of Rain" on Saydisc/Matchbox SDL 142 in Stereo – Anderson had two tracks featured on this famous Various Artists album

21. West Country Blues
22. Don't You Want To Go
23. The Inverted World
Tracks 21, 22 and 23 are from the 1968 UK LP "The Inverted World (The Country Blues Of Mike Cooper and Ian Anderson)" on Saydisc/Matchbox SDL 159in Stereo. A shared LP credited to Mike Cooper and Ian Anderson with seven songs to each artist on each side of the LP. The song "The Inverted World" is the last song by Mike Cooper on his Side 1, but it also features Ian A. Anderson in a song-writing credit and on Guitar. Three other songs (credited to Anderson) on Side 2 of that shared album were "Cottonfield Blues", "Big Road Blues" and "Tom Rushen Blues" – but these were also on the "Almost The Country Blues!" EP (Tracks 16, 17 and 18) so are not duplicated here. The final two songs on the shared "The Inverted World" LP by Ian Anderson are two Traditional Song cover versions called "Little Queen Of Spades" and "Beedle Um Bum" – both feature Anderson on Guitar and Vocals – but are not included in this set

CD2 (50:38 minutes):
1. That's No Way To Get Along [Side 1]
2. Please Re-Adjust Your Time
3. Goblets And Elms
4. Shining Grey
5. The Worm
6. Hero
7. Silent Night No. 2 [ Side 2]
8. Mr. Cornelius
9. The Maker/The Man In The High Castle/The Last Conjuring
10. Ginger Man
11. Working Man
Tracks 1 to 11 are the November 1970 UK Third Solo LP "(Royal York Crescent)" on The Village Thing VTS 3, Stereo only release credited to Ian A. Anderson. The Village Thing Records was formed by Anderson and part of the Saydisc group of labels from Gloucestershire specialising in Folk and Acoustic Blues

CD2 BONUS TRACKS:
12. Get Back Into Town (Live)
13. Sleepy Lynne
14. Internal Combustion Rag
Track 12 was recorded live at Farnham Folk & Blues Festival in September 1969 and first appeared on the May 2016 UK Expanded Edition Reissue CD "Almost The Country Blues: EPs And Extras 1966-1969" by Ian Anderson on Ghosts From The Basement GFTB 7050

Tracks 13 and 14 "Sleepy Lynne" and "Internal Combustion Rag" were recorded Autumn 1969 at Chapel Studios in London and appeared on the April 1970 UK Second Solo LP "Book Of Changes" by Ian Anderson on Fontana STL 5542 in Stereo (see also two tracks from that LP on CD1 and four more on CD3 - eight songs out of twelve in total)

CD3 (50:37 minutes): 14 tracks
1. One More Chance [Side 1]
2. Black Uncle Remus
3. Policeman's Ball
4. Edges
5. The Survivor
6. Well…All Right [Side 2]
7. Time Is Ripe
8. Wishing The World Away
9. One Too Many Mornings
10. Number 61
Tracks 1 to 10 are the December 1971 UK Fourth Solo LP "A Vulture Is Not A Bird You Can Trust" on The Village Thing VTS 9, a Stereo only release credited to Ian A. Anderson. The Village Thing Records was formed by Anderson and part of the Saydisc group of labels from Gloucestershire specialising in Folk and Acoustic Blues. All songs are Anderson originals except "Black Uncle Remus" which is a Loudon Wainwright III cover version, "Well…All Right", a Buddy Holly cover and "One Too Many Mornings", a Bob Dylan cover.

