"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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"…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…