Representing the Mambo
Little Feat
This is the only Little Feat album in my collection, and I only knew of them because the short-lived-but-wonderful Seattle radio station KEZX 98.9 played the title track during its brief time on the air (circa 1990) and utterly fascinated me with it. That storyline is slippery and tantalizing and never quite arrives anywhere, but it provides an intriguing ride anyway. “Texas Twister” provides a more concrete and carnal one, with slick innuendo and allusion throughout, and it does all of that with a pretty hot arrangement that gives the brass some flash, to boot. Quite a yummy track, actually; a great album-opener.
Aside from those two tracks, in general I do like pretty much all of this album, with the final two tracks providing me some material for reflection and consideration of their characters’ stories. And, really, it’s the stories that make this album so engaging, throughout, irrespective of the compelling energy of the recorded tracks. In that sense, “Those Feat’ll Steer Ya Wrong Sometimes” is the weak one, although I personally find “Teenage Warrior” and ”That’ Her, She’s Mine’s Mine” to be interchangeable and possibly disposable. Everything else here, though, stacks up nicely. And it’s just FUN, which counts for a lot.
Comments © 2014 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.