CD3 BONUS TRACKS:
11. Boof Changes
12. Anthem (You Can Go On Forever)
13. Mouse Hunt
14. Galactic Wings (And Other Tales)
Tracks 11 to 14 "Book Of Changes", "Anthem (You Can Go On Forever)", "Mouse Hunt" and "Galactic Wings (And Other Tales)" appeared on the April 1970 UK Second Solo LP "Book Of Changes" by Ian Anderson on Fontana STL 5542 in Stereo (see also two further tracks from that LP on CD1 and two more on CD2)

CD4 (50:30 minutes): 14 tracks
1. Hey Space Pilot [Side 1]
2. Marie Celeste On Down
3. Spider John
4. A Sign Of The Times
5. Paper And Smoke
6. Paint It, Black [Side 2]
7. Pretty Peggyo
8. The Western Wind
9. Out On The Side
10. Shirley Temple Meets Hawkwind
Tracks 1 to 10 are the December 1972 UK Fourth Solo LP "Singer Sleeps On As Blaze Rages" on The Village Thing VTS 18, Stereo only release credited to Ian A. Anderson. The Village Thing Records was formed by Anderson and part of the Saydisc group of labels from Gloucestershire specialising in Folk and Acoustic Blues. Les Calvert of Machine Gun and Graphite plays Bass and Organ. All tracks by Anderson except Track 6 which is a Rolling Stones cover version

CD4 BONUS TRACKS:
11. Baby Let Me Dance With You
12. Dan Scaggs
13. London Blues
14. You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover
Tracks 11 to 14 are Demos recorded by his band HOT VULTURES in 1973 – Tracks 12, 13 and 14 are Previously Unreleased – Ian A. Anderson on Guitar and Vocals with Maggie Holland on Bass – Track 12 is an Al Jones song, Track 13 is a Chris Thompson song while Track 13 is Willie Dixon cover version – the song most closely associated with Muddy Waters

The Clamshell Box Set features four Mini LP Card Repro sleeves – the albums "Stereo Death Breakdown" (June 1968 – CD1), "(Royal York Crescent)" (November 1970 – CD2), "A Vulture Is Not A Bird You Can Trust" (December 1971 – CD3) and "Singer Sleeps On As Blaze Rages" (December 1972 – CD4) – with all four discs containing copious extras (as listed above). The rear of the card sleeves also mimic original rear cover art when they can. Unmentioned on the outside tracks lists, the fifth LP "Book Of Changes" has eight of its twelve tracks spread across three CDs (not pictured in the booklet) and as you can see from the lists above – the other extras practically represent a sixth LP in terms of sheer content. The 24-Page Booklet provides a seriously indepth overview of the five or six years dealt with – ELIZABETH KINDER providing photos, memorabilia (concert posters, trade reviews, fliers) and Album/EP artwork where possible as well as interviewing Anderson for this deep dive. Page 18 for instance has Anderson with friends gathering for the Royal York Crescent cover shoot in 1970 – another photo has him with Maggie Holland in 1974 when they were called Hot Vultures – playing acoustic in 1968 on the Serpentine river watching a circle of duffle-coated admirers and so on. The final pages give album credits, tracks, production, players etc for all 4 CDs – the whole project managed by longtime associate to Cherry Red and all-round-good-guy – JOHN REED (always a name associated with thorough releases). 

And as most of the recordings are Acoustic Guitars in varying 6-and-12 string guises (lots of slide), the SIMON MURPHY Masters do a stellar job at bringing out pings and things as you travel across the huge amount of material on the four discs. My only complaint (if you could call it that) is that the Psych-Folk label in the title is what Cherry Red know will appeal to punters - but there are very few tracks I could point to displaying anything that’s Psych-Folk!

Box Sets like this allow you to dip, dive and discover - "The Worm" for instance on his third album "(Royal York Crescent)" is the kind of three-minute-plus Bongo and Acoustic Guitar funky ditty that would have not looked out of place on a Led Zeppelin or Roy Harper LP as an inbetween instrumental. "Sleepy Lynne" (another instrumental) from the 1970 "Book Of Changes" LP features Slide Acoustic that will appeal to Bryn Haworth fans. His Funky Harmonica and Fast-Strummed Acoustic cover version of the Loudon Wainwright III briar patches classic "Black Uncle Remus" is very Area Code 615 circa "Stone Fox Chase". 

