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Rating: The American band Little Feat had a unique and very original style, but as often happens, talent and quality don't always go hand in hand with success. After the splendid Sailin' Shoes (1972), bassist Roy Estrada, perhaps disappointed by the lack of audience response, left the band. Without losing heart, the remaining three members, namely Lowell George (vocals, guitar), Richard Hyward (drums), and Bill Payne (keyboards), recruited a new bassist, Kenny Grayned, and expanded the group from four to six members with the addition of guitarist Paul Barrère and percussionist Sam Clayton. With this renewed lineup, also featuring backing vocalists (including Bonnie Raitt) and other supporting musicians, Little Feat recorded their third album, Dixie Chicken (1973).
The album is considered by many to be one of the band's masterpieces, perhaps their most representative album, if not their best. A work of high quality in all its aspects, with a richer and fuller sound than the previous one, due in part to the greater number of musicians involved, more percussive and guitar-driven but never heavy, never angry, rather calm and relaxed, at times indolent. While in the previous Sailin' Shoes, "Willin'" could be pointed out as the album's key track, here the task is much more challenging because the quality standard is practically constant throughout the album; each composition shines with intense light, and in the end, the greatness of the entire album stands out rather than individual tracks. The title is a clear reference to Dixieland and the style of New Orleans, genres honored in the syncopated ragtime rhythms of the title track, sinuous and elegant, a choral and enveloping composition, but also in the splendid "On Your Way Down" by Allen Toussaint, a song that the Feat make particularly soft and velvety and enrich with excellent dialogues between the two guitarists and Payne's piano. The whole album skillfully mixes various elements of the American tradition - rock, roots, blues, country, r'n'b, soul, funk - in an incredibly homogeneous and, at the same time, refined blend. Much of the credit goes to Lowell George, with his crystalline class, a talent never too celebrated, a voice with a warm southern timbre, a slide guitarist with a unique touch, and a composer with an eclectic and highly personal style, the author of most of the tracks.
R'n'B and Funk are perhaps the main pieces that contribute to composing this sonic puzzle and, although it's never too brazen, it forms the clear basis of many songs like "Fat Man in the Bathtub", one of their pillars in live performances, "Juliette" and the even more jammed "Two Trains". There are also more experimental pieces like "Kiss it Off", a ethereal track where percussion and synthesizer accompany heartfelt blues verses, and the instrumental "Lafayette Railroad", composed by George and Payne, where a keyboard carpet supports sweet slide guitar embroidery. "Walkin' All Night", born from a collaboration between Payne and Barrère, is the catchiest and most rock number of the entire work, a celebration of nightlife on the road. "Roll Um Easy" is the album's most acoustic moment.
I confess that on first listen, this Dixie Chicken seemed much inferior to the previous one, flatter, more monotonous, but it still had something that captured me, a kind of hypnotic magnetism that grew stronger with each listen until it finally won me over completely. The truth is that this is probably a deeper and less immediate album, thus it's unlikely to immediately conquer you on the first listen, you need to wait, be patient, savor it slowly, calmly. Only after the right wait can you appreciate and enjoy it in all its nuances because it's a work full of nuances and details that only emerge with different listens, perhaps just details, but details that often make the difference. Then, as with good wine, patience will be rewarded.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Dixie Chicken (03:56)
Ive seen the bright lights of Memphis
And the Commodore Hotel
And underneath a street lamp, i met a southern belle
Oh she took me to the river, where she cast her spell
And in that southern moonlight, she sang this song so well
If youll be my Dixie chicken ill be your Tenessee lamb
And we can walk together down in Dixieland
Down in Dixieland
We made all the hotspots, my money flowed like wine
Then the low-down southern whiskey, yea, began to fog my mind
And i dont remember church bells, or the money i put down
On the white picket fence and boardwalk
On the house at the end of town
Oh but boy do i remember the strain of her refrain
And the nights we spent together
And the way she called my name
If youll be my Dixie chicken ill be your Tenessee lamb
And we can walk together down in Dixieland
Down in Dixieland
Many years since she ran away
Yes that guitar player sure could play
She always liked to sing along
She always handy with a song
But then one night at the lobby of the Commodore Hotel
I chanced to meet a bartender who said he knew her well
And as he handed me a drink he began to hum a song
And all the boys there, at the bar, began to sing along
If youll be my Dixie chicken ill be your Tenessee lamb
And we can walk together down in Dixieland
Down in Dixieland, Down in Dixieland
02 Two Trains (03:07)
In 1966 I found my love
In 1967 I had all there was
And as my time went by I was satisfied
Until that situation took me by surprise
Now there's two trains runnin' - on that line
One train's me, and the other's a friend of mine
You know it would be all right, be just fine
If the woman took one train, and left the other behind
Illusion it is just the same conclusion
I don't know how to play the game
Of what it is or how it's going to be
When one train is my friend and the other train is me
Easy, Lord, I say easy, I can't push or shove that girl
So I guess I really care
Now I aint not one to hide my love behind a lock and key
But if things keep going the way they are there's no place left for me
Two trains runnin' - on that line
One train's me, and the other's a friend of mine
Be all right, be just fine
If this woman took the one train, and left the other behind
Two trains, (uh-huh yeah) two trains, (two) two trains, (keep on on) two trains
Two trains, (a little bit longer) two trains, two trains, two trains
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