CD3 offers the excellent December 1971 album "A Vulture Is Not A Bird You Can Trust" – an accomplished set of songs that opens with the melodious "One More Chance". Keith Warmington provides the Lead Harmonica for the big chiming cover of "Black Uncle Remus" – a fast off the block take on a tune that would come to define Loudon Wainwright III. Straight up Acoustic Boogie Blues comes a sliding across your speakers with the manic instrumental "Policeman’s Ball". Pretty and substantial is what you would call the band-effort of the eco-vested "The Survivor" – ruins of cities – humans like a wayward child – crops failing. A cover of the Buddy Holly classic "Well Alright" is good rather than great. Better is the well-recorded "Time Is Ripe" – almost like an acoustic interlude song on a Jethro Tull album from 1971. I really like "Wishing The World Away" – a trying-to-write-this-song melody that our hero is struggling with (go away world). Dylan gets a cover in a truly lovely and simple acoustic guitar take on "One Too Many Mornings" with John Turner providing Double-Bass notes accompaniment. The equally quiet and slyly majestic "Number 61" talks of a long blond-haired woman he worships from afar. 
Recorded in 1969, the "Book Of Change" Acoustic songs (with very clean remastered audio) featured Al Jones on Guitar, John Turner on Double Bass, Keith Christmas on Bongos with Max on Flute. The Flute and Acoustics do battle in the lovely John Martyn-esque "Anthem (You Can Go On Forever)" while a very Gordon Giltrap set of virtuoso guitar runs opens "Mouse Hunt" – a song that jaunts like its title suggests. Earth man moves out to the unknown spaces in "Galactic Wings (And Other Tales)" once again features flute from Max. Speaking of this album…

For some reason eight of the twelve songs on the Second Solo LP "Book Of Changes" from April 1970 on Fontana Records are spread across three CDs without any real reference as to why or where the other four cuts are? (see Notes on CD1, 2 and 3 above for those eight songs). Shame too that the duo of missing cuts from "The Inverted World" shared LP with Mike Cooper and the four from the "Book Of Changes" LP are not here - because there was room to include the six (one can only presume licensing difficulties). Still, what you are getting from "Please Re-Adjust Your Time: The Early Blues & Psych-Folk Years 1967-72" by Ian A. Anderson is the guts of five very hard-to-find albums in the Acoustic Folk /Acoustic Blues/Folk Psych genres and some straggler EP change into the not-so-moneyed bargain. And all of it in more than tasty sound. 

After the first two CDs of purely Folk-Acoustic and Blues - those looking for the Psych-Folk genre casually thrown into the title will be wondering when that genre shows – truthfully, I think for the most part it doesn’t. The fourth LP "Singer Sleeps On As Blaze Rages" (from December 1972) for instance with story songs like Dave Peabody’s "Spider John" and Anderson’s own "A Sign of The Times" are purely Acoustic – Jug Band at times – little Bluesy in the playing – but it sounds more Ralph McTell or John Martyn than Trees or Mellow Candle. Only on Mike Cooper’s "Paper And Smoke" does something resembling a band show – Bill Boozman on Leslie’d guitar with Mike Cooper on Slide – but again it’s more Folksy Faces than anything like Psych. There’s even a Country ye-ha shuffle to his jaunty cover of The Rolling Stones classic "Paint It, Black" – not too far from Mungo Jerry on Dawn Records. Bryn Haworth slide twelve-string fans will dig the Bluesy Traditional "Pretty Peggyo" – a tale of a Captain who falls in love with a local Louisiana beauty (Anderson is accompanied by Maggie Holland on Guitar). Even better is the echoed speaker-panned 12-string bottleneck of "The Western Wind" – a swirling number Anderson describes as a ghost story – great playing with muscular audio. Acoustics dance across both speakers for the noisy-human-race song "Shirley Temple Meets Hawkwind" – a witty ditty on travelling to Venus with the child actress possibly never flying back home.

The three 1973 Hot Vultures demos featuring a Slide 12-String Blues Traditional in the shape of "Baby Let Me Dance With You" (very professionally recorded) followed by three Previously Unreleased - a slightly rough-edged cover of the Al Jones song "Dan Scaggs" and two excellent Acoustic and Bass Guitar tales in "London Blues" (by Chris Thompson) and the Willie Dixon Chess Records R&B classic "You Can’t Judge A Book By The Cover" turned into a race-past-the-post Acoustic. Lots of great moments…

Somerset’s Ian A. Anderson (more than a few times confused with Tull’s mainman) continued in the late 70s with Folk-Blues groups like Hot Vulture, and into the Eighties with The English Country Blues Band and Tiger Moth. He even teamed up with his old mucker Mike Cooper in 1984 for the "The Continuous Preaching Blues" LP on the obscure Appaloosa Records.

But this dinky 4CD 65-Track little bruiser from Cherry Tree (part of Cherry Red) is where his journey started. "Please Re-Adjust Your Time: The Early Blues & Psych-Folk Years 1967-72" by Ian A. Anderson will not be for everyone, but those in love with Folk, Acoustic Blues and a few genre side-dishes along the way will eat it up. Top marks to all involved…

"Little Feat" by LITTLE FEAT - April 2026 UK Warner Records/Rhino '2CD DELUXE EDITION' Reissue of Their January 1971 US Debut Album/LP - Features Eight Previously Unreleased Alternate Versions on CD2 Plus Four Rarities From The Sessions Originally Released On The 4CD September 2000 "Hotcakes & Outtakes" Set - New 2026 Bill Inglot and Dan Hersch Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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Overall Rating: ****

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Audio: **** to *****

"…Snakes On Everything…"

With zero hoopla let alone (it appears) fan awareness – Rhino and Warner Records continue their Little Feat reissue series here in April 2026 by having a go at the American band's patchy January 1971 self-titled debut album. Some series history first…

To date - Rhino/Warner Records have had five of these new multiple-CD Deluxe Edition reissues for LITTLE FEAT – a June 2023 2CD set for both "Sailin' Shoes" (second LP from February 1972) and "Dixie Chicken" (third studio platter from January 1973), a 3-CD Deluxe Edition for "Feats Don’t Fail Me Now" in June 2024 (fourth Studio platter from August 1974) while the October 1975 fifth studio LP "The Last Record Album" got a 4CD set in November of 2025 (last year). All have outtakes and performance material with much of the live stuff remastered from bootlegs. This fifth reissue in the series offers a 2026 New Remaster of the 11-track January 1971 Debut LP on CD1 and 12 Outtakes on CD2 (no live material) – four of which were issued in 2000 making the other eight, previously unreleased. See photo below for their spines and the Rad Gumbo Box Set...

Having said all that good stuff - you would have to say that calling a gatefold card sleeve and a three-way six-sided fold-out inlay a 2CD Deluxe Edition on the Hype Sticker (has not got any liner notes nor history) is stretching credulity. Mine even arrived bent in the post. But be that as it may – it is good to have any new Little Feat from the Seventies and sounding damn fine too (new Remasters). And thankfully the eight new previously unreleased cuts on Disc 2 (added to the four outtakes that first appeared on the September 2000 4CD retrospective "Hotcakes & Outtakes") beef up proceedings to a 12-track alternative second disc that pushes way past any visual disappointment (I'm diggin' it so much more than the album). To the snakelike details…

UK released Friday, 17 April 2026 - "Little Feat" by LITTLE FEAT on Warner Records/Rhino R2 728638 – 603497808397 (Barcode 603497808397) is a 2-CD Deluxe Edition of the January 1971 US Debut Studio Album on Warner Brothers Records (eventually issued January 1975 in the UK). Featuring a four-piece band line-up of Lowell George (Guitars), Bill Payne (Keyboards), Richard Hayward (Drums) and Roy Estrada (Bass) with Guests Ry Cooder (Guitars), Sneaky Pete Kleinow (Pedal Steel), Russ Titelman (Piano, Backing Vocals and Production) and Kirby Johnson (Horns and String Arrangements) – this version includes a second CD with 12 tracks – eight of which are Previously Unreleased Alternate Versions and Four Other Previously Issued Rarities. It plays out as follows:

CD1 Little Feat 2026 Remaster (33:19 minutes):

1. Snakes On Everything (Bill Payne) [Side 1]

2. Strawberry Flats (Bill Payne, Lowell George)

3. Truck Stop Girl (Bill Payne, Lowell George)

4. Brides Of Jesus (Bill Payne, Lowell George)

5. Willing (Lowell George, Roy Estrada)

6. Hamburger Midnight (Lowell George, Roy Estrada)

7. Forty-Four Blues/How Many More Years (Howlin' Wolf Covers) [Side 2]

8. Crack In Your Door (Lowell George)

9. I've Been The One (Lowell George)

10.Takin' My Time (Bill Payne)

11. Crazy Captain Gunboat Willie (Bill Payne, Lowell George)

Tracks 1 to 11 are their debut studio album "Little Feat" – released January 1971 in the USA on Warner Brothers WS 1890 – reissued February 1971 with the same catalogue number but with a lyrics-instead-of-photos rear sleeve. Their debut studio album "Little Feat" remained un-issued in the UK until January 1975 on Warner Brothers K 46072 using the Burbank Colouring label (their tour of the UK and Europe with The Doobie Brothers and Tower Of Power created huge interest in the band). 

Produced by RUSS TITELMAN – it didn't chart in either country. Ry Cooder plays Bottleneck Guitar on Tracks 5 and 7 and Sneaky Pete Kleinow plays Pedal Steel Guitar on Track 9. Russ Titelman plays Piano, sings Backing Vocals and Percussion on Track 9 - while Kirby Johnson provided String and Horn Arrangements on Tracks 4 and 10. Track 7 is a double-track cover-version of two Howlin' Wolf songs originally on Chess Records in 1954 and 1951

CD2 Hotcakes, Outtakes, Rarities (40:30 minutes):

1. Wait Till The Shit Hits The Fan (Bill Payne/Lowell George) – 2:48 minutes

2. Doglines (Bill Payne) – 2:47 minutes

3. Strawberry Flats – Alternate Version with Count In and a False Start (Bill Payne, Lowell George) – 3:03 minutes

4. Hamburger Midnight – Alternate Version with Studio Chatter (Lowell George, Roy Estrada) – 4:13 minutes

5. Snakes On Everything – Alternative Version (Bill Payne) – 3:11 minutes

6. Crack In Your Door – Alternate Version (Lowell George) – 2:22 minutes

7. Crazy Gunboat Willie – Alternate Version with a Second Vocal (Bill Payne, Lowell George) – 2:00 minutes

8. Rat Faced Dog (Bill Payne, Lowell George) – 4:54 minutes

9. Forty-Four Blues/How Many More Years (Howlin' Wolf Covers) – Alternate Version – 6:26 minutes

10.Truck Stop Girl – Alternate Version (Bill Payne, Lowell George) – 2:36 minutes

11. Willin' – Alternate Version (Lowell George) – 2:31 minutes

12. Jazz Thing In 10 (Lowell George, Bill Payne, Richard Hayward) – 3:29 minutes

Tracks 3 to 7 and 9 to 11 are EIGHT PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED Alternate Versions – Tracks 1 and 2 and Tracks 8 and 12 are four "Little Feat" outtakes that first appeared September 2000 on the 4CD retrospective "Hotcakes & Outtakes" on Rhino R4 79912 (all four were also featured on Disc 13 of the 13CD Box Set "Rad Gumbo: The Complete Warner Bros. Years 1971 to 1990" issued in 2014).

SOUND:

Rhino once again use two hugely experienced Audio Engineers who have had their sweaty paws on vast swathes of the Warner Brothers legacy for over 30-years now – DAN HERSCH and BILL INGLOT. "Little Feat" never impressed me as an audio experience and even the 90s Warner Archives CD that boasted a Remaster struggled to rise above a starter LP with on-the-go production values. Here (in 2026) – the new Remaster is very clear and about as good as the album is ever going to sound and the extras finally give the release that extra poke up into four-stars. "Sailin' Shoes", "Dixie Chicken", "Feats Don't Fail Me Now" and "The Last Record Album" are far better Deluxe Editions overall – but here we get something that at last elevates their debut. Fans are going to love the fact that the Disc 2 Alternative Versions all (bizarrely) sound better than the album cuts (prepped as Remasters as far back as August 2024) and often contain studio chatter – the talking that stops "Hamburger Midnight" for instance is now clearer and comes as quite a shock after all these decades. 

ARTWORK/REVIEWS:

The six-leaf three-way fold-out inlay offers up five new black and white photos of the band, the lyrics to all songs (except the Howlin' Wolf covers), album credits and reissue details. But there is no recap, no essays, no other details and the fact that you can’t get either the original or reissue artwork on this version is kind of ridiculous. It’s a functional inlay, but you wanted so much more. The gatefold card sleeve also has a band (playing live) photo stretching across the inside in black and white (see above) – but not much else. If it wasn’t for the Hype Sticker on the front cover declaring this a 2-CD DELUXE EDITION OF THE 1971 DEBUT – you might pass the entire thing by.

Fans will know that "Little Feat" was preceded by a 16 September 1970 US-only 45-single - "Hamburger Midnight" b/w "Strawberry Flats" on Warner Brothers 7431. White label promos exist (not pictured either), but I've never seen a stock copy, so response must have been lame - as it was to the LP itself (said to have sold as little as 11,000 copies when it finally made US record stores in early January 1971). The first pressings came with four individual photos of the boys and a band photo beneath on the rear sleeve and a rare lyric insert. Billboard Magazine first reviewed "Little Feat" in their 5 December 1970 issue giving it a special merit, but no picture nor was there even an advert from Warner Brothers.

Rolling Stone Magazine wouldn't get to "Little Feat" until early February 1971 after its rear-sleeve artwork re-release with the lyric insert transferred to the rear cover. There is also a 1973 back-cover variant that has the original photo of the band made smaller and squashed into the lyrics (three rear sleeve versions in total then - none of these are shown). Bizarrely, if you want the actual original issue cover, the Mini LP Card Sleeve in the "Rad Gumbo: The Complete Warner Bros. Years 1971 to 1990" 13CD Box Set from 2014 faithfully uses the first original artwork with only band-photos and no lyrics on the rear. To the New 2026 Remasters...

The debut opens with "Snakes On Everything" and "Strawberry Flats" – Billy Payne and Lowell George delivering two great starter stings (Bill sings the first, Lowell the second) – huge power in the slide guitars and the strangulated vocals. There is also stunning muscular clarity on the churning Rock-Funk of "Hamburger Midnight" (dig that Harmonica too), but I have to say (hand on heart) that the remake of "Willing" on "Sailin’ Shoes" is the better version. The debut first go-round of "Willing" plays it quicker and the snatching pace kind of does for the loveliness of the melody even if his slide guitar playing is fabulous – there is a great song trying desperately to get out but it will take until LP2 for it to realise itself. Same old crowd is hanging out for "Truck Stop Girl", Little Feat feeling like a funked-up Allman Brothers – while the noticeable hiss on "Bride Of Jesus" is softer now – the Kirby Johnson string arrangements sweet as they bolster up this sad tale of loss. Side 1 ends will the brilliant "Hamburger Midnight" – the first time Little Feat sounds like it has an identifiable groove – a cross between the Funk Rock of the James Gang and Captain Beefheart – both of which are all right by me.

Album gems come in the shape of the double-headed Howlin' Wolf splash of Fifties Chess Records Blues - "Forty-Four Blues/How Many More Years" (the only cover on the album) being a six-minute-plus crowd pleaser that thankfully shows up in powerhouse alternate form on CD2 as well. Don’t let the wind in through - "Crack In Your Door" tells us (such good audio here, making me appreciate it more than I used too) - while the duo of "I've Been The One" and "Takin' My Time" are again open for rediscovery when I used to kind of dismiss them. I make no bones about the fact that for me "Crazy Captain Gunboat Willie" is a rubbish Lowell George song and I don't know why he ended the LP with it – gives off a very jarring and disappointing half-assed vibe when the debut needed to stun. The Alternate on Disc 2 is no better even if it does sound great.

CD2 is called "Hotcakes, Outtakes, Rarities" and offers the listener twelve songs as a sort of Alternate Version of the Debut LP – and I for one am loving it. The sequencing is very clever – three groover songs in "Wait Till The Shit Hits The Fan", "Doglines" and "Strawberry Flats" open proceedings like they are an actual LP run while the ever popular "Hamburger Midnight" punches up another goody as Track 4. 

You can see why they put the weakest at the end-  "Jazz Thing in 10" being an instrumental with Lowell George on Saxophone (unusually) with Bill Charlton on Bass and is about as far removed from Little Feat as it can get (and thank God, it isn’t very good). "Rat Faced Dog" (Take 1) sees George complain (not for the first time) of being a smoking fool in this excellent near five-minute rocker – the keyboards supplemented by some fantastic and mean guitar from LG (Lowell also plays Dulcimer). The shorter beers in the icebox, throw on some records "Doglines" (2:47 minutes) has Bill taking Lead Vocals while the slide-shuffler LF backbeat is provided by George – a genuinely great archive find in 2000 and so worth repeating here in 2026. George takes Lead Vocals on "Wait Till The Shit Hits The Fan" - a cheerleader song that is trying to find a tune but not quite getting there. There are girly singers on one or two of the outtakes but they get no credits (their voices sound like friends rather than professional vocalists and aren’t very good). But for me the others - "Snakes On Everything" and "Forty-Four Blues/How Many More Years" are fab stuff with shockingly good audio – reach punch and muscle - nice. 

 

The "Little Feat" 1971 debut album is good rather than great - an opening account to the brilliance that would quickly follow on LPs 2 and 3 in 1972 and 1973. It is an acquired taste for sure, but the Remaster on CD1 and the deep dives on CD2 are making me reach for this twofer more than any of the others and I am kind of shocked by that. Those extras have only added to my admiration and the feeling that with a little more thought and better choices – the forgotten debut might have had a better chance on release all those 55-years ago. Still, what a band. 

Formerly with Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention (like Lowell), Bassist Roy Estrada would leave the band after the debut and die in prison in 2025 for horrible offences committed between 1977 and 2012. The mighty (in so many ways) lead guitarist and Little Feat shining light Lowell George left us too early in 1979 after one patchy solo album and is beloved to this day. Their live shows with him at the helm are the stuff of legend. Drummer Richard Hayward who had been in The Fraternity Of Man before he joined Little Feat in 1970 passed in 2010. But Keyboardist and founder-member of Little Feat Bill Payne is still with us in April 2026 as I review this on release aged 77, and with credits on probably hundreds of LPs for stellar session work.

Once you get past the visual let-down and the kind-of throwaway feel of this supposed 2CD Deluxe Edition - "Little Feat" by Little Feat kicks butt where it matters (audio and content) – and I for one am thrilled with